The Blantyre City Council (BCC) on Thursday presented a K2.8 billion 2017/2018 draft budget to city residents who among others scrutinised and provided input on the proposed financial plan.

The council has maintained the 2016/2017 budget which was pegged at the same amount.

Presenting the budget, chairperson of the finance committee for the council Songwe Kabaghe said major projects to be carried out during the new financial year include among many others, construction and maintenance of roads, construction and rehabilitation of school blocks, rehabilitation of city parks, installation of modern city clocks and street lights, procurement of a hearse and waste management vehicles.

Said Kabhawe: “We plan to construct a one-way traffic system from Blantyre Central Business District (CBD) to Limbe to ease congestion in the city; construct Limbe fire sub-station; automation of revenue collection; review and formulate city bylaws for the good governance of the city and introduction of service charter to ensure 360 degree-feedback from residents.”

He however said the council is facing serious challenges of poor funding and vandalism.

In his speech, Mayor for Blantyre City, councillor Wild Ndipo highlighted achievements in the previous budget which include rehabilitation and construction of school blocks, construction and rehabilitation of a number of roads and installation of street lights.

“Most importantly, let me recognize the corporate world for partnering with us to achieve a lot of initiatives such as the cleaning and greening of the City, beautifying roundabouts and other public places.

I appeal to my fellow residents to jealously guard the facilities and infrastructure that are being put in place,” said Ndipo.

However, some residents expressed reservation towards the budget saying it does not represent what they want.

Stella Chimenya from Namiyango Township said in the previous budget the council promised to construct a health centre in the area but up to now nothing has been done.

She said residents in the area are facing a lot of challenges in accessing medical care as they depend on Bangwe clinic which is far from the area.

Some residents from Nancholi and Manase Townships also bemoaned the absence of a plan to construct a health centre in their area, something they have been asking for from each and every budget.

But Ndipo blamed councillors for the areas for not bringing forward such issues to the council so that they are included in the budget.                   

Responding to the same,  director of health and social services in the city Emmanuel Kanjunjunju said the council also waits the Ministry of Health to give guidance on whether a particular area requires a health centre or not.

Another resident Puleni Chilikumnzako called on the residents to actively engage in expenditure tracking to ensure accountability.

BCC gets funding from government, revenue collection and other donors. Currently, the city has a population of over 950 thousand people.

The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has postponed by-elections that were slated for June 6 following communication from Treasury department that government does not have money. 

MEC chairperson Jane Ansah disclosed this during a launch ceremony for the by-elections today in Lilongwe where she said MEC will however continue conducting other activities prior to the election date to be announced later. 

Ansah added that government has given them assurance of availability of funds in the next financial year. 

Secretary to the Treasury Ben Botolo confirmed the development insisting that funds will be available in July.He highlighted that money currently available is earmarked for the purchase of drugs which have been depleted in hospitals across the country and to monitor other pressing issues like the false army worms. 

This has however been faulted by activist Rafiq Hajat who say the move is infringing on people’s rights.

The Students Union of Chancellor College (SUCC) has set Thursday, April 27 for the ‘Open Chanco now’ national  demonstrations in all four cities of the country next week, to push the University of Malawi (Unima) management to open the college.

The council postponed opening the college on March 20, 2017 for the first semester of the 2016/2017 academic year following a strike by the academic staff aimed at forcing the council to resolve salary disparities among staff of similar grades in its four constituent colleges of Chanco, The Malawi Polytechnic, Kamuzu College of Nursing and the College of Medicine (CoM).

In a letter dated April 20, 2017 addressed to all student which  Nation Online has seen, SUCC President Sylvester Ayuba James said after meeting Unima management and hearing what they had said on April 18, 2017, particularly regarding what was delaying a resolution to the dispute and the opening of the Chancellor College, UMSU called for an urgent meeting with the Chancellor College Academic Staff Union (CCASU) so as to hear from them and have a balanced perspective of the matter.

Ayuba said ultimately, CCASU is of the view that any solution to be applied, be it from among the recommendations made by the conciliator, must involve all concerned parties at all stages including choosing, drawing, and implementing it.

He added that this, according to CCASU, is the only way the matter can be buried peacefully under the footprints of the university with no chance of it resurrecting in future.

“On this, CCASU emphasized that they were not against any specific recommendation made by the conciliator, but were just interested to have a recommendation that sounds the most plausible and practically attainable, and, according to them, such a solution can only be secured if the University management was willing to transparently involve all parties concerned in the whole process so that no aggrieved party feels infringed by the solution,” said James.

He further added that CCASU lamented that the university management is trying to impose a solution which may not be the most viable.

“Asked about the legal status of the recommendations made by the conciliator, CCASU emphasized unequivocally that the recommendations were just ‘recommendations’ and had no any binding force,” he added.

