Malawi: Is homosexuality anti-Malawi?, Voices against former President, and Malawian blogger visits Yahoo! · Global Voices
Victor Kaonga

Homosexuality is one the most controversial topics and illegal to practise in Malawi. However, many Malawians in the diaspora are faced with the reality of gay or lesbian relationships. A regular Malawian blogger on MMalawikutheba is shocked at the behaviour of some Malawians who are gay and practise it in the diaspora. Writing in Chichewa, he asks Malawians not be taken up by Western lifestyles where homosexuality is allowed. He calls upon such people to go home and show their parents that they are marrying a fellow man or fellow woman and expect to be accepted. He deplores the lifestyle and says it is anti-Malawi:
Nanga kungoti tiri kunja ndiye kumangotengera makhalidwe alionse, mpakana kufika poti a malawi ayamba kugonana ndi amuna anzawo (akuti za u gay) Zonyasa! Makhalidwe oyipa ngati amenewa ndakayika ngati angapange athakhala ku mudzi kuja, tapitani nawotu anzungu anuwo ku Malawi mukawaonetse makolo kuti mwapeza banja, a malawi anzanga mwamuna mzako ungamugwire pati? kumvetsa chisoni kwabasi, akuti kunja kuno kuli ufulu! Khalidwe limeneli sila chimalawi, ndi lonyasa!
Voices against Muluzi
The announcement by former Malawi's president, Bakili Muluzi, that he wants to stand in the 2009 elections continues to generate political in discussions by Malawians at home and abroad. Bakili Muluzi served his two year-term between 1994 to 2004. Debate over the legality of his intention is equally strong. But the former president seems set, a situation that makes Bright Molande who writes at Anti-Bakili Muluzi blog look at Dr Muluzi's “Backward flight” comparing his presidency with Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda and the incumbent Dr Bingu wa Mutharika:
Muluzi’s 10 years are pitied between two visionaries and great statesmen. He had a mandate which was accomplished. It was short and transitionary. Muluzi’s mandate was to take Malawi from where Kamuzu Banda had left off particularly in 1964. Our societies had forms of democracy even before the coming of colonialists. … What Muluzi should have known is that after his mandate of restoring democracy, Malawi needs leaders with a vision to take over. There may be some within UDF. But now all sane Malawians of goodwill know that Muluzi was not gifted with a vision or commitment for development beyond his mandate. This is why it is extremely dangerous for Muluzi to come back.
No one would want a bite from a rabid dog. The cost and pain of is just unimaginable. A Lilongwe-based blogger Austin Madinga wonders why the Veterinary Department in Malawi no longer runs that anti-rabies campaigns. He says that a long time ago there used to be this radio advert from the veterinary division warning people:
that aChimpeni would be in a particular area shooting stray dogs. It advised people to always keep dogs on a chain or in an enclosure. It went further to warn people that aChimpeni would blow his whistle twice… Well a decade or more has passed since I heard that advert. I can also safely assume the same period of time has elapsed since any dogs were shot because these creatures seem to be a nuisance now more than ever before especially in Lilongwe.
Madinga invites others to confirm this by driving through Area 15 in Lilongwe. He also marvels at large number of male dogs around female dogs in the area, fighting and chasing each other.
Malawian blogger visits Yahoo!
A software developer and Systems Administrator flew to the US to attend the 2007 Nonprofit Software Development Summit and was able to visit Yahoo! offices. Soyapi Mumba blogs about his personal impressions about the trip, even comparing Malawian to the American pizza, which he says is much thicker than Malawian pizza:
We passed by Yahoo's Cafeteria where I got a delicious piece of pizza and a cup of Capuccino. The pizza in US is much thicker than that in Malawi and Yahoo!'s pizza isn't an exception, by the way.
Soyapi's experience at Yahoo!:
I met Leonard Lin, who co-founded upcoming.org and now runs Yahoo events like Hack Day. I also met Pasha Sadir who developed Yahoo Travel Planner and created the coolest web application of the moment, Yahoo! Pipes. I also met kevnull and Daniel Raffel (just finished listening to his SXSW 2007 podcast) who also work on Pipes.
After some minutes, I realised I was sitting next to Caterina Fake's desk. Caterina is the co-founder of Flickr. In fact, the book I picked and started browsing through belonged to her. She cheerfully came into the room and you can rightly tell from her blog posts how cheerful she is.
“Actually, you can have that book” she said to me while I held a “Design Like You Give a Damn” book in my hands. “Thanks”, I responded and took the opportunity to get an autograph from the web celebrity :) Since I couldn't get a picture at Yahoo, this is the only graphical evidence that I met her, right?
VOIP looses profit
Clement Nyirenda, a Malawian based in South Africa and an active client of VOIPs announces the closure of SAVoIP Network after some difficult months. SAVoIP Network came into being after South Africa's deregulation of the telecommunication industry.
Marnus says the projected income from members using their products never materialised-less than 1% of the network's more than 26,000 members ordered prepaid airtime or used the voip facility to call internationally.However, the overheads needed to be covered monthly. The ‘outflow’ was just far greater than the ‘inflow'! As a result, Marnus was left with no other option but to call it a day.