Concerned citizens ask Assets Authority to remove ‘racist’ expression from circular: ‘Indigenous Black Malawians’
Concerned citizens have written a petition to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) to remove the expression that states that all bids submitted for national competitive bidding must give preference to 60% Indigenous Black Malawians and 40% to others.
The concerned citizens, who are of Asian origin, coloureds, whites and people living with albinism, contend that the wording ‘Indigenous Black Malawians’ that is in the circular borders on racism.
The petition says: “In essence, the expression ‘Indigenous Malawian’ is a misnomer and is incapable of being meaningfully defined and should be completely removed and forgotten, not only in this poorly thought out definition but in all future legislation that relates to Malawians.
“That this has reared itself at this point in Malawi’s history is a clear indication that even our Parliamentarians are sadly misguided.
“This calls for a desperate need for the subject of citizenship and equality to be part of the civic education necessary in this Tonse Government Administration so that Malawians are not spoken of as Azungu or Amwenye, even by children in the villages who are conditioned by parents to view others as a different species.
“It, therefore, goes against the grain for government to use racist methods in attempt to level the economic benefits for the less privileged members of society. This can be done in a much more inclusive, well-meaning manner,” says the petition addressed to the Director General.
It has been copied to the Speaker of Parliament; the Ombudsman; the Attorney General; the Minister of Justice; the Minister of Education and the Minister of Information.
Prominent people among the signatories include, Rafik Hajat, Robert A. Jamieson, Roy Thornicroft, Krishna Achutan, Habiba Osman, Carver Bhima, Robert Coombes, Rolf Ramesh Patel, Mary Bapu, Alice Maida among others.
The circular, dated 1st July 2019, was addressed to all principal secretaries, chief executives of parastatal organisations, district commissioners, heads of departments as well as heads of all public institutions and copied to the Chief Secretary, Secretary to the Treasurer as well as the Auditor General.
The clause of the circular, referenced PPDA/01.22, is taken from Section 44 (10) of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act as amended by Parliament in August 2017 and the petitioners contend that this provision of the law runs counter to the express terms of the Republican Constitution.
They quote Chapter IV of the Constitution that specifically describes equality when it says: “Discrimination of persons in any form is prohibited and all persons are, under any law, guaranteed equal and effective protection against discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic of social origin, disability, property, birth or other status or condition”.
The petitioners say: “Great exception, therefore, is taken at the tone of this circular as it discriminates against anyone that does not appear to be either indigenous or black enough to participate in business on an equal footing in Malawi.
“This position is further entrenched in Section 29 and 30 of the same Chapter of the Republican Constitution on the right of citizens to participate fully in economic activity as well as to enjoy the right to development.
“The contention, therefore, is that this Section of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act promulgated by Parliament in 2017 runs counter to the express provisions of the Constitution in Chapter 1: Sections 4 and 5, which state that ‘any Act of Government or any Law that is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution shall, to the extent of such inconsistency, be invalid’.
The petitioners further quote the law as saying a ‘black person’ means a dark skinned person who originates from Africa or whose ancestors originated from Africa and it shall include a coloured person and ‘citizen’ shall have the meaning ascribed in the Malawian Citizenship Act.
A ‘coloured person means a person who was born from at least one indigenous black Malawian parent and that ‘indigenous black Malawian’ means a Malawi Citizen who is an indigenous person and a black person.
As such, the petitioners contend that the word Indigenous is left hanging as it means a person originating or occurring naturally at a particular place in Malawi and who is not a settler or a colonial.
“Although the Preliminary Provisions try to clear up the issue of who is meant by Black or Indigenous, the issue is that many people in Malawi do not necessarily have black parentage and the explanation does not apply to them although they are true citizens.
“This despite the fact that they are neither settlers nor colonialists and therefore they are barred from being recognised as black or indigenous and therefore would not be allowed to freely conduct business in Malawi.
