"Exterminate all the Brutes"

things are sounding, if at all that expression exists. our network guys are busy finalising networking the computerlab, when the network is finalise later today or tomorrow morning the thin-client will be set into the computerlab reaching their final destination waiting for the students to use them, i will upload pictures and a video of the lab later in the day, in my next post.
The plan is we will do two tests on the thin-client from the lab one tomorrow and the other one on Monday 31 october.
IT Point sent us the power adpters for the WYSE thin-clients, which were not a complete set, they did not have power plugs, these delayed us a bit since our procurement officer went at local suppliers insearch of the compatible power plugs for the adapters. we have found a few power plug, but we will proceed in setting the thin-client with the plugs we have

Hi again,
Am feeling anxious as accessories will be coming on KCN this coming week. we will start with furniture which will probably be in by monday 26th of September 2011, these furniture are basically computer desks and chairs and also steel bars for security of the computer lab.

On tuesday or wednesday we are expecting the network accessories to be in and we are already have prepared for network installation. the Computer lab network diagram have already been drawn by our network team.
Things are sounding good at the moment.

to side track a bit, last week lecturers at KCN were being trained how to use Curriculum management system (CMS) built on moodle. it was an exciting event were lecturers create e-resources and link them to CMS from a network folder

I just got the information from Malawi, that people across the country are going to demonstrate against the President tomorrow, as he’s still not answering to the petition. Let’s hope, the manifestations are going to remain peaceful and the Malawians are successfully campaigning for their democratic rights.

“The High Court has vacated an injunction stopping Wednesday’s anti-government nationwide demonstrations and vigils as planned by the civil society.”

Source: Nyasatimes

Dandire writes:

“I urge my fellow malawian to have a peaceful demo.breaking other people’s properties or harming each is not a solution.At the end of the day its our malawi.Mutharika is not going to lose anything since our taxes will provide him with massive security around the clock.The other thing is that, i beg our unprofessional police not to use guns anyhow where deems not necessary to use guns.These people are even fighting for police,the army and anybody so that we have a better malawi for everybody.Better life should not be only for a few greedy people who believes by bootlicking the failed Bingu are serving Malawi.The haves and havenots gap is getting wider and wider in malawi just because of some few greedy people who wants everything for themselves.Let create a better malawi for everybody and we should desist for anybody to divide us for his own cheap gains like Bingu.Tiye tonse tikakwapule chi demo choopsya kwabasi that will shake malawi.”

In order to get prepared for the tomorrow’s manifestations let me suggest the following video of Slavoj Žižek, one of the rare europeans most brilliant philosophers, who talks about what it means to be revolutionary today.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GD69Cc20rw]

[Update 23:26h]

“Malawi government has called the three-day mass stay away from work called by civil society groups as illegal and asked workers to get to work and students to be in classes.
The activists called for a stay-away from Wednesday, despite winning a court battle allowing them to hold vigils, saying they feared for their safety.
But government through Information Minister Patricia Kaliati urged people to go to working saying it will be a normal working day.”

Source: Nyasatimes

The State President
CABINET APPOINTMENTS
Office of The President and Cabinet

His Excellency, Ngwazi Prof. Bingu wa Mutharika
Commander-in-Chief
-Malawi Defence Force
-Malawi Police Service
Statutory Corporation
Civil Service Administration
National Relief and Disaster Management

The First Lady Her Excellency Madam Callista Mutharika National Cordinator Maternal, Infant and Child Health HIV/Nutrition/Malaria and Tuberculosis

Ministers
Deputy Minister in the Office of the President –
Hon. Nicholas Dausi, MP

1. MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Minister: Hon. Prof. Arthur Peter Mutharika, MP Deputy Minister: Hon. Kondwani Nankhumwa, MP

2. MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES, ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Minister: Hon. Dr. Goodall Gondwe, MP
Deputy Minister: Hon. Vers Faramenga Chilewani, MP

3. MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Minister: Hon. Dr. George Thapatula Chaponda, MP
Deputy (Higher Education, Science and Technology)-Hon. Otria Moyo Jere, MP Deputy (Primary and Secondary Education) -Hon. Victor Sajeni, MP

4. MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
Minister: Hon. Dr. Ken Lipenga, MP
Deputy Minister: Hon. Dr. Cornelius Mwalwanda, MP

5. MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, IRRIGATION AND WATER DEVELOPMENT
Minister: Prof Peter Mwanza
Deputy Minister: Hon Margaret Roka Mawua MP Deputy Minister: Hon Kingsley Sostins Namakhwa

6. MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
Minister: Hon. Ephraim Mganda Chiume, MP

7. MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT AND PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE
Minister: Hon. Mahommed Sidik Mia, MP
Deputy Minister: Hon. Catherine Gotani Hara, MP

8. MINISTRY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Minister: Hon. Henry Mussa, MP
Deputy Minister: Hon. Chimango Chipimpha Mughogho, MP 9.

9. MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND CIVIC EDUCATION
Minister: Hon. Patricia Kaliati, MP

10. MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE
Minister: Hon. John Bande, MP

11. MINISTRY OF LANDS, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Minister: Hon. Yunnus Mussa, MP
Deputy Minister: Hon. Rev. Christopher Ngwira, MP

12. MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS AND NATIONAL DEFENCE
Minister: Hon. Aaron Sangala, MP

13. MINISTRY OF GENDER, CHILD AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Minister: Hon. Reen Kachere, MP
Deputy Minister: Hon. Nasrin Pillane, MP

14. MINISTRY OF TOURISM WILDLIFE AND CULTURE
Minister Hon Daniel Symphoriana Liwimbi, MP.

15. MINISTRY OF LABOUR
Minister Hon Dr. Lucious Kanyumba, MP.

16. MINISTRY OF YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND WELFARE
Minister Hon Symon Vuwa Kaunda MP

17. MINISTRY OF HEALTH
Minister Hon. Jean Kalilani MP
Deputy Minister Hon. Ralph Pachalo Jooma, MP

The swearing ceremony for Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers will be held at the New State House, Lilongwe on Thursday 8th September 2011 at 13:00 hrs.

All cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers should be present for this function

Bright Msaka Sc.
Chief Secretary to the Government
7th September 2011

Download Cabinet List Malawi 7th September 2011

The procurement committee at Kamuzu College of Nursing met and evaluate the the bid for the supply of monitors, keyboard, network accessories and computer desks

different suppliers applied for the bids according to their specialization.  The bid was divided into 3 sections

1. Monitors and Keyboards
2. Network
• trucks Network
• cable rills (4)
• power sockets (40)
• network sockets (50)
• switch 24 port (2)
• 6 U cabinet
• Patch panel
• Brushes
3. Furniture
• 4 seat desks (10)
• 40 chairs

Finally 3 suppliers were identified for the 3 categories, the procurement officer has estimated 10 days for the items to be delivered, but i will get a clear picture after contacting the suppliers themselves

Once the items arrived then we will install the Thin-clients together with the monitors in the chosen computer lab.

ICT is considered a critical tool in preparing and educating students with the required skills for the global workplace. It educates students so that they can continually adapt to a work world of continuous technological innovations and makes it easier for students to access knowledge. ICT is regarded as an engine for growth and tool for empowerment, with profound implications for education change and socio-economic development.
Kamuzu College of Nursing (KCN) is a constituent college of the University Of Malawi (UNIMA) which has two campuses in Lilongwe and Blantyre, separated by a distance of about 300 kilometres, and major clinical sites in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Zomba and Mzuzu. Traced back from 1965 when it was called a National School of Nursing, and then upgraded to a full constituent college in 1979, the college has been offering a variety of courses in the fields of Nursing and Midwifery.

KCN has an intake of students 120 every year, and it will increase to 200 students enrolled this year, as far as KCN is increasing intake it has challenges of resources in which it has, one of them being access to computers. KCN has two computer lab in Lilongwe, one 20 seater lab and the other 45 seater lab. It also has a 20 seater computer lab in Blantyre 300 Kilometers away. Due to student congestion and scramble for use of the few computers, the college thought it wise to seek help to Alex Antener who, together with the support of e-vision (founded by da.tu.ma AG) and IT point, was providing 40 thin client computers and servers.
This project is being named “Exterminate all the brutes”, currently the servers and thin-clients were bought and delivered to Kamuzu college of Nursing. The servers were mounted on the rack, and Ubuntu was installed on them with LTSP service inbuilt, the service was tested and works perfectly.
Currently the Network accessories and the monitors are being procured by the college.

In my next blog I will do a technical step by step on how we installed Ubuntu and LTSP in IBM servers

Here are some pictures of KCN campus and a few key people around:

Extracted from the famous U.S. Embassy cables (cables.csv), which was leaked from Wikileaks a few days ago, you can find the ones from the Embassy in Lilongwe here.

