David Kalilani and his Unfounded Attack on Prophet Bushiri

By: Wonderful Mkhutche

DAVID KALILANI AND HIS UNFOUNDED ATTACK ON PROPHET BUSHIRI

From all angles, the Enlightened Christian Gathering leader, Prophet Shepherd Bushiri, is being attacked. The general public, politicians and musicians are all on his neck. It is not easy being him. But surprisingly, he has taken all this with confidence and is proving all his critics wrong by his steady rise in authority over the Malawian society.

He has divided the society. Is he a true man of God or not? The latest attack on him has come from David Kalilani, one of Malawi’s prominent gospel rappers. Before turning gospel, he was one of the members of the set pacing secular rap group, the Real Elements, which made a name during the late 1990s and early 2000s before they disbanded. After turning to gospel rapping, Kalilani has proved to be a rapper who still has it.

This time he took to the studio and recorded a song against Prophet Bushiri. But how has he fared in it? It has become a trend to criticize Bushiri. Shepherd Bushiri has been around in his prophetic mission for over a decade now. From humble beginnings in the northern city of Mzuzu, he has risen to be the most famous man of God in Malawi, and one of the most famous in Africa. But the thing that is causing all the controversy around him is his riches.

The Prophet is a young man, under forty years of age, and seems to own an estate which many Malawians can only dream of. He claims to own two private jets, farms, oil wells, gold mines, an agricultural university in South Sudan, an electronics company and a telecommunication company. People have seen him climbing down from the jets he claims to own, but are yet to have proof of his other businesses, like the gold mines. That is what has left people wondering if indeed his wealth comes from the said businesses. But as an individual, he is not answerable to us about his businesses. We are the problem.

This man has the businesses in various countries in Africa. Throughout his history as an entrepreneur, a government is yet to arrest him or freeze his assets. This tells a story that, if he indeed owns these businesses, he is doing them within the legal boundaries and we have no reason to be against his vast wealth.

The latest song by David Kalilani has exposed the mindset most Malawians have towards Prophet Bushiri. There have been a lot of stories on him as a person and his wealth. In the song, Kalilani seems to have no problems with his wealth, but with Prophet Bushiri the person and his ministry. He claims that first, Prophet Bushiri is having sex with girls in his church. Second, he gets his spiritual powers from the dark ways as revealed by the witchdoctors he approaches for the power. They give him that power after sacrificing humans. Last, he raps that Prophet Bushiri may perform miracles but may never see heaven. He then went on to declare war on him while referring to himself as the Biblical David who killed Lions and Bears and he will do the same with the Prophet.

But the wrong thing about what Kalilani raps about is that there is no evidence in everything he is claiming against Prophet Bushiri. He should bring forward the girls he is having sex with, the witchdoctors he goes to get the spiritual powers from. And by the way, who is David after all to say who can and cannot get to heaven? He must understand that the Biblical criticism of men rising in the name of Jesus Christ in the last days is general and can easily be used against anyone. It should also be to his knowledge that a good section of Christians thinks rap music in Christianity is a tool by the devil to distort the Christian message. To them he is an agent of the devil as well, the same charge he has against Prophet Bushiri.

He may have felt that he was talking the truth when attacking the prophet. But he failed to realize that some of the people in his very own faith do not trust his kind of music. How can he justify that? His criticism on the prophet is not objective. In the song he says Prophet Bushiri has got some explaining to do. But even him and his imagined allegations, he has some explaining to do. The song has largely missed the point. He has failed to live the artistry calling by reducing himself to the level of uncritical thinking. Unless he brings forward the evidence against the Prophet, his message will not be taken seriously. He will be fighting against a Prophet Bushiri he is imagining, and not the real one.

About the writer: Wonderful Mkhutche is a speech writer, a political scientist and a manuscript editor and developer.

Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of their employers, The Malawi Star, its owners, shareholders or staff members.