The generosity of the Chinese to Malawi poverty is not without long term implications as the many infrastructural projects they are currently funding will require exclusive maintenance close to the time the taxpayer in the country shall have begun to service the hefty concessional loans.

Every child, irrespective of status, has the right to fully realise his or her potential so that they effectively and meaningfully contribute to the development of society.

What to do with a number of state houses in Malawi remains a thorny issue, but it is time our donor-dependent country reflected on various proposals being advanced by Malawians on how to generate income on the edifices.

'Sex cleanser' Eric Aniva, who slept with 104 widows, has transformed from an agent of darkness to an agent of light.

The talk in all the corners of the country is about the ailing economy, with authorities, cooperating partners, the private sector and many other stakeholders spending sleepless nights on how its recovery can be fast-tracked.

Most of the criticism that vice president Khumbo Kachali has come under for his off-the-cuff remarks in Karonga late last week is harsh, very harsh, but very justified because at the end of the day being a leader is about one thing: setting a good example in words and in action.

For a nation that is still battling to heal from the wounds of an arrogant leadership gone awry, a leadership that forgot that its role was to lead, not to rule and lord over the people; Kachali's remarks could not have come at a worse time.

Malawians tend to have a lot of faith in their leaders to the extent that they hang on every word the leaders say. It is a daunting task to have to carry such responsibility and we greatly admire those who choose to serve Malawi in public office.

But there are some sacrifices these people have to make, including self-censorship. For a vice president to take to the podium spewing vitriol at the people who have done nothing but offer constructive advice is setting a terrible example of leadership. As vice president, Kachali's words and actions must be well beyond reproach.

But then all is not lost for the vice president. This moment should be a teachable one for him and the rest of our leaders. While our leaders are of the opinion that to admit fault and to say sorry is weakness, we are of the opinion that it takes courage and a lot of conviction to apologize.

It is the weak and the insecure who are afraid to take responsibility. We are human and we do make mistakes. Some mistakes are fatal but this one, thankfully, is not.

The vice president mis-spoke but we want to believe that this one unfortunate incident does not define nor diminish him. He can rise above this, offer a sincere apology to the people he so needlessly insulted and we can all move on. It is only if there is no remorse expressed and if there is a repeat of such offensive behaviour will we know that we are in a great deal of trouble.

As it is, this country has a lot of challenges that the last thing it needs is a war of words between the office of the vice president and the rest of the people. Let's put this behind us and work to build this nation. Insulting each other just won't help.

What the vice president said last week is the functional equivalent of dating a gold-digger: they pretends to like you when down on their luck but as soon as they get a government job, they dumps you, take your money, refuse to pay back a dime and insult you in the process!

I learnt with great shock, on Friday night, that Hastings Maloya was no more. Malawi has lost a young, unique dynamic Mala-wian who combined a passion for the environment, a zeal for communica¬tion and a love for conservation. In addition to being an environmentalist and a conservationist, Hastings was also journalist, blogger, public rela¬tions practitioner and cultural con-servationist, among many other hats he wore.

Were it not for the ugly head of politics, Malawians would today have been enjoying a game of football between Big Bullets and Moyale at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre.

If the scenario of labour strikes playing it¬self across Malawi continues, one day this country will be on its knees...crippled by strikes and burning with frustration and resent¬ment towards the employer.

In Maputo, Malawi's President Joyce Banda was inducted as the newest member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state, a group that had, until now, been an exclusive old boys' club.

The opening of the "Nsanje World In¬land Port" was quite a lavish affair and I remember someone from the Reserve Bank of Malawi announcing rather blandly, a few weeks after the last drop of whisky had been quaffed and the festivities over, that the country was facing a crisis: there was little for¬eign currency left to purchase fuel with.

Previously, with little scientific evidence to back it up, male circumcision was largely viewed as the preserve of select cultural and religious groupings of Malawi, but not anymore.

Great things have happened in this month of July. My birthday was on July 3, America's was on July 4  and Malawi turned 48 years of age  on July 6.

It has been nice and quiet of late without the talking head of Hetherwick Ntaba. Of course, the former presidential spin doc¬tor made it no secret that he wasn't a huge fan of mine but I put that down to simple envy. It must have been very difficult for him to watch a younger man write a weekly column and be taken far more seriously than an older man with daily, ad-nauseam, appearances on na¬tional radio and television ever was.

One of the criticisms leveled against our public officers is that they don't seem to want to be accountable to the people they serve. One of the major triggers of the unprecedented demonstrations of July last year was popular discontent with watching leaders enrich themselves while the rest of the people were wallowing in abject poverty.

On BBC Focus on Africa on Friday, someone called our president a spine¬less puppet of the West, because no self-respecting African leader should want to arrest and hand anyone of their own to the In¬ternational Criminal Court.

The story of Malawi and the African Union (AU) Summit reads like fiction. One moment you could almost touch the Summit and the next moment it was gone.

You have got to feel sorry for the late Bingu wa Mutharika. It must have beeen excruciating to work with cheats, trick¬sters and retarded praise-singers of the worst kind.

President Joyce Banda has an interesting style of running this country—she rules by commissions of inquiry. We have lost count of how many commissions of inquiry she has since set up but they are numerous and of interesting mandate, too.