Someone said, "if you want to remember something, Celebrate it". But the news from Malawi's Capital Hill that there won't be any 6th July Independence Celebrations this year is good news to me. It is good news because indeed there is nothing that we will need to remember about this and the last few years.
It is good news because there is nothing after all that is inspiring us to celebrate. The 30th June newspapers carried several pages of problems raised by the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) with deadlines for action. Reading through those pages, it is like we are a nation that is doomed because action is far from being made. In fact even the dialogue between Government and PAC itself needs dialogue!
The government has made a wise decision because when indeed there is no money to organize something, you have to admit you don't have the money. So it is like the government is surprised July 6 is here again. It has wisely admitted that it could not call for special contributions or indeed still organize something small. The government has shown wisdom is suspecting people won't make any donations if it appealed to them to contribute towards the celebrations. In its wisdom, the government doesn't think people can actually celebrate in some style.
Not celebrating this time is good news because we have celebrated enough some of the same achievements from years past. We celebrated the achievements under Kamuzu for a full 30 years. We celebrated the same and more under Muluzi for 10 years. We added to the same list a few items during Bingu's time for almost 7 years. We have now run out of issues and items to celebrate for and about.
I like the wisdom by the government because this means that we will not be hearing so and so from that opposition political party ignored the national event. So it means we will be spared from those party colors which while so good but do not mean nationalism but simply party-ism.
Each 6th July was special because as boys we could wake up early and be at the school, ready to see the cow butchered so that we collect its blood and boil (luwende). That day we did not care yet about putting on best clothes as long as we were set to eat beef.
I like the idea of the no celebrations because the government is very honest about itself. It knows it is dependent so if someone does not give you money, how do you celebrate? What an admission of dependency. At 52, we are more dependent than when we were a toddler. That is Malawi.