“The interpretations are nebulous in the extreme, and generally confusing. It is difficult to understand why such terms are still in use in Malawi like ‘coloured’, which is expressly forbidden in the Republican Constitution as it borders on creating a separate racial grouping, something that even the first President Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda forbade.
“We are not in an apartheid situation like South Africa where race distinctions were, and still are encouraged and are very stark. We believe this is a Malawi that should have the same racial distinctions as Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania.”
The petitioners recommends that any mention of black or of indigenous be removed from the PPDA Act and any other Act or law in Malawi as it runs counter to Constitutional provisions.
They further quote Article 1 and 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which Malawi ascribes to, that states: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood (Article 1).
And that: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status (Article 2).
“Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.”
Hajat is just a big mouth publicity seeker. He condones his Indian brothers bribing our leaders to corruptly award them contracts.
He uses his girlfriend at University of Malawi to fraudulently obtain grants from NGOs. Hajat is racist.
Amwenyewa amanena okha kuti dziko ndi wanu ndalama ndi wathu kutereku ndiye kuti si a Malawi eni eni ayi. 10% yomweyo yakwana chifukwa ndi anthu akuba ndi opanga exploit a Malawi.
Anyone who has claimed citizenship through naturalization or other channel taking advantage of the constitution may be a citizen of Malawi but not native Malawian. Mr. Hajat himself does not qualify as a native according to his documented definition. We should learn from how native Americans were treated and exploited by colonial, even today. There is no room for native Malawian entrepreneurs in current circumstances unless native intellectuals gather to defend the constitution, before its distorted. The only thing that needs to be amended in the circular is the word “black” which is a racist remark. Anyone who is offspring of a native Malawian grandfather, is an indigenous Malawian regardless of color..that automatically excludes immigrants, even if they are born in Malawi
If our public officials and all major decision makers in our govt departments and ministries were patriotic enough, there would have been no need for this circular. Bwenzi tikungopanga za “kadziwa mwini, mkhuto wa fulu (tortoise)” , and ensure that all lucrative govt tenders/contracts are given to our own people, “coloureds” and people with albinism inclusive.
We have been taken for a ride for too long by these crooked mwenyes who rape our economy and export the illegally (corruption and fraud) gotten wealth to either UK or Dubai because, in the first place, they don’t give a hoot about this country apart from exploiting it.
I know that Section 20 of our Constitution militates against this circular, but, for God’s sake, let us learn to be patriotic for once and show the proverbial middle finger to these thieving amwenyes that their time for raping this country is finally over. Let us behave like our friends in Kenya and Ethiopia where the owners of the land are No. 1 in every aspect related to their countries’ economies. Go to India as a black African and see how you are going to be treated. No more fwe, fwe from these thieving mwenyes. This is our country, and if you don’t like it here, catch the next flight out as soon as international flights resume. After all, you have never genuinely loved this country.
BRITISH COLONIAL GOVERNMENT CENSUS DESCRIPTIONS
1. Black people = NATIVES
2. White people = EUROPEANS
3. Amwenye = INDIANS
4. Mixed race people = COLOUREDS
COLOURED people is a racist description of people who either of their parents are of BLACK AFRICAN/INDIAN/EUROPEAN descent. In UK people called COLOURED are termed as of Black African, Asian and Mixed Race descent. In Malawi this only applies to mixed race people and this terminology was coined by the British Colonial Government. Everyone who’s not European by descent is termed as COLOURED in the UK. Whoooah AM a COLOURED (MKARADI) according to UK charting of PEOPLE.
All this mayhem was started by the British Colonial Government. The “Coloured” people in Malawi 🇲🇼 are our brothers and sisters. We can’t deny that. It’s all because of the colonisation of our land by foreign and aggressive forces.
We’re all ONE and it’s high time the NATIVES claim back the lost glory to do business and get empowered 💪🏾🇲🇼
Actually the section should have read contracts will be given to INDIGENOUS BLACK MALAWIANS COMPARED TO FOREIGN ASIANS/EUROPEANS AT 90% TO 10%
Coloureds, people living with albinism and Indians are all classified as black people
However government should focus much on developing it’s own people if we want to change as a country not otherway round.
