Bingu statue at Malawi parliament draws mixed feelings
People have expressed mixed feelings with reports that govenrment is constructing a statue at Parliament building in honour of the late president Bingu wa Mutharika.
Bingu, the ex-World Bank economist turned politician, died after a cardiac arrest on April 5 2012.
The Bingu sculpture was done by renowned South African sculptor Jean Doyle’s Artistic Works Holdings Limited, who designed founding president Hastings Kamuzu Banda’s statue which stands at the Memorial Tower in Area 18, Lilongwe.
Nyasa Times understands the Mutharika monument will be like that of Kamuzu.
However, people have expressed mixed feelings on the decision to erect the statue in honour of what government terms “Bingu’s great contributions to the country’s political and socio-economic sectors”.
TimesTalk phone-in programme on Times Radio on Thursday, many people did not oppose to the statue as was the case with Mahatma Ghandi of India whose bust in Blantyre drew the public anger.
However, some people expressed reservations on the site for Bingu’s statue, with others saying it could have been near Kamuzu’s Masoleoum.
One contributor identified as Mr Mapanda said it was wrong to spend millions on Bingu statue, saying he ended being “more autocratic and intolerant of criticism.”
Mapanda said pro-democrcay hero late Chakufwa Chihana deserves nation’s honour with a statue.
Apart from Kamuzu Banda, government has on several occasions announced plans to construct a mausoleum for the late Chakukwa Chihana. But despite the many pronouncements on Chihana’s mausoleum, there has been nothing on the ground for years now.
Many others said Bingu, the “economist-in-chief” should be remembered for the positive things he did while ruling the country.
Sources within government estimate that the statue will cost taxpayers in excess of K120 million, including travel expenses for government officials and family members who have been supervising the work.
Others commenting expressed reservations that taxpayers should fork millions of kwacha to finance the statue of the departed president in the current prevailing economic conditions.
When Nation on Sunday newspaper first broke the news on the statue, opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) described the decision to erect the statue now as a sign of mixing priorities at the time government is struggling to finance its own budget.
Minister of Information and Communication Technology who is also government spokesperson Henry Mussa said all is in order for the statue at Parliament.
“It is justifiable to mount it [the statute] around Parliament precincts, as this is a symbol of honour to the late Bingu wa Mutharika for the unprecedented infrastructure development which the country gained because of his bold decision to shift Malawi’s diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing, China, in 2007,” Mussa said in quotes reported by Daily Times.
President Peter Mutharika, who is also Bingu’s brother, privately visited the site at the National Assembly last month.
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This is insane… That guy does not deserve a statue whatsoever. We have people who like the Alton Chirwa’s, Chilebwe and the like are the ones who really deserve such…. Malawians must wake up… Next mudzamvanso kuti enawa popeza amangitsa Liwonde bridge komanso ka nseu kulilongwe akufunika tiwamangile statue….. However that money has to be channeled to important issues affecting our nation on daily basis. Ie. Protecting people with albinism or school blocks. Cry my beloved country
Why?
Was Kamuzu not autocratic? Why did MCP and Mapanda not oppose the erection of his statue and the mausoleum?
I feel people are too much obsessed with Chihana as a fighter for multpartism in Malawi. His name in that fight must not be mentioned without mentioning Bakili Muluzi, unless such respect is an exclusive right for the dead.
Parliament premises is the right place for Bingu’s statue. Parliament building was the very first project of Bingu’s boldness demonstrated in switching diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing.
Bingu’s portrait needs to be on one of Malawi’s banknotes and so are Muluzi’s and Chihana’s portraits.
Messed up priorities! DPP is so desperate to win they are throwing everything but the kitchen sink hoping something sticks
We will bring down as fast as you put it up!
…..and Tax Payers are paying for this, why can’t we redirect resources to protect our brothers and sisters with albinism
Why not putting the statue of this guy in front of a filling station, as a memorial on all this hours we spent lining up for fuel?
We need schools and hospitals and not zowumba za mbava ngati iyi. Dpp ikuchita zoyipa including kupha Anthu osalakwa with a condition called albinism. I don’t like the term. It’s ism and schism.
If you have already paid for it simply go and put it at ndata farm on his mausoleum or at the MUST University! As a nation do we need this statue? The answer is NO.
We will bring it down in 3 months
That is just chiboliboli. It has no impact on us. Bingu did better than Bakili, Joyce Band and ichichi chikupha albinochi. Bingu became arrogant and died from self inflicted hypertension as result of uchitsiru wake. Bingu managed to nip Bakili but he in the end stole billions which APM inherited. Bingu started oppressing other tribes in favor of alomwe. Bingu openly supported the qouta system of education with the aim of eliminating northerners from top positions. Pitala is a silent killer and has maintained the hatred of northerners, Yaos , Senas , Muslims and Chewas. Voting for dpp is digging graves for northerners and Chewas. Please let’s hold hands to defeat dpp. Any development dpp is talking about is mbedza for a big kill. The highway in Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Nkhatabay roads ndi mbedza chabe. It’s our taxes. It’s not APM’s money. Iwe akubapo zambiri and that is what mbedza does.
What did He do to deserve this? We need to rethink before putting someone’s statue please, we suffered alot during His tanure of office.
Erect it but we will pull it down when MCP wins in May watershed elections.
I will help to bring it down on May 21sy😀😀😀
The nation needs to be told the truth. While Bingu was alive, the Minister of Tourism then, Hon Anne Kachikho, told parliament that they had ordered a statues for Bingu and that it would be as Big as Nelson Mandela’s on Mandela Square in Sandton. This was never delivered when Bingu died.
Can the nation be told what happened to that statue and how much was spent on it. Otherwise we may spending money on the same statue in another Cashgate style, which is typical of Malawi.
That is Malawi for you! People torture us when they are alive and we cry to God for relief, only to end up celebrating their lives and immortalizing them when they die. Meanwhile, the real heroes in the history of this country continue to suffer oblivion. We are a nation whose martyrs are not and cannot be happy because we glorify the dictators, the torturers, the despots and all manner of diabolic leaders. How can our martyrs rest in peace when our behaviour, as a nation, shows that we are treating their blood and sacrificial lives with contempt, glorifying the very same people who sent our martyrs to their untimely deaths?
Yet we are failing to protect the living people with ulbanism….this country
Which infrastructure if I may ask? Ndekuti every person who has been a president will require a scalpture?. We need to define our understanding of the word “president”.
Let his family pay for it, they have the money
Mutharika knows he is losing the elections hence erecting the statue of his brother now because he won’t have authority or chance to do so after 21May.
New government will move it out of Parliament building to be erected outside on Ndata farm in Thyolo where he comes from.
He was very unpopular towards the end of his life as if he had contracted chindoko.