From the outside, the website of the Department of Arts— which is supposed to fall under the all-knowing Ministry of Information, Tourism and Culture — looks promising.
Pictures of women in Ngoni regalia dancing ‘Uyeni’ [one of the Ngoni dances] pop up, followed by the image of a riffle used during the World Wars, children dancing Chiterera, the picture of the National Monument at Blantyre CCAP Mission, among others.
However, when one clicks on the ‘events’ on http://www.culture.gov. mw/—the homepage of the Department of Culture— the equivocal answer is: “No events”.
This is embarrassing for a department which “exists to conserve, preserve and promote Malawi’s cultural and natural heritage through preservation and construction of national monuments, conducting cultural and natural history research and education and outreach programmes on pre-historical and historic issues, Malawi’s fauna, arts, crafts and folklore, promotion of public morals and promotion of good governance in terms of proper and improved record keeping”.
The department’s mission statement is to “Safeguard and present Malawi cultural heritage in all its identifiable forms while promoting its use among various actors for national identity and posterity, for sustainable socio-economic development”.
Its vision is moving Malawi “Towards a vibrant cultural heritage for sustainable socio-economic development”.
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