According to James, CCASU said their understanding was that the recommendations just suggested directions which the parties may wish to take but that the ultimate decision whether to take any of the directions was in the mutual agreement of the parties.

On the proposal to have the college opened while they proceeded with negotiations, CCASU said they cannot accept that proposal because of the “crooked character and uncaring attitude of the Unima management”.

“CCASU noted that Council had all along shown that they treated the current issue with a lot of disdain. This gave them real fears that once the college was opened Council would not take anything seriously and the result would be that the college could be forced to close again as lecturers would feel used and would stop teaching. This, in CCASU’s view, would not be in the best interest of anyone, including the students,” reads the statement in part.

James said given their analysis of the situation, SUCC through University of Malawi Student’s Union (UMSU) is of the view that it must take action in order to openly register their utmost dismay with the current situation and, therefore, peacefully and respectfully petition the Chancellor of the University to intervene in any reasonable way to have the dispute settled and the college opened.

“Where our rights are compromised as it is here, we strongly believe we are naturally rested with a legitimate responsibility, to be discharged through the exercise of another right, to stand up and demand that the responsible offices do take steps to address the situation.”

Initially we planned to hold the demonstrations this week but given that we were called to be briefed on the developments, we thought the meeting would bring any real hope of the college opening soon. Thus we pended our submission of notices on Tuesday. We only had to resume our preparations on Wednesdaywhen it had been clear that there was no hope. It is because of this that it has been impossible for us to hold the demonstrations this week as earlier planned,” said James.

Meanwhile, James said SUCC is working on all the logistical requirements and  shall be giving further advice and directions in due course.

In an earlier interview, Unima Registrar Benedicto Okomaatani Malunga said their great concern was that  CCASU was putting conditions to the Unima management as they are trying  to resolve the issue.

According to Malunga, the agreement was that CCASU should call off the strike to necessitate the re-opening of the college and that they appoint two representatives from each staff union of the four colleges to continue with the negotiations a thing which CCASU is adamant to concede to.

United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, has appointed Vera Songwe as United Nations Economic Commission (Uneca) executive secretary (ES).

The Cameroonian economist and banking executive, who succeeds Carlos Lopes, is the first woman to ever serve in this role.

In a brief statement announcing the appointment, Uneca said Songwe has been working as the International Finance Corporation’s regional director for Africa covering west and central Africa since 2015. She is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institute: Global Development and Africa Growth Initiative (since 2011).

“She brings to the position a longstanding track record of policy advice and results oriented implementation in the region, coupled with a strong strategic vision for the region,” the statement reads in part.

Songwe was previously country director for Senegal, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Mauritania at the World Bank (2012-2015), adviser to the managing director of the World Bank for Africa, Europe and Central Asia and South Asia Regions (2008-2011) and lead country sector coordinator (2005-2008). nn

Ahead of the cotton marketing season, players in the cotton sector have expressed different views with some predicting a better season this year compared to the previous season, banking hopes on relatively good weather.

Cotton has in the recent past faced with a number challenges such as production volumes which have been on the decline the past five years.

For instance in the 2011/12 season, the country produced 100 000 tons of cotton before output fell by half to 45 000 metric tons (MT) in 2012/13 season. 

Last year, output for the crop dropped by a third to 15 000 MT relative to the previous year due to dry spell.

Cotton Farmers Association of Malawi (Cofam) president George Mnesa told Business News although the year started on a good note with adequate rains, inputs particularly cotton seed was a scarce resource for most farmers.

“If only we had adequate seed, definitely this was a comeback season for cotton. The cotton council did provide seed to farmers but this was not enough to cater for every farmer. There are only a few farmers that planted the seed; hence, we expect another low output this year, even lower than last year,” he said.

He said the association is currently in talks with ginners on pricing of the crop this year with hopes that they would agree on a price higher than K375 per kilogramme (kg). 

Cotton expert Duncan Warren who is also former vice chairperson of Cotton Development Trust (now Cotton Council) has predicted low output of cotton this year.

He said: “It is very likely that prices will remain as they were last year which gives us another reason to worry.

“There might be little supply but the supply and demand does not really work in Malawi because the volumes we produce are just too small to really impact on the global market. Our prices are dependent on the global prices.”

He said time has come for stakeholders in the cotton sector to come up with a proper strategic plan to revamp the sector in the country.

“Primarily bringing back cotton is an issue of value addition. If we only added value within Malawi   then we could possibly be offering better prices to the farmers and attract them to grow the crop. In the absence of value addition in Malawi, we will continue to export the raw material at a price which will obviously translate to low price for the farmer,” said Warren.

Cotton has a huge economic potential and could rake in substantial amount of foreign exchange, in excess of $500 million (K306 billion) per annum, more than what the country gets from the main export crop tobacco.