Under colonialism – only whites were given preferential treatment. Everyone else was second class including Indians.
Under Kamuzu he herded Indians to only do business in certain areas and restricted what trades they could go into. He separated them from us and today we complain when SOME of them do not integrate. They have reason people, they were segregated from the start. Let’s not be prejudiced.
Let’s be realistic the big money in Malawi is in agriculture and that is dominated by the whites, but we don’t see that money as they spend it overseas and don’t like to show off.
The money went to mwenyez when Bakali sold them companies that were opened by Kamuzu during privatization.
Rephrase please and make every Malawian equal. The problem now is that our Indian friends are given the Lions share. The solution is simply to make and ensure that all things are equal basi. You can set up a tenders board that keeps it’s eyes specifically on that
Give me a break. Asians are hiding behind this with their foolish unloving attitude. They are disgusting folks.
Pangani suggest mau oti aikidwe komano 60% of successful bids azikhala a anthu okudafe mumafuna muzilemela nokha bwanji, you racist fucks. It’s not as if youf companies pay generously ma employees anu amakhalila kuwilingula. Go 5o First Capital Bank, Malawi Sun, etc, koma mumakhalira kubweresa “expatriates” as if this country doesn’t have professionals already and ma expatriate anu osaghanso ntchito ngati awo. As Dr. Laz said dzulo your time is over. Munthu wompanga frustrate mnzake palibepo chake in this country ambiri mupanga opt for the 2nd passports you have, muzipita mwatitopesa.
Good framing of MG stuff aiming at stopping Brahmaputra boys smiling. It’s aiming at making Banthu to smile as well.
Brahmaputra is uneasy now as the Speaker of Parliament said it one day and they thought she was joking – let’s have companies like Mkaka Civil Contractors get a nod and Plem rest for now.
BOMA siili mwaliwona BOMA 🇲🇼
I see nothing wrong with the wording here.
Mwenyezi shud not act Malawians now simply because the issue at hand is talking about business.
Despite being in this country for quite a long time, they don’t vote during the elections.
Mwenyezi are the ones who have caused misery to indigenous Malawians.
They’re the ones who deliberately create economic slavery amongst the locals.
They’re the ones who are in the forefront in economic apartheid in this country indirectly.
They’re selfish.
That’s why they neither allow their sons and dotaz you marry an indigenous Malawian
Next move , Chakwera shud close all the forex money bureaus .
If this country is not developing, it is bcos of them.
They pretend to develop it but in real senses they’re not.
A mwenye ndinu anthu a tsankho ndiso oipa.
Most of the people who signed the petition are the kind that benefited from colonialism. Where land was taken away from the black man without paying a dime for it. Free labour was used in the thangata system to reap tons of economic benefits at the back of a black man without paying a kobo. Even now you can stand on an ant hill start talking about racism and equality. Hell No! Pay back what you stole and then we will start talking about equality. You are citizens of this country but you don’t get tell us about racism and equality. Stop right there.
Chilima and Hajat are not pure black Malawians. The former is a Mozambican and the latter is an Indian. So, yes they must not own land simply. They are foreigners.
Who the fuck tolx you about Saulos, do you really know his background kapena mungofuna kubeba?
Yes Arafat Hamdan Chilima must tell us who and where his ancestors are. Munthu waphuma ngati chilima can not be a black Malawian in any way. Chilima is like Mia, alendo adyera okhaokha.
No to black empowerment! Perpetuation of domination of one group by the other! Kkkkk!!!! Racism is real! In order to address the injustices brought about by colonialism there is need to favor one group against the other deliberately. How do you intend to address those injustices that have been perpetuated by systems intended to dominate one group by the other? In this case there is no discrimination it’s just a matter of weighting the scale in favor of the other 60/40 in order to balance off the injustice.
