HAPPY 47TH ANNIVERSARY MALAWI

By: Qeko

Today 47 years ago a nation called Malawi was born after a fearful fight against the British colonialist. Many of our people died fighting for the freedom and independence and today as is a very special day for the nation. That this nation was born on this day, it makes me happy that God decided that this be my motherland and my homeland because there is no better home than Malawi. This is the only place on earth i call home and I am proud to be part and parcel of the heritage of this nation called Malawi.

As we celebrate this day, I call upon patriotic citizen of the land to demonstrate love for this beloved motherland because this is our only home. This is the only place where we can walk freely without being asked questions. This nation defines what we are today and we will always be Malawians. Am proud to be a Malawian because this is my home and this is my country and the land of my birth.

What we need to know is that we need to be a people who shall give our services to the nation and not only waiting for the government to give us something. The question has to be, " WHAT WILL I GIVE TO MY COUNTRY TO HELP MY PEOPLE IN ONE WAY OR THE OTHER". We need to give something and help in the development of our country. We need to begin playing this game of nationa development before we ask people from outside to come and help us. So let us love our country even as we celebrate this independence this week and in every thing we do we need to know that for us to enjoy this freedom, others went to jail and some were killed. So may God bless us all for taking us this far as a nation and my prayer is that we shall be more patriotic and love our country as never before.

FORMER PRESIDENT FREDRICK CHILUBA DIES

By: Qeko

Reports from Lusaka states that Zambias former President, Fredrick Chiluba has died at the age of 68. Chiluba was the founding father of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy, the party which played a criticla role inthe fight for multiparty democracy in Zambia. he was also the champion of Democracy and a human rights campaigner for Zambia who ruled the christian nation from 1991 to 2001. After assuming power in 1991, Chiluba mananged to transform Zambia through the introduction of political and economic liberalisation which saw the improvement in the lives of Zambian.

In addition to the great economic change that Chiluba brought to the Zambian nation through his well accredited policies, there were times when lost direction as a President and a pro-democracy campaigner. Firstly is that Chiluba he had little respect for the founding father of the Zambia nation, Baba KK. Even though KK lost the election and handed over power to him, Chiluba continued to allegedly harrase Kaunda with jails and many forms of intimidation. In his mission to completely silence Kaunda, in 1996, Chiluba undemocratically barred the founding father of the Zambia nation from contesting the presidential elections alleging that he was of a Malawian descent.

The continued arrest of Kaunda by the Chiluba regime came to the climax in 1998 when Chiluba kept the Father of the Zambian nation in prison in Kabwe. It took Julius Nyerere, Robert Mugabe and other key african heads of states to plead with Chiluba to release Kaunda. This kind of behaviour not to respect the founding father of the nation was the very begining of the political downfall of Chiluba as he later became more autocratic and even tried to bid for a third term which failed and ended up annoning Mwanawasa at the MMD torch bearer for the 2001 Presidential elections. After Mwanawasa took over, Chiluba's expectations were never realised because the very same man he annointed turned back and commenced prosecution against his corruption behaviour and the money he allegedly store from the Zambian people.

Now that Chiluba his passed on, the question is what kind of legacy has he left for the Zambian people and Africa as a whole? Also what type of lessons can we learn from the way he ruled the Zambian people? Also what kind of lesson can all the upcoming politicians in Zambia and Africa learn from this great Zambian statesman?

LIBYA: THE 21st CENTURY BILLION DOLLAR WAR AND BUSINESS

By: Qeko

The news the key western super power nations are in the United Arab Emeretes capital to discuss the post Gaddafi Libya is interesting and a kind of repeating history itself. This is because the discussion about the post Gaddafi Libya seem not to be inclussive and does not represent the overall Libyan people but those who support the rebels and have left out those from Tripoli. I realise that the war in libya has gone tribal and in this regard, I wonder if all key tribes are represented in the UAE meeting.