Here’s an example:

“250423”,”2/24/2010 11:16″,”10LILONGWE176″,”Embassy Lilongwe”,”UNCLASSIFIED”,””,”VZCZCXYZ0003
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLG #0176 0551117
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241116Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY LILONGWE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0136
INFO RUEHLG/AMEMBASSY LILONGWE
“,”UNCLAS LILONGWE 000176

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV, KSCA, AORC, UNEP, MI
SUBJECT: MALAWI: RESPONSE TO US CITES PROPOSALS

Post delivered reftel demarche the first week of February to
Ministry of Industry and Trade Principal Secretary Newby Kumwembe,
and to Department of National Parks & Wildlife Director Leonard
Sefu. To date Post has been unable to obtain any substantive
response on the U.S. species proposals for the CITES Conference of
Parties (COP 15). We will report any further response when it is
available.
BODDE

[Update 4th of September 2011]
Here’s an extract of a short discussion with a friend:

Lx: “odi?”
Uw: “Odi! mulibwanji”
Lx: “ndili bwino ka inu?”
Lx: “I just extracted the U.S. Embassy cables”
Uw: “Ndizambiri bwanji”
Uw: “Lots ot information”
Lx: “yes, almost 2 GB”
Lx: “do you think this could have an effect to the ongoing political debate?”
Uw: “Exactly”
Uw: “Somehow it make sense sadly we have been hit by a number of taxes.like milk,meat which essential commodities in malawi”
Uw: “In this case whe money wil go to china”
Lx: “what is malawis GDP?”
Uw: “Am not sure of the figures but should be in 6~8”
Uw: “Now you see the chinese cant take kwachas,thus where the issue og forex comes in”
Lx: “how much is the dollar now?”
Uw: “Its at 165 but on black market its at 200mk”
Lx: “how will this evolve?”
Uw: “It has taken time since they evaluated the kwacha,infact its imf which had pushfwd the gov to devalue the kwacha.somehow I thing they should be aware of the plan between gov of malawi and china. Looking at the cables usa cant be happy with trans action,china will become ruler in african countries”
Lx: “ouch! – and its very true what you say”
Uw: “U see china will have usd from the rest of african countries and america cant come in and start support when china has all the all usd reserves”
Lx: “yes indeed”
Uw: “In other way american are making the move toug and to be impossible”
Lx: “lets see how this evolves”
Lx: “and how’s this affecting the elections in 2014?”
Uw: “That will be a changd of diplomatic ties again”
Uw: “You know we are still learning democracy”
Lx: “well sure. but the process towards democracy can go bad with the wrong people in power”
Lx: “you see how the U.S. fails on democracy with the current president”
Lx: “what about the uranium exports?”
Uw: “Malawians are yet to benefit ,maybe some of the dollars are going to china.look at this way,during the time of bakili we didny have this company but we had forex. Look at zimbabwe they were in ecomonic crisis but they had dollars and they are trading in $”
Lx: “sure. but why isnt malawi trading in EURO?”
Uw: “The problem is the Malawis are poor,if they cant afford a $,then a eur will be on higher side to trade in.we bbs wont have money on the market”
Lx: “you need a new government!”
Uw: “Exactly,so that the mess is blocked”

Without giving a reason Bingu Wa Mutharika, the current President of Malawi, dissolves his Cabinet with more than 40 ministers and deputies. The crisis, which peaked 20th of July this year, still does not seem to be solved. Many foreign countries and organisations have suspended development aid.

External articles:
Nyassa Times
Radio Netherlands Worldwide – Africa

“In Frantz Fanon’s book, Wretched of the Earth, he talks about identity, justice, and power in the context of several ideologies. These categories can be better understood in the context of two groups, the colonists and the natives. Each one has its own identity, justice and power.

The identity of these two groups can be clearly seen in Fanon’s representation of the struggle. These two groups struggled with each other because the colonists are on one side, and the natives on the other. The natives see the colonists as “the others”. They are seen this way because they came over from Europe and took over the native’s land and then made them slaves in their own society. These peoples’ individual rights were taken away, and they were forced to live a life of oppression. The colonists took over the upper class, and pushed everyone else down because they felt that their way was better. Therefore, the upper class wrote the history of the oppressed nation, but of mother country exploiting the colonies. The only way to get the oppressed nation into history was if the individual rises up and decides to write what he has seen and heard. These natives then lie in wait to take over their rights and freedoms from which they have been stolen.” […]
Source

eBook:
Frantz Fanon – The Wretched of the Earth (english)
Frantz Fanon – Les damnés de la terre (français original)

“Peace is returning in most parts of the country”
Source: Twitter @Malawi2014

[Update: 24th July 2011 1:06 pm]
Chat with a friend:

W.U.: “Malawi is fine now,things are back to normal”
Lx: “good to read. and what about the investigations? is malawi going to investigate about the dead manifestators in Mzuzu?”
W.U.: “I dont thick so nothing has been said on that.what i hear is the NGO have given him 90 day to answer most of the conserns raised during the demo”
Lx: “and when is Bingu going to resign?”
W.U.: “The guy is adamant he cant now,but am sure if by those days he fail to deliver and people goes to street it will be massive and the guy will have no choice”