HISTORICAL TOURISM:CALLING FOR AN OFFICIAL HEROES ACRE, WOULD MUTHARIKA DESERVE THE PLACE?

IF MUTHARIKA cannot fit in to be called a HERO  and  because he chose Ndata as a final resting place  over a neutral state chosen place, lets deliberatey find a place,suggestively named  National cemetery for Great Sons and Daughters of Malawi if the word hero is too strong to use .Now that every leader and great citizen might want to be buried  under their home soil.We might not be fair to our history................What happens to history of great sons and daughters of Malawi if  every reputable citizen and all great leaders their families insists on having them buried in their home areas?.

In my previous blog i think and know that i was among a few Malawians who were deemed as rather being in celebratory mood upon the death of a leader than mourning.I respect the views of any soul because antagonism of political views is a sign of progress in this inventful wheel called democracy.I do not agree that i  jubilated a second.Matter of factly,i am only happy that we have changed a leader whose fruits we are yet to reap as i mourn the fallen H.E as a human being not a president because to me he died long time ago as a reputable leader so to say.I am mourning him as a father but as i justify that am doing the Malawian way i must admit his policies for me were a bitter pill on my bedside.

Having said that ,on my walk back to my place i call home a drankard who called himself "Peter " as he staggered before me,i thought how come this guy can  still afford a tot of kachasu(local brewd spirits) and yet i walked home that day to save a penny for a box of matches and a candle due to the intermittent power supply.He shouted "ambuye koma mukudziwa kuti Bingunso anali ndi Mbali yabwino...........er...err........phuu" he caughed and showered his spittles in the air.I gave it a thought and i realised what Joyce Hilda Mtila Banda had said upon recieving a sword of reign was true .Lets remember the good things he did for Malawi.History will still keep these things in our library.

His drunkard skull  had aired out something that struck a cord in my opposite political view(ers) brain in me.Two sides of acoin and if i loathed his head i have to acknowledge the tail.

 EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING?

• Bingu was that leader who wanted to bail Malawi out of dependency syndrome,he said this in his first term that Malawi is not poor but the people are. He encouraged you and me to think and dream in colour.Ofcourse this is a long walk to such destiny but it never harms to start with a step by now.
• He advocated the zero-deficit Budget which meant a stop to begging  funds from donors purse.
• He openly fought against the gay issue which later became a bait by donors aid or a trap into aid cut and all sorts of end of economic and relations ties.This was a price to pay for defending the spiritual and ethical belief of the cultural fabric that has been wooven since slavery.
• availability of ARVs to the rural poor

All the above choices of how Mutharika made in the effort of building Malawi should never die with him. I may be wandering  about to break the news that Mutharika is a hero in his making because i know the July 20 killings of protesters,the two term presidency without vice presidents and the bad laws will emerge and ridicule my argument for hero song .However,we must choose the words on his epitaph and here i am let me just call him the GREAT SON OF MALAWI.

If he is not befiting a heroes song then lets call him the son of Malawi who did his part and departed the time we needed him most.We needed him to clean up  his own mess.We have no guiding principles that spells out a hero description as at now.If our constitution is silent then we need a deliberate bill now come the elapse of 30 days mourning period.Sons and daughters of Malawi need one secluded but special cemetery for the burial of their remains.Lets borrow a leaf from Kenya,Nmibia ,South Africa and Zimbabwe.

It is shocking to learn that Mutharika chose Ndata next to his wife Ethel when he was still alive.As per custom the ancestors though we believe in God might haunt Hon.Henry Mussa and the funeral committee if they go against his wishes.It is time to deliberately put in place a line in the costitution  that shall mean once you are in a public office or fall in the category of great citizens HEROES ACRE be a final home.

This is a historical tourism.As time sleeps they say history is born .Lets make our own history for the next generation.

Namibia for example deliberately passed a bill  and was enacted in their constitution on the conferment of heroes and the great people of their country.

Article 32(3) of Namibian constitution conferment of state funeral ,4(1) subject to provisions of section 3 and section 12 or 13 up to 1  that state funeral may be conducted  at Regional heroes Acre ,the Natioanl heroes acre or at any other burial place in Namibia.

• Those befiting a hero title must have ;had a significant contribution to betterment of Namibia
• noteworthy of service,any service it can be art,football or music
• veterans of war ,leadership, human rights activist and notable service

By the end of this article i still do not know if Mutharika was a hero or a Zero.All i can rightly say is he tried his best part to contribute to the cake of the Nation.