There is sense in nonsense

September 16 2026

Oh how time flies! So it is a year since Malawians lined up to vote Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Peter Mutharika back to power, defeating president Lazarus Chakwera and his Malawi Congress Party (MCP).

It has been an eventful year, politically. One year later, Mutharika’s runningmate at the polls Jane Ansah has been pushed into a tight corner, only performing her charity works and visits to prayer houses!

In an interview with Zodiak Broadcasting Station, Ansah put it outright that her relationship with the President remains cordial, but that some in the DPP and the government machinery have chosen not to delegate her Capital Hill duties.

We have seen her overlooked at Cabinet meetings and party secretary general Peter Mukhito calling on party followers not to accompany her at her Jane Ansah Foundation events.

Too much politicking flying around. Collins Magalasi, a former Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) chief executive officer was instrumental in crafting the DPP manifesto. With the political twists and turns, Magalasi is facing several charges and only on Monday he was granted bail at the Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court in Lilongwe after spending about a fortnight in the cooler. Part of that time in custody was spent at a private clinic.

Among other cases, Magalasi is accused of hacking Mutharika’s phone and having a hand in the Civil Servants Pension’s Fund acquisition of the Amaryllis Hotel in Blantyre.

As if this turning and turning in the DPP gyre was not enough, Speaker of the National Assembly Sameer Suleman recently announced a decision to set up 12 joint committees to investigate some shody deals in government institutions. That was poking a hornests’ nest, if the reactions from the government and party machinery are anything to go by.

Later, Mutharika and Suleman met at the Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe with both Parliament and State House keeping a tight lid on what the two discussed.

Confused? Don’t be. Then Ephraim Duma, an eye witness at the Nthungwa accident scene, where the then vice-president Saulos Chilima and eight others died on June 10 2024 gave his testimony.

It is not in our power to dismiss his testimony because we feel the ad hoc committee which Walter Nyamilandu-Manda is chairing will consolidate all that testimony being given by family members, government technocrats and military personnel to make sense out of all the nonsense flying around during the investigation.

You see, Mr Duma said the victims of that plane crash were not nine, but 11, including himself and another eyewitness.

That was the climax.

He testified that he saw the plane with Chilima doning a black suit and red necktie waving for help. He told the committee that he was shot at three times, but thanks to a talisman from his kinsfolk, he survived.

It was a humorous session, with Dedza Kasina legislator Joshua Malango suggesting they try shooting Duma to check if he was, indeed, bulletproof. But Nyamilandu-Manda saved the day.

Well, last night, having gone through that dramatic twist to the plot, I lay on a pillow. Strangely, we were in a secondary school class.

Our teacher had books all over his desk. Our unmarked notebooks formed part of that clutter. One of the girls suggested to the teacher that there was disorder on his desk.

“You are right. But then, there is order in disorder. You, certainly, will find organisation in disorganisation and sense in nonsense. However, let that not worry you. Today, we will not read Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland, which is on the English Literature syllabus. We will go to his 1871 book, Through the Looking Glass,” the bearded teacher said.

He told us there was a specific poem he wanted us to read in the book. It was titled Jabberwocky. A piece of nonsense but sensible verse that shows how an innocent man conquers a monster.

The poem makes little sense as it introduces so many strange words, like galumph, chortle and frabjous. Making sense out of nonsense is no mean feat.

Then, he told us to move to another piece of literature that makes little sense. George Orwell’s 1984. “The catch phrase for me in the book is ‘war is peace’. You see, where you find people constantly fanning a war, it means they are finding peace by eating chicken parts like nthutumba in peace while the rest are struggling to get makosi,” he said.

I woke up from that dream to share these thoughts.

Dreams are strange things. What if Mr Duma was dreaming? What if his dream was real?

At the end of the day, after this inquiry, what next?

The post There is sense in nonsense appeared first on Nation Online.