Musician Patience Namadingo says he is among top five musicians in Malawi and deserves to be treated as a top artist by show organisers anywhere he performs.
Namadingo said this in Times Exclusive interview with Brian Banda aired on Times Television on Saturday.
The musician talked about the contracts he signs with promoters whenever he is engaged to perform. According to Namadingo, the contracts specify the type of drinks, accommodation and mode of travel he demands from organisers.
Asked if he has reached a level of demanding money, Namadingo said he is among the top musicians in Malawi.
“If you talk about the top 10 musicians in Malawi, I am in that group. Even if you say the top five.
“So would you be happy that Malawi’s top musicians get to be treated that way in Mozambique, America or Zambia or you would ask them if they have reached that level,” said Namadingo.
In the interview, Namadingo, who came onto the music scene with gospel songs such as “Mtendere” and Tili ndi Yesu, also revealed that he does not consider himself as a gospel artist but as a conscious musician since he now releases both gospel and secular songs.
Asked if he still born-again Christian, Namadingo said: “I don’t think of myself that way anymore.”
Namadingo also addressed the controversy surrounding the K15 million which he raised for children at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. Namadingo is said to have raised money for the hospital but the money was not handed over, leading to the musician being reported to police.
According to Namadingo, K1.2 million was used to buy assorted items which were donated to children at Queens.
He added that the rest of the cash he had was K3 million which he handed over to police while the other funds were either not collected from well-wishers who made pledges or were in form of items. The musician said he was cleared by police on the investigations against him.
On the PhD he got from University of South Africa (UNISA) but has been described as fake by UNISA, Namadingo said he was invited by Professor Martha Malope whom he said works for UNISA. He added that he even sent a person to enquire about the invitation and the person met Malope.
According to Namadingo, he was excited and did not doubt the invitation because he had been engaged in various charity works in Malawi.
On the press statement from UNISA describing his honorary PhD as fake, Namadingo questioned the university for only shaming Namadingo, influencer Pemphero Mphande and businessperson Karim Mansoor yet people of other nationalities got the same honorary degree but were not shamed.
“If UNISA says the graduations or degrees were not legitimate, then this is a criminal case and we should have been arrested,” said Namadingo.
He proceeded to say that he does not get offended when people address him as “Mr” but no one can stop his fans from calling Doc.
“The ‘Doc’ that my fans call me is not derived from the honorary degree but it is ‘Doc anavaya’,” said Namadingo.
