Minster of Foreign Affairs rants over racism

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nancy Tembo has criticized a demeaning video involving innocent Malawian children which has been circulating on social media in the past few days.

Tembo expressed the sentiments Monday in Lilongwe at a press briefing organized by Ministry of Information and Digitization following a video that has been circulating.

Recently, a video has been circulating on social media which has attracted both local and international attention where young Malawian children in uniform were filmed repeating disturbing sentences in Chinese Language translated as “I am a black monster and my IQ is low, yeah.”

The demeaning video was found to have been filmed within Lilongwe at Njewa Village by a Chinese National Lu Ke in February, 2020 and was uploaded on a Chinese social media site for business purposes as shown in a BBC documentary.

Tembo critiqued the disturbing video and condemned the action that it was disgusting as it was involving young innocent children.

“It is bad news and it has offended us as government- for people to sit down and plan to insult and disrespect us as a nation,” she said.

The minister has further assured the nation that the Malawi Police Service as well as the Home Affairs Ministry are currently investigating the case. She has since promised to liaise with the Chinese Government on the matter.

Tembo, however, further highlighted that the action by the Chinese Citizen does not reflect the conduct of the Chinese Government in Malawi, but rather a minority who cannot be condoned for such racist actions.

The minister has also advised parents to always pay attention to who interacts with their children and what the children are exposed to for their safety.

In an interview with BBC News Africa, the Minister of Gender and Community Development, Patricia Kaliati, commented further that “the video is an insult to the Malawian children and also an insult to the Malawian Nation.”

Also present at the press briefing was the Minister of Information and Digitalization, Gospel Kazako who issued the government’s concern over the video and highlighted that the government is taking the matter seriously.

Although the issue reflects badly on the black African community, the Chinese Embassy- Malawi, in reaction to the BBC documentary on Twitter 13 June, stressed that their government strongly condemns racism in any form by anyone or happening anywhere and has assured Malawians that it will address the matter accordingly.

Source; Mana