Now this type of meetings reminds some of us of what happened of the 1884-85 Berlin Conference where western super power nations had a meeting to discuss and divide African amongst themselves. Just as the west are discussing the Post Gaddafi Libya, their forefathers did the same when they were sharing Africa amongst themselves. Now this is repeating the wicked history of the Berlin conference which has been the main cause of conflict in Africa today. What is happening in Africa today is as a results of what happened in Berlin during that conference where European powers shared Africa amongst themselves. Now to hear again that Western Nations have gathered in United Arab Emirates to discuss the Future of Libya even as the civil war is on is pathetic and and worrisome. What is unacceptable is for the West to again sit on the conference table and plan the future of Libya. The future Post Gaddafi Libya can not be discussed in UAE and it should have nothing to do with the Western nation. The Destiny of Libya has to be in the hands of the Libyan People and not to be dictated by the Western nations.

WHY NATO IS BOMBING LIBYA TODAY?

There are many arguments that people have put forward as to why NATO led by Britain, France and Italy are daily bombing Tripoli. The one common argument raised by many is that western nation are scrumbling for OIL in Libya and in this case, the post Gaddafi Libya will show how far this shall go. The west through NATO and the United Nations are all doing every thing they can to dismantle libya and the whole reason is OIL. Libya is a rich country with rich natural resources and is one of the leading oil producing country in Africa and in the World. Now just as the USA did in Iraq, this time around Britain, France and Italy will likewise make sure that they completely dismantle Tripoli so that they come back to reconstruct it. So western nation are hiding behind all the factors the rebels have raised agaisnt Gaddafi while in actual sense the main reason is OIL. So it is unfortunate that as NATO continues to bomb libya, innocent lives are lost in Tripoli and nobody seem to see this. It seems that those living in Tripoli do not have the right to exist and even if they are bombed its OK while when the eastern side is bombed then alarms are raised. This is how unfair the world systems can be as they wrongly define people. The definition of the "People" is basically limited to those in Bengazi such that when anything happens to them the alarms are raised.

THE BUSINESS WAR

The one thing that people need to understand is that in the 21st century, war has become a booming business and that is why in as much as lives are lost, some tend to benefit during the war. Havent you wondered that if a nation is rich in varous minerals and other natural resources such a nation tend to attract many to join in the war? Havent you seen that big nations dont mind to intervene in conflicts where nations are poor and with no rich minerals and oil? At the same time you will see that in a nation like libya, every rich nation would like to get involved in the dismantling of Libya so that they get opportunity for tenders in the reconstruction process? So what is happening in libya is all business and the whole issue is OIL AND OTHER MINERAL RESOURCES THAT LIBYA HAS. If libya was a poor nation with no OIl and no other Mineral resources no western powerful nation even the USA could have wasted their time and money to intervene. But they are busy using everything under their power to dismantle libya even more because they want to make sure that they come back to reconstruct and have a share in the OIL. So the Libyan war is vital at the moment and that is why the west will do everything to make sure that Gaddafi is gone so that they commence reconstrution. Now in the reconstruction process, Britain, France and Italy will play a leading role and their campanies are the ones which shall get into Libya to re-fix the dismantled nation. So the one thing that many Libyans seem not to see is that this is not about Gaddafi but the OIL. The USA has played a low profile in Libya because they had had enough of such activities in Iraq when they controlled the reconstruction process and this time around they have left it to the British and the French to have their share. So that is the reason why you will not see the USA taking a key role in Libya because they are still enjoying the Iraq Oil and the rest of the reconstruction deals there.

WILL LIBYA BE THE SAME AGAIN?

