Thursday, when President Lazarus Chakwera opened this year’s International Trade Fair at the Chichiri Trade Fair Grounds in Blantyre, I made it a point to avail myself of the occasion. I availed myself of the occasion because trade fairs are, to me, a momentous occasion.
I actually remember— when I was staying in Chitawira Township, Blantyre, in those days— that my mother took me to the Trade Fair grounds. That was way back in 1989. It happened to be the first Trade Fair I, being young, ever attended and remembered.
Otherwise, there are other events I, being young at the time, have blurred memories of. Take, for instance, the East and Central Africa Senior Challenge Cup final match that took place at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre in 1988. The match was between the Malawi National Football Team and the Zambia National Football Team. My father, who was an avowed Hardware Stars [Michiru Castles] fan, took me to the match.
And I remember sitting in the eastern terraces. And I remember Malawi National Football Team fans standing up and jumping up and down in ecstasy after what I now believe were goals scored by Malawi. At that time, I did not understand why hirsute men and respectable women would throw all caution to the wind and jump like children.
It is only now, now that I am grown up, that I understand that fans were celebrating Malawi National Football Team’s goals. In fact, it is just 10 years ago that I, having shed off the innocence of childhood, understood that, on that night way back in 1988, the match ended 3-1. Indeed, I have come to learn that Malawi won courtesy of goals from Frank Sinalo, Peterkins Kayira and Young Chimodzi, with Beston Chembeshi being the scorer for Zambia’s goal. That was in 1988.
In 1989, I visited the Trade Fair Grounds. Needless to say, for the first time ever. For this reason, I regard the Trade Fair event I attended that year as special because I have never needed a reminder to understand what happened that day I visited the Trade Fair grounds with my mother. The activity is etched deeply on my memory. What happened that day? We visited an Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation pavilion which featured ‘Mr Kachimanga’, the famous character that oozed maize seeds.
How can I forget the white seeds of maize making their way through what we were made to believe were body parts, all the way to porous hands and porous fingers.
Anyway, I was talking about how important trade fairs are to me, hence, yesterday, I trekked to the Chichiri Trade Fair Grounds to learn about what industry players and State actors have in store for us. One of the State actors that spoke is Vitumbiko Mumba, who is the Minister of Industry and Trade.
In my view, Mumba was failing to make himself clear on some issues. No wonder, only a handful of people were cheering him as he spoke, with the rest looking at him without any hint of excitement. Maybe my eyes and ears were deceiving me.
But this did not stop Mumba from speaking on and on. One of the issues he alluded to pertains to the ban on i