The crop which is largely grown by smallholder farmers in the Chikwawa, Nsanje and some lakeshore areas is estimated to be grown on 80 000 hectares and accounts for 7 percent of farming families, according to government statistics. 

Impoverished villagers are hacking down Malawi’s forests to make charcoal, undeterred by government efforts to confiscate the dirty fuel as a power deficit stokes demand.

Only 9 percent of the southern African country’s population have access to electricity, ensuring a good market for the charcoal produced by communities living near forests.

The fuel is sold mainly in urban and semi-urban areas where even those who do have a power connection cannot afford electricity for cooking.

Alex Thom, standing by his bags of charcoal on the roadside at Bale in Rumphi in northern Malawi, said he and others make charcoal by smouldering wood because it provides steady earnings.

“This is our major source of income. The cash crops we grow are seasonal, which means there are parts of the year when we have nothing to sell. But we can store the charcoal and sell it later,” he said.

Charcoal producers, including those around the vast Dzalanyama forest stretching between Dedza and the Malawian capital Lilongwe, say they are driven to the environmentally destructive trade by poverty.

“There is a need to economically empower the poor, especially those in areas bordering natural forests,” said Charles Kajoloweka, a consultant on forest issues.

Policies should encourage local people to co-manage the forests so they see the mutual benefits of protecting them, he added.

Kajoloweka described Malawi’s deforestation rate as “alarming”, and said the real situation was not reflected in out-of-date official figures.

The Department of Forestry told the Thomson Reuters Foundation researchers put the deforestation rate at between 1.6 percent and 2.8 percent of forest cover per year. It plans to commission a new estimate.

–‘Desperate’ confiscation–

Without stepped-up action, the country will continue to experience rising temperatures as its forests are cut down, releasing the carbon they store into the atmosphere, Kajoloweka warned.

To prevent this, laws governing protection of forests must be adhered to and stricter sanctions introduced, he said.

“The enforcement of these laws is so weak,” he added.

The law stipulates that those found felling trees should have their equipment confiscated, and where charcoal has already been produced, it should be removed.

“There is a need for stiffer punishment. Snatching the charcoal counts for nothing,” Kajoloweka said. “Charcoal means trees have already been felled.”

The large amount of charcoal confiscated at police roadblocks far from where it is produced means existing measures to tame deforestation are ineffective, he added.

Director of Forestry Clement Chilima said forest guards are confiscating charcoal at roadblocks “out of desperation to kill the market or reduce demand”.

“That way we believe those making the charcoal will be forced to seek other means of generating income. But that is not working perfectly,” he explained in a telephone interview.

The government now plans to try and address the problem at its source, he added, without going into details of how this would be done.

Local water boards are already taking action to protect forest reserves in water catchments by deploying Malawi Defence Force soldiers to guard areas supplying water to the cities of Mzuzu and Lilongwe.

The government is considering licensing individuals who produce charcoal in a sustainable way, compared with the majority who are not.

“We will look at those who are growing trees and making charcoal,” Chilima said.

–Alternative incomes–

The government has recently launched projects that could help, under the U.N.-backed Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) scheme, together with donors such as USAID and local groups like Total Land Care.

“Individuals who are in the charcoal business because they have no other means of survival will be engaged in alternative sources of income,” Chilima said.

Total Land Care, for example, promotes apiculture and tree-planting initiatives as ways of curbing deforestation due to charcoal-making. Instead, those involved sell honey, tree seedlings and lumber.

The Department of Forestry and the Department of Energy will also target charcoal users, Chilima said, although they expect resistance from some who prefer charcoal as a cooking fuel.

Joseph Kalowekamo, a spokesman for the Department of Energy, said the government is working to increase access to electricity to 30 percent of the population by 2030.

The Malawi Rural Electrification Programme is connecting people in rural and peri-urban areas, while the government has plans to increase hydro-electric generation capacity, he said by email.

Little has been done yet on other renewable energy sources, but the government has installed community solar and wind hybrid systems in northern, central and southern parts of the country.

These are benefiting around 900 households through a mini-grid network, Kalowekamo said.

The government, with technical and financial support from the Scottish government and the World Bank, is conducting an assessment of solar, wind and geothermal energy resources.

It will develop a renewable energy strategy based on what the assessment judges to be economically viable, Kalowekamo added.—Reuters

*This article was produced by The Thomson Reuters Foundation in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.

People’s Land Organisation (PLO) leader Vincent Wandale is in custody at Lilongwe Police Station this time for allegedly obtaining money by false pretence. 

Wandale through PLO is said to have been collecting money from villagers in Mulanje and Thyolo with a promise to share them land. 

But in an interview Friday morning few hours after the arrest, Wandale said the money his organisation has been collecting from people was for membership. 

He accused Senior Chief Ngolongoliwa of mobilising villagers to falsely accuse him with the aim of subjecting him to torture. 

