Right to Write

THREE YEARS AGO, I wrote this opinion in defence of Soldier Lucious Banda following what transpired in a WhatsApp group called BALAKA CONNECTIONS where some members argued that the music maestro had stopped composing attacking songs because he was siding with the ruling party. After reading the post, he said he was grateful that there were still people who saw and appreciated the other side of him. I post it again to honour this great son of the soil.   Soldier's music lives on (Photo Credit: Internet) FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE: IN SUPPORT OF ‘SOLDIER' AND OTHERS  By Joseph Kayira | 1 July 2024 Soldier Lucious Banda, one of Malawi’s foremost musicians came into the limelight when he was very young. His role in ‘activism’ to bring about social and political change has largely been through music. For those who believe in telling the truth, Soldier’s contribution to Malawi’s political and social change has been worthwhile. This analysis was inspired by a discussion in a W...

REMEMBERING VICE PRESIDENT SAULOS KLAUS CHILIMA By Joseph Kayira | 1 July 2024 On June 10 2024, death robbed the Malawi nation of a man who so loved his country, so much that he left a lucrative job in the private sector to serve in the public service. Saulos Klaus Chilima or SKC, stunned many when he resigned from the position of managing director at Airtel Malawi Limited to join politics. His courage to join Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to pair with Peter Mutharika in the 2014 presidential election was viewed by many as a risk too high to even consider taking – bearing in mind that at the time, the DPP was an opposition party.  SKC turned out to be the leader this country should have had at the dawn of multiparty politics. His call for Malawi to embrace transformation, public reforms, creation of one million jobs for the youth in a year, and that families should be able to afford three meals a day; that the elderly should get K15,000 per month and that the Malawi passport s...