By now, most people in the blogosphere are aware of William Kamkwamba’s amazing story. But today’s Daily Times in Malawi carries another amazing story, which the world must know.
A Standard 7 dropout, Gabriel Kondensi from Mulanje district, built and operated a radio station known as Pachikweza. He was using a set of three transistors to penetrate the airwaves and a set of batteries as a source of power. His radio was running phone-in programs at 98.5 FM.
The police arrested on October 14 because he did not have the Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (Macra) licence. This 21 year old young man was slapped with a MK50,000 fine or in default 10 months IHL for the offence. He failed to pay and was sent to jail.
My take is that with his level of his education, it is obvious that he did not know that he needed a licence in order to operate a radio station. He was just driven by his spirit of innovation. This guy is a genius! Why condemn him to prison when he did not know that what he was doing was wrong? A suspended sentence would have been better.
I, therefore, would like to call for his immediate release from prison. These are the kind of guys whom we should sponsor to ensure that their spirit of innovation is well nurtured for the good of the country and the world at large.
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16 users commented in " School dropout jailed for innovation in Malawi "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackSuch thing happen so often – when a good guy gets into a prison, because his ideas go against the policy of state.
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Yes , i have already experience such type of incident. As its a common saying,
“little knowledge is dangerous but more knowledge is more dangerous ”
Rmak´s last blog ..What do you know about Death Tax?
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Really wonderful piece of information and I appreciate it that you share something so useful with the readers of this blog.
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I am of the idea of suspended sentence.
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The problem is the licencing body,In today’s Daily times/Nations it’s reported that he has been requesting (for two years) MACRA for Infor for him to run the radio.
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Clement Nyirenda says:
October 21st, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Thats an interesting twist to the whole story. So the guy was not ignorant. But still I think that they should have been lenient on the young man. I am told he is now out. Do you have the details?
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I agree with you that such enterprise must be rewarded and encouraged. Try telling that to the bureaucracy any where and you will get a different take on the subject.
Nicole Price´s last blog ..Internet Scams You Should be Aware of
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He is out now (as of yesterday,21/10/09) and the Nation Newspaper reports today that several SME (small enterprise Medium) companies that are holding their Annual meeting will refund the father for what he spend to have the boy released and the SME guys led by Mark Katsonga Phiri will be following up with MACRA for the boy to have a radio licence.
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Clement says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Jonas, these are great developments. This is what I call the “tiyende pamodzi ndi mtima umodzi” spirit. I hope to write another post in the next three days explaining the events that have taken place since the news of the lad’s imprisonment broke out.
Clement´s last blog ..School dropout jailed for innovation in Malawi
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At least he’s out now. That’s the wonderful thing about the blogosphere, so many people can be aware of these kinds of incidents so quickly that governments become hard-pressed to ignore public pressure. And where they won’t bend, others often step in to help.
billywest´s last blog ..Just had the yakitori-don at Sukiya. Hav…
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Wow. 10 months for broadcasting without a license? And almost certainly wasn’t running a commercial venture. Even if he was, that seems excessive. Especially considering that he had been applying for the license (if the comments above are true). There should be some sort of conditional use permit if the licensing takes so long. I wonder if it takes some bribe money to get the license more quickly.
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Wow – I’m glad he’s out though and at least his father is getting his bail money back too. However the point brought up by Clement still remains, what is this world coming to when people are arrested for petty things like that and yet rapists, murderess and drug traffickers are pretty much given the same sentence or a lighter one in some countries.
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[...] the story broke out, blogger Clement Nthambazale Nyirenda wrote on his blog: This guy is a genius! Why condemn him to prison when he did not know that what he was doing was [...]
[...] the story broke out, blogger Clement Nthambazale Nyirenda wrote on his blog: This guy is a genius! Why condemn him to prison when he did not know that what he was doing [...]
If these blog comments somehow serve as a petition, I proudly add my name.
This is a CLASSIC Prometheus story.
How many times must civilians (of all nations) be penalized simply because of their superior control of technology?
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There must be rules in any community. The important thing is not to set the rules against creative and smart individuals who bring something good to their society.
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I would really appreciate if you could use your name when commenting.Using just keywords makes your comment seem spammy, and it's liable to get deleted.Please read my comment policy for more details.Many thanks for your cooperation!
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