Change is coming 💪🏾🇲🇼
Perhaps the Immigration Dept & MRA must also check on how ‘indigenous’ or ‘black’ these people before they are offered passports or taxes collected hmmmmm just thinking aloud.
In fact maybe create a different national anthem for them too 🤔
Coloureds and other Malawians are here to stay and 2025 Malawi will be led by a coloured man named SKC. Musova
Malawi has no indigenous people. If my history serves me right the Akafula are not here anymore. The Chewa came from Congo. The Yao from Mozambique. Our dear Ngonis were cowards running away from shaka zulu . The Lomwes were trouble makers in Mozambique. So no one should lay claim here. do what is right and rephrase those records. Malawi for all Malawians. Black brown red orange whatever
Your comment lacks substance. You must know that Africa did not have countries before colonization. It was just this huge land divided into kingdoms and people could move from one place to another. Any Black African is indigenous in an African country.
Enawa they have 5 citizenships…Indian, Kenyan, Ugandan, British, Malawian and they use different identities to get different benefits from different governments in different countries
enawa ake ndani ?
Awo alipamwambapa mwina Mnzanga
Thank God that upstanding Citizens with prodigious minds and foresight drafted the Constitution without factoring in personal gain.
That is the protection of all Ethnic minorities in the country.
Await the keyboard warriors and their racist comments – wait for the day when hate speech becomes a crime.
We will have evidence.
The caste system was created for a ‘noble’ purpose. But today you can fight to leave the ‘Dalits’ and join the nobles.
Waiting on all the racist comments come like a tsunami! 🙂
you know!!!
yes yes yes. It is about time. It is extremely racist and wrong. Who amongst us in Malawi does not have mixed family. What Wrong have they done. SKC himself is a mixed man. So is Sidik Mia, Lillian Patel, Rashy Gaffar and many others. Yet they give it their all for Malawi. It is time to remove the racist wording
Hell noooo. You guys (malawians of Asian origin) are the first to evade tax corrupt and milk the taxes that are milled form the 95% Black malawians kenako fly out on your British passport uku mukuyankhula chimwenye . Palibe za dziko lanu ndalama wathu. Yes we are all malawians but one group came and marginalised the majority. This Mr hajat is affirmative action. Wake smell the coffee. Shut up.
Be careful. Be very careful of lions on wolves bag. These are not concerned citizens. They are vamphire. Apite kwao kumene azikachita izi.
Ndikudabwa nawotu ma concerned citizen amenewa.
Kwawo kuti. SKC is VERY Malawian and very Coloured. Azibale ake ali ku Lirangwe. Including Rashy who is a first cousin.
Inuyo kwanu ndi kuti??? Ndipo amenewa kwawo nkuti? ????? Akati mmalawi ndi ndani? ? ? ? Go to school my friend to know the birthright. Muyambenso kuopa mulungu wamkulu ndi kumapempheranso.
Google birthright and be enlightened.
The French football team is made of of Frenchmen of AFRICAN descent…
No one complains…
May be the concerned citizens should have dealt with the reasons for coming up with the directive or what ever it was. I will narrate a story here. Recently there has been a shortage of cement. The mwenyes in Kasungu were selling at 8000 MK while Mbamoyo a blackman was selling it 6500MK so sadly while cement was being off loaded at the mwenye stores it was not coming to the black. Curiously I asked why Mbamoyo was not ordering cement so we can still buy it cheap. I was told by the worker there that they ordered long time back but since Shayona belongs to an Indian he is supplying only to Indian traders. Now concerned citizens you can read and make references to the constitution just bear in mind the Malawian poor is being ripped off his little cash. A poor person is a sleeping lion. Don’t wake him up. Go easy on this one it’s a matter of time before the sleeping lion wakes up and start roaring on our streets. Don’t forget we known now that it’s these mwenyes who were in league with DDP stealing our tax money.