Hail Malawi First Lady, she inspires hope: But don’t do a Grace Mugabe

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) cadres should count themselves lucky to have one person, who Malawians are slowly falling in love with: the first lady.

Even we on the streets, are beginning to like the First Lady. Many of you know the reason why. But in case you did not read the papers or stumble upon social media grapevine, I urge you to read on.

The First Lady, Gertrude Mutharika has been the talk of town lately. In minibuses, pubs, church gatherings such as milaga and mphakati and of course, on social media.

The talk is about her surprise visit to the Malawi National Netball Team, the Queens currently in training at the Blantyre Youth Centre, where she motivated our underpaid girls.

The Queens are in camp, ahead of the Africa Netball Championship to be held in Uganda from 24 to 30 June.

“I heard that they [girls] were in camp, so my coming is just to cheer them up as you know the netball team is doing well. As their Patron I wanted to give them some morale and to let them know that they make us proud. I encourage them to work and do the nation proud and I know they will. We are all behind them,” said Madame Mutharika on meeting the girls.

But that was not all. During the visit, the First Lady took to the netball court and trained with the team. Her picture in Queens gear has warmed and won many hearts.

Word on the street is that, she looks cute and humble. I am not here to shower her with praises—our taxes are enough—but if truth be said, the First Lady is doing some good image building work for that office, which was in tatters after many years. Very little good things have come out of that State-funded office.

Memories are still fresh when scandals from that office were endless and Malawians were being insulted right, left and centre by occupiers of that office. Many of us in the streets have really not paid much attention to the First Lady office, because it has been used for fundraising for personal gain and abused as a political office.

But the current First Lady is perhaps changing all that.

Her charity work, Beautify Malawi has been well embraced. Lilongwe and Blantyre cities are beneficiaries of her campaign. Her emphasis on keeping the environment clean and green is a message that resonates well with the public and all stakeholders who wish this country well.

We on the streets are living in cleaner cities than four years ago, all thanks to her efforts and those who have supported such causes.

The result of her work to end child marriages is there for all to see. Her efforts to uplift girl’s lives are admirable.

Ladies and gentlemen, without sounding too official, the First Lady does not embarrass us on the international stage. Her dresses and speeches do not really disappoint.

Roast me dear readers, even before writing this piece, I took a long deep breath knowing Malawians are bitter people. I asked myself, will writing about the First Lady not anger many of my readers? But as you can see, facts do speak for themselves.

We all are falling in love with the First Lady. Is liking her too much to ask from bitter and hating Malawians?

A word of warning though: this piece is in no way a vote of confidence that she too, should run for office of President in 2024, the way Grace Mugabe or Janet Museveni are embarrassing themselves right now.

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