The man behind the translation of English versions of movies into the local language, Chichewa Clyton Thomas also known as Akila, has won best actor of the year and the entertainer of entertainers at the MBC’s Entertainer of the Year 2023 awards for his translations.
On Saturday 30th December, 2023, the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) revived its Entertainer of the Year event and the ceremony was held at the Bingu International Convention Center (BICC) in Lilongwe, bringing to life the tradition event that had been introduced in 1970s but had been on hiatus due to various challenges.
The event saw Akila emerging the actor of the year and was also pronounced the 2023 MBC Entertainer of entertainers and he has bagged home a trophy, a return ticket to South Africa, a refrigerator and Kiliye Kiliye decorder from Sanwecka Tech Companions and R1,500 which is close K139,000.
Apart from the arranged prizes, the audience also took time to shower the entertainer of entertainers with gifts and Maranatha Private Academy through its Managing Director Ernest Kaonga surprised the Lilongwe based actor with two million kwacha, claiming Akila deserved the accolade for entertaining Malawians with his acts and his translation of English movies to vernacular language, Chichewa.
While commending the MBC management for reviving the annual event and hosting it exceptionally, Kaonga expressed commitment towards 2024 MBC Entertainers of the Year Awards ceremony and he also encouraged other artists to pull up their socks if want to make it at the next event.
“Those who have grown up in Malawi know pretty well how iconic is this ceremony. In those days there was no TV, we gathered around the radio. We could not sleep till we heard who was the entertainer of entertainers. That was how powerful and motivating this programme is and let me assure you MBC we will not leave you as sponsors as long as you keep coming up with initiatives that touch all of us Malawians.
“If you want to be here next year work very hard. You see without hard work we cannot achieve anything as a nation. Your contributions as artists are enormous and I would like to encourage you to work very hard in your areas. Maranatha will sponsor even more categories next year so work very hard,” said Kaonga. As Maranatha we always appreciate talent and we thought it wise to reward Akira and Deus Sandram (the man behind Bwande) with something. We will give Akila K2 million and Sandram will receive K500,00,” said Kaonga.
In his speech, Akila who nearly shade tears of joy, encouraged his fellow artists to always work hard in 2024 and strive for good services.
However, some people on social media have criticises the public broadcaster for the award, Akila’s infringes on copyright laws.
