Weekly Reflections with Dr. Mwelwa

This is going to be one long, hard, harrowing grind of a time. The anxieties over eluding and surviving the coronavirus could soon be superseded by the dreadful economic realities that follow in its wake, and which are sure to bring shuddering from further deeper agonies. Increasingly, the worst of times are envisioned and actually publicly forecasted. We have lost the space to play and to watch others at play. And when the ability to work and live a dignified existence is taken away, there is not much that is left. For when there come those lingering gruelling times where there is failure of hope, there is dashing of dreams, then for many life loses not only its settling anchors, but its guiding lodestars. All of this is what stares in the face, with the grimmest of countenances. When to relax lockdowns, how quickly, or carefully and wisely, to reopen the economy, in which direction and at what rate, with what unconquered optimism to face the future and its near and far horizons. Thes...

We were hearing from low- and moderate-income and minority communities that this was the best labour market they’d seen in their lifetime,” he said. “It is heartbreaking, frankly, to see that all threatened now” (New York Times, April 29). This speaker was described as “the world’s most important economic leader.” Dr. Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve is all of that and more, as he seeks to stabilize a violently rocking and leaking ship, through timely and inspiring leadership from the front. If only our political leaders would learn from stewards like him, strive to imitate him. When a man way up there, like Chairman Powell, can empathize with the large army of smaller people suffering, and be moved to use a word like “heartbreaking” to describe their intensifying economic anguish, then that is the kind of leader that is desired. It is the kind that appreciates and cares for the tens of millions of workers in America forced out of the workforce and transformed into the gri...

Leaders are many times said to be role models or mentors-people whose words and actions are emulated by many who follow them. Zambia has had many Political leaders, of which some are remembered for their words, songs, actions and lifestyles. A good example we can effortlessly single out are the likes of Kenneth Kaunda, who composed and occasionally sung a national unifying song called 'Tiyende Pamodzi NdimutimaUmooo... '  Unfortunately, however, Zambia has not been spared from having Politicians who according to me did and said things that infected all those who innocently looked up to them as role models. They have left behind an infection that has capacity to spread through the national fiber like gangrene. This calls for quick identification and amputation of those affected parts so as to leave a Zambia that practices healthy and clean politics. To get a clear picture of the seriousness of what I today bring out, let us go back a little bit in Zambian Politics and analyze th...

TO many people, Given Katuta is just a member o f Parliament for Chienge Constituency, but who says a politician cannot fall in love? The Chienge law-maker is not only in love with Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD), but she is also in love with the man of her life, Lawrence Mwelwa, vice-chancellor of Chreso University. As South African songbird Yvonne Chaka Chaka says in her song “Every woman needs a man”, Given also needs someone to share her heart with. However, to have Lawrence as her husband did not happen like abracadabra, neither did Lawrence start by writing countless love letters to prove his sincere feelings for Given. Of course, if writing a love letter like many did in school in the olden days was the only way to catch the attention of the woman he admired, he could have found the right big words to impress her, even if it meant risking his letter being set ablaze if she did not love him. But thanks to the cellular phone revolution, a simple international bu...

ICHIKWANKA, BACHIMWENA KUMAMPALANYA Many of my followers have been asking as to why the silence; where is weekly reflections with Dr. Mwelwa? What is he up to? Where is he? Mine has been a deliberate choice to learn silently, and silence does not mean lack of activity. One unknown writer,in one of his articles,defined creativity as “creating unprecedented and unexampled things into being...it means to bring the new into being” He further expressed that “creativity is not found within the known”.How can one be creative, however, in a world full of noise destructions? It is obviously clear that we are living in a noisy world. Unwanted sounds and noises pursue us everywhere we go. In the streets, restaurants, supermarkets and even in the places where silence is considered as a necessity-like schools and hospitals-humans are perpetually subjected to a volcano of sounds. Yet creativity needs silence and a quiet environment. A quiet environment allows the creative person to develop hi...