When i see the various news channels the bombing that is taking place in Libya, one cant help it but ask this, " Will Libya be the same again? Will the Libyans and all Arabs manage to accommodate the demands of democracy? With what is happening in Tripoli, Libya will not be the same and this civil war where the westen nation are assiting one section of the country to fight has created this hatred between the two sections of the Libyan people. Those from the eastern side and Tripoli will never be one people anymore because we need to understand that Libya is tribal based African nation where in this case, Gaddaffi has his own people whose duty is to make sure that they die with him fighting. So this whole war in Libya is against all those tribes which supports Gaddafi and because of this, these sections of the country will never be united again. This war has separated these two key people in the history of Libya.Having said this, westen nation should know that naturally African people feel more patriotic to their tribes and are able to do anything to protect the existence of their tribes. So in the case of Libya, whatever thing that happens to Gaddafi becomes the entire Tribes business and no wonder they will alwayz be people who are ready to take up arms and fight not for him as such but its the fight of protecting their every existence, their tribe.

REGIME CHANGE BY THE GUN NOT THE VOTE

Against all odds, there is a concept and wicked ideology called, "regime change" propagated by the west particularily the USA. George Bush seem to be the pioneer of this regime change concept where the western nation could decide the destiny of a nation so long they are in bad books with a particular leader. What surprises many is that the regime change called by the west who claim to be the champion of democracy is by the gun and not the ballot paper. The Western nations seem to support the use of the gun to get rid of leaders who have been in power instead of using the power of the vote.As of libya, the most suprising thing is that the three key western nations, Britain, France and Italy are not calling for the libyans to exercise their demoncratic rights to vote but to use the gun to remove Gaddafi. Now we need to understand that if they use the gun to remove Gaddafi today, this trend will continue and next time it will be somebody else to be removed by the gun. The thing is " You got in by the gun, the same gun will be used against you". So what the western nations are doing to encourage the use of a gun for regime change in African is worrisome and unacceptable because this is a way of making Africa more ungovernable and it has to come to a stop.

PRESIDENT RUPIAH BANDA, A TRUE ZAMBIA

By: Qeko

As Zambians are about to get to poll, some failed politicians are at it again. They are alleging that President Rupiah Banda is a Malawian and that he is not eligible to contest the coming Presidential election. Looking at this sad development, I quickly remember some years back when Chiluba did the same cheap politics by saying that Kaunda was a Malawian just because his parents came from Nkhatabay in Malawi. I may not exactly know the stipulation of the Zambian constitution on the matter but this cheap politiking is nonsense and for the failed comrade who can not withstand the political wind blowing around them.

It is cheap in the 21st Century for anybody to begin digging the originality of an individualS so as to stop them from contesting the election. If you have the nerve and capacity, just get prepared and face the game than giving such lame execuses as Chiluba did to stop Baba K from contesting. Zambians need to understand that it doesnt matter where somebody's parents originated from because historically all of them have came from somewhere else. Hearing the names of those who are at the forefront of this wicked campaign, you only see that they all have roots to Malawi OR somewhere else and it would be bad to begin digging them. Zambias need to know that right in Lusaka and the entire eastern region of their country, there are many similiar surnames as those in Malawi because originally Malawi and Zambia still are one people and it was the western colonialism which created the boarders which up to this day seem to fail to divide us. Zambians feels at home when they come to Malawi and Malawians feel at home when they come to Lusaka, Ndola and other places because wherever you go you will find someone with just similar surname and you are able to even communicate in a nice nyanja, tumbuka or english.

So for the sake of oneness and ubuntu, I call upon those Zambians who are busy cooking and coming up with sick allegation against President Rupiah Banda that they should grow up and know that this is cheap politics and they will not make it. What surprised some of us is that before President Banda became the vice president, he for many years served the Zambian nation in various capacities and no body talked about his originality. Even when Mwanawasa (RIP) appointed him as his Vice President, nobody said a thing and why should somebody today begin to come up with such allegations? This is interesting and let wait and see.

WILL OSAMA BIN LADENS ASSASSINATION BRING ABOUT WORLD PEACE?

