I woke this morning and saw an article on one of the local
online publications that government intends to introduce and enact a bill
called E-Bill. This they say will help regulate online publications. The story
has mentioned several publications and I breathed a sigh of relief because it omitted
blogs. We are safe in the meantime for sure.
Let me hasten to today’s topic before they enact this bill
in the middle of my writing.
Long ago during my primary school days, we were naively made
to believe that John Zenasi Ungapake Tembo is an enigma of some sort. Those
days, people referred to him as someone who has no heart and would gladly take
away human life as he wishes.
I remember one of my primary school teachers made a
sarcastic remark to say “I f you continue being a naughty class, I will call
upon Tembo to deal with you” (This was during the transition period when Tembo
and friends had ceased being political immortals).
Later on, I attended one rally by AFORD founder, late
Chakufwa Chihana, who (in Julius Malema style) chanted “Ife ndife AFORD,
tangoona Jekete la Tembo lang’ambika kunsana”
Then, there was the most shocking story about Tembo, among
my cronies we heard and believed that Tembo is omnipresent. Not only that; we
also heard and believed that at his Dedza house he is human from the waist up;
snake from the waist down. Shaaa, really? It got me so scared.
These stories made me so inquisitive about John Tembo such
that I really wanted to meet him in person. (I wanted the human part only not
the snake)
My moment came in January 2009 at his Nyambadwe residence
and there are three things he said that I vividly remember.
One; while commenting on a colleague we travelled with,
Tembo said
“You are very beautiful, are you from Nsanje?
The lady said no to which Zenasi continued
“I am asking because women from Nsanje are very beautiful” (Whatever
Tembo meant I still failed to grasp)
Two; Tembo told us that Kamuzu loved women. He laughed about
it and quickly reversed his utterance saying “I mean he loved to treat all women
well”
Three; as we were admiring his beautiful lawn facing the
highly populated Mbayani Township he said “I love this view because it makes me
connected with my people. For me I feel like I live in Mbayani not Nyambadwe. I
love associating with the people”
(I wonder if people in Nyambadwe don’t matter
to Tembo)
Upon leaving his residence my mind registered one thing.
This man is not omnipresent or a half snake but he has a way of choosing his
words and actions cautiously and cunningly.
Look at how silent he has become after the Joyce Banda
regime started making some mistakes. He believes in the rule of silence while
listening to what the masses are saying.
People are comparing him to Zambia’s Michael Sata who won
the elections after caretaker President Rupiah Banda failed to govern
convincingly.
John Tembo might believe that this can also happen in Malawi.
No wonder he is playing hide and seek on the issue of running for Presidency in
2014.
I don’t have a conclusive stand on this but one thing I
surely know is that Joyce Banda should not trust Tembo antics.
Just as my
childhood perception presented him as half human, half snake, John Zenasi
Ungapake Tembo will remain half pro-Joyce Banda and half traitor.
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