Mankhokwe...

The question was not whether it is true or false. That, in a way, sounded already settled. The question was when are they arriving in other parts of Malawi. “So, the bloodsuckers have not yet reached where you come from?” My friend was asked by a well meaning gentleman. We were at the outskirts of Blantyre. A rural area within the city of Blantyre. To contextualize this for those not in the know. A good section of Malawians are believing that,using dark magic, some evil people are sucking blood out of them. In thesilence of the night. While they are asleep. When the rumour started, those of us given to humour dismissed it as a joke. Made a few unruly comments on it. Then, three people were killed in Mulanje. The mob thatkilled them suspected them of being bloodsuckers. As we were attempting to come to terms with it, a chief’s house was ransacked by his subjects. The crime? He was accused of conniving with the bloodsuckers. That made the situation bad, the r...

Have you ever heard of an inspirational story from our football national team, the Flames? If you have, how did it start, did it start with the team playing brilliant football, attacking with exceptional talent and giving the hope that we would carry the day or emerge victorious in that tournament? I bet it really started like that. The question is: how did it end? I can predict: with all those hopes dashed, a loss in the dying minutes. Poet Robert Chiwamba already covered the fate of the team in the famed Flames Sidzamva ! It is not as if he recited anything new, he told us what has been our football ailment since about 10 years ago when it became so worse. The loss of our football national team, now, is a result of a lot of issues among them uninspired an underpaid players, alcohol-infested players, a negative media (yes! a negative media) and - most importantly - football administrators. These football administrators, usually, are behind the other problems. They fleece t...