By: Qeko

The argument that now that the world is now a peaceful place to live just because the American have finally succeeded in assassinating Osama Bin Laden is a joke and not true. Many from western perspective seem to support the way Osama was butchered by the Americans and how they managed to get into Pakistan and have him killed. Also is there is difference between the Americans and Al Qaeda which is a bloody organisation? In response to this, let me say that I see no big difference between the Al Qaeda and the Americans in terms of the amount of blood they have shed in history.

Both Al Qaeda and the US have blood in their hands: In as much as Al Qaeda is an ideology, in practice they are just the same as the Americans because they are are people who shade blood. Just as the Al Qaeda killed many in the US and other part of the world, the Americans also have bloody hands as they continue to shade blood across the globe. Sea of blood continue to flow in the many part of the world where they Americans have troops like in Iraq, Afganstan, Pakistan and other parts of the world. We may not know how many people have died in the hands of the Americans in the name of fighting Al Qaeda across the globe but the one major thing is that the means of fighting Al Qaeda have forced the Americans to shade more blood through the death of innocent civilians. So Al Qaeda is a bloody organisation just like the Americans also have too much blood in their hands.

To say that the world now is peaceful and safe because Osama is dead is a joke. The post Osama dispensation will be a different one because this time around it will be the fear that many nations will be having that what happened to Osama and Pakistan can happen to any nation on earth for as long as you are not in good books with the Americans. Now if the Americans went into Pakistan without the prior authorisation by the Pakistan government just because they wanted Osama then there is no one who shall stop the Americans to do the same in future to any country on earth. It seems the Americans with their sophisticated technology will be able to do anything for as long as their planned programs are effectively done. So with the American behavour (as we witnessed in the assissination of Osama) the world and nations of the world will not be safe becasue the rich nations will always take advantage of the poor and do anything they want to achieve their goal even if it means violating the soveregnity of states.

WHAT DOES OSAMA BIN LADEN DEATH MEANS TO WORLD PEACE

By: Peter Qeko Jere

One of the most popular news this hour on all the major world news network is the announcement that the American most wanted man, Osama Bin Laden has been brutally shot dead in Pakistan. World leaders mainly from the western nations have warmly welcomed the news and in many of the US streets Americans are seen rejoicing that Osama is finally dead. Now while the western leaders are rejoicing, the questions are if Osama is really killed as speculated in the western media then what does this means to the future of Al Qaeda? Does this means the end and demise of world terrorism? Looking into how the American got into Pakistan without the knowledge of the Pakistan intellegence, what then does this means to the doctrine of the soveregnity of states?

Firstly let me deal with the most controversial issue of Osama Bin Laden death. We as of now are not sure whether this propaganda from the US is true because many continue to call this whole episode a joke and not true because true photos of the dead Bin Laden are not shown. Somebody just said that there is not way on earth the US could not have shown the photos if they really killed Osama because they would have shown the world that their most wanted man is finally dead. Now that they are failing to show the photo of the dead Bin Laden then everybody else is wondering whether their most wanted man is dead or whether this whole thing is a game.

Secondly is a situation where if Osama is realy dead and brutally killed by the American on Pakistan soil then the, question then is what does this death of Al Qaeda leader means to the Americans and to Al Qaeda in general? From what we see, it may be too early for the US to celebrate in a situation where Osama is truly dead. They better wait and patiently pray because Al Qaeda is not Bin Laden but that Al Qaeda is an ideology which has been successfully propagated across the globe. The mistake they may make is to think small by saying that the world is now at peace just because one man called Osama is dead. The US should know better that killing one man does not help destroy an ideology and in this case the Al Qaeda. What the US need to do is to find out what actually is the main reason why Al Qaeda was born and look for means and way of how they can fight this ideology. The war against Al Qaeda continue to cost the US billion of Dollars because they are using the wrong means to solve this problem. You cant use the gun or heavey military hardware to fight Al Qaeda because this whole thing is an ideology and in this regard, the gun can not solve this ideological problem. So even if Osama is dead, this shall not change a thing because Osama has always been in hiding and operations have always been done by his disciples across the globe. But what will the death (if true) of Osama do is to fuel the Al Qaeda movement such that there may be more gruesome attacks in revenge to the death of their leader and this is a natural thing that true followers would do.

