Lucius Banda’s song promoting girls education in Malawi

• Msungwana Shaina launched

• Brainchild of British envoy’s spouse

• DfID heads tweet it as ‘Malawi’s Christmas Number 1 hit’

A song recorded by Malawi popular musician-cum-politician Lucius Banda promoting girls education in the country has been released and officially launched.

The song, Msungwana Shaina, was launched on Wednesday night at the official residence of British High Commissioner to Malawi, Micheal Nevin where Lucius performed.

It is part of the Send Your Girls to School Project, which is the brainchild of British envoy Micheal Nevin’s spouse, Sawako

It was originally written in English but Lucius translated it to Chichewa and created a story out of it and recorded it with Lulu as the producer.

Sawako said she came up with the idea of the song during her support of Japanese NGO School feeding project at a primary school in Mzimba South.

“When I was talking to the headmistress about learners’ poor attendance rate, she told me about the groups of older women in the villages who try to discourage girls from going to school when they reach Standard Four, telling them to stay at home and get ready for marriage,” she explained.

“It is common knowledge that Malawians love music and dancing. This is how I came up with the idea of getting my message across in a song. And I knew right from the beginning that the person who’s going to compose and sing the song should be someone famous, male, and mature and who can connect with the older generation and Lucius Banda met all these criteria,” she said.

Head of British aid agency Dfid to Malawi, Jane Marshall promoted the song in her Twitter account.

“Let your girls shine….and dance. Our prediction (and hope) for Malawi’s Christmas Number 1 hit,” tweeted the Dfid head.

She stated that a significant focus of DFID’s ongoing support to education in Malawi is a large multi-year programme for Keeping Girls in School.

“So far, 14,000 girls received bursaries, 1180 latrines were built, female teachers are being trained, violence in schools is being tackled,” tweeted Marshall.

“We all, together, need to make it the norm for girls to go to school, stay in school and realise their potential in Malawi,” she stated.

Banda said it was “a great honour” to record the song.