Voices of poets calling for the enactment of the National Arts and Heritage Council (Nahec) Draft Bill in the country have come out loud and clear as they join the rest of the world in commemorating World Poetry Day on Thursday.
Creatives in the country have on several occasions petitioned Parliament lobbying for the enactment of the Draft Bill which would lead to the establishment of Nahec and open up spaces for arts associations to among others, receive subvention from the government.
Minister of Local Government Richard Chimwendo Banda assured creatives recently that Nahec Draft Bill was ready and that it would be passed soonest.
Poetry Association of Malawi (Pam) President Robert Chiwamba said they have waited for long.
“Let them hasten the Nahec Bill for the establishment of Nahec,” Chiwamba said.
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He then hailed people for the support given to poetry and arts in general.
“This World Poetry Day is no ordinary day for us. As per this year’s theme, ‘Standing on the shoulders of giants’, Pam is celebrating work that has been done by our legends, poets, who established the association and those who made poetry a genre of art to reckon with,” the Pam leader said.
He said they have activities which include a K100, 000 two-day poetry competition running on their Whatsapp forum which started yesterday and ends today.
“This has been sponsored by JJB Dream Car Imports from Mzuzu. Further, we will have an online performance and also have poets flood the media to inform people on what Pam is, what it is doing and the status of poetry in the country,” he said.
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Vilipanganga Poetry Movement founder Yankho Seunda said this year’s World Poetry Day brings a feel of a hidden treasure and that there is so much through the expression conversations made through the years that is yet to be embraced by society “because they have opted to give a deaf ear to poetry”.
“Let the renaissance begin, the treasure hunt while supporting the artistry. I would like to further lobby the government to push for the enactment of Nahec Bill, poets are standing in line waiting to experience how this will change their lives,” Seunda said adding: “corporates too, allow poets to define narratives of the institutions”.
Veteran poet Benedicto Wokomaatani Malunga of the ‘Ndizakutengera Kunyanja Ligineti’ maintained yesterday that poetry needs to follow its rubrics.
“We should not bastardise a revered art form like poetry by calling everything that is written in verses and lines poetry because some ignorant consumers accept it as poetry,” he said.