Thirdly is the question, what does the death of Osama mean to world terrorism? Here we need to point out that history has shown that in some people tend to speak powerfully when they are in the grave. What we mean is that the blood will normally speak and in this case, blood of the dead Osama may cause even more damage to world systems because those who believe in his ideology will not rest until they show the world what they are made up of. Many would decide to do everything in their power to make sure that they teach the world that Osama was not just like a small boy but that he was a big guy whose ideology has impacted many. While the Americans are celebrating, they should know that at the same time, there may be many who are also joining the Al Qaeda movement in symphathy of the death of Osama. with this therefore, the US should know that this wicked network of terror from the Al Qaeda is not resting right now but planning big in revenge.

Finally the big question is how the US got into Pakistan, a sovereign country to not only arrest Osama but even kill him. What does international law say about a situation like what the US did, to get into a soveregn state and do the killing even without the knowledge of the key leaders of that nation ie Pakistan? We may not be competent to comment on the legality of the Osama brutal death in the hands of the Americans but the one thing we are sure is that somehow somewhere this should be a problem. Getting into a soveregn state without the knowledge of key leaders of that nation can surely not be legally ok. Worse of it that this whole plan was never communicated to the Pakistan authority which in essence violates the doctrine of nation's soveregnity which every nation has to respect. We dont think it is ok for any nation to just do as they wish just because they are super power nations.

Having said this, we have the following thing to point out: firstly is that the dead of Osama should not be taken for granted because of the ideological nature of the Al Qaeda movement and that proper means need to be put in place if nations have to effectively deal it. As early mentioned, using violence or weapon as western nations are doing does not even help solve the problem because this is about an ideology which is fast advancing and gaining grounds across the globe. The more military hardware is used to deal with Al Qaeda the more they fuel the movement. So we suggest that a new brand ideology need to be put in place effectively deal and solve the Al Qaeda problem.

IS THE AFRICAN UNION OF ANY VALUE IN AFRICA TODAY

By: Qeko

The one most shocking thing in African politics and conflicts today is the role of the African Union in bringing about peace. Many people keep on wondering as to whether it is necessary to have an institution in Africa that add no value in the lives of African people. People keep on asking as to why Africa has many political conflicts and the African Union seem not to do anything to come up with rightful solution to them. There are conflicts in Somalia where there is a failed state where few nations agreed to sent their troops as part of African peace Keeping force. There is also the conflicts in Ivory Coast where apparantly there seem to be no amicable solution to the conflict. Then now we have the uprising and revolution that is blowing across North African states especially Libya where Qaddafi's pro-government troops allegedly continues to bomb areas controlled by the anti government forces in the east and western part of the country.

In showing their support for the steps taken by the UN and the US and other EU states against Libya, it was expected of the AU to expel Libya from the organisation. The lattest is that the UN has voted to suspend Libya from the United Nation Human Rights Council which is a good move by the world body. Now while other bodies and institutions are concern and taking steps to isolate the Libyan leader, the African Union which was suppose to be examplary is not like doing anything not even to expel Libya from the organisation which is making so many people worried and surprised. However that Libya is not expelled from the AU is seen as a dangerous move because in the near future it will be difficult for the AU to deal with similar situations and cases. In as much as Qaddaffi is the brain behind the formation of the AU, he still has to be shown a RED CARD for killing his own people and turning the once peaciful country into a battle ground.

Having said this, we therefore want to call upon the AU that its about time that they realise that this is the 21st Century where the world is changing and they need to be in line with what is happening around them. They should avoid being a toothless institution which no meaning in the lives of African People. Why should the whole AU not take action while people are dying at the hand of the Brother leader? Should we wait for the US to lead the way? Why do we always wait for nations outside Africa to lead the way while we as Africans can handle and deal with such situations?