“Yes I am here at Lilongwe Police waiting to be transferred to Blantyre.  I know all this has been cooked up to subject me to torture,” said Wandale in a telephone conversation while he was waiting for some procedures at Lilongwe Police Station. 

In a separate interview, Ngolongoliwa denied having a hand in Wandale’s arrest. 

The senior Chief said it was an open secret that the organisation was collecting money from the villagers and if they realised they were being duped and decided to launch a complaint that was within their rights.

Ellen Chilemba, the 23-year-old founder of Tiwale, a Lilongwe community-based organisation (CBO) equipping women with entrepreneurial skills and offering them micro-loans, is one of the 2017 Top Ten Glamour Magazine’s College Women of the Year.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be among Glamour Magazine’s College Women of the Year winners and also to take home the grand prize. I am so happy about finally finishing our women’s centre at Tiwale and ready to launch a few other projects,” says Chilemba in reaction.

For six decades, Glamour has honoured trailblazing women through their annual college competition that is aimed at spotlighting dynamos and glass-ceiling breakers in colleges across the United States of America.

Tiwale is a youth-led CBO working with women who were forced to drop out of school early for various reasons, including early marriages, providing them with economical and educational opportunities and vocational skills training.

The vocational skills trainings include tie-dyeing fabric, which has found its way on the international market, according to Chilemba.

“I spent hours reading in the library with my girlfriends; we all had big dreams. I was fortunate, I won a scholarship to go to high school in South Africa, but one of those friends was forced to drop out of school and get married.

“Her story haunted me, so at the age 18 I launched Tiwale. We help women get trained and provide them loans to become entrepreneurs; and 150 women showed up at the first meeting. I ran the programme for two summers and then came to America for college,” Chilemba explains.

When overwhelmed, Chilemba says she thinks of Lucy, a mother who escaped an abusive marriage and set up a new home with a mud floor and tyres for furniture.

Lucy is now a tie-dye trainer for other women at Tiwale, and her house now has a cement floor with proper couches. That is what Chilemba wants most— to help the underprivileged women chase their dreams.

Since inception, Tiwale has assisted 40 women to start own businesses, and over 60 others have been trained to tie-dye, and to sew.

“Today, our tapestries and totes sell around the world. Our latest project is to finish building a centre to support 200 Malawian women,” she says.

Chilemba also carted home a $20 000 grand prize, which she says she will invest in completing the women’s centre under construction at Mtandire in Lilongwe.

The economics major at Mount Holyoke College in the Massachussetes, USA was also named one of Forbes Magazine Africa’s Under-30 entrepreneurs in 2015.

At such a tender age she has a whole bag of awards to her name, including Pacific University Emerging Leader Award; Grinspoon Entrepreneurial Spirit Award; Clinton Global Initiative University and Commonwealth Youth Award for Excellence in Development work and in 2016 when she was invited to present the ‘We Are Family Foundation Humanitarian Award’ to Bonom, who handed it back to her. 

Five girls from secondary schools in Zomba were all smiles as they boarded the plane to the United States of America for a three-week educational exchange under the Pan-African Youth Leadership Programme (PAYLP).

The programme is funded by the US Government to give participants a unique educational exchange experience, according to the US Embassy public affairs officer, Edward Monster.

“PAYLP works to promote mutual understanding and strengthen the connections between the people of the US and Sub-Saharan Africa. It has created an impressive alumni base for young African leaders who continue to impact their communities. It provides leadership training, cultural excursions and classroom instruction to talented and dedicated high school students aged between the ages of 15-18,” he says.

The programme is implemented by Meridian International Centre and has partnered with two institutes of higher education in the US to create a programme focused on social entrepreneurship and civic responsibility.

The institutions are Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and the University of Texas in Austin.

“Each institute will provide opportunities for academic study, service learning, field trips, site visits, community service, leadership training, conflict resolution training, and cultural exchanges,” said Monster.

 This year’s Malawian participants include Ivy Namaranya from Pirimiti Community Day Secondary School (CDSS); Sheila M’bawa from Chilunga CDSS; Caroline Samu from Ulongwe CDSS; Esther Chosalana from St Charles Lwanwa CDSS and Tawina Chaposa from Mulunguzi Secondary School. There is also Angelesa Limbe, a teacher from St Louis Montfort CDSS.

 Since 2014, 14 Malawians have participated in PAYLP. The programme has been strengthening the students’ understanding of civic rights and responsibilities, respect for diversity, and the importance of community engagement.

Government says it has lost confidence in the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) owing to what it termed as the quasi-religious body’s “departure from the very principles of its existence and consistent demonstration of political biases”. 

In a press statement released today, Minister of Information and Communications Technology Nicholas Dausi has blamed PAC for, among others, siding with opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and People’s Party (PP), citing the call by MCP and PAC for President Peter Mutharika’s resignation which he said was done “in a synchronised manner to whip public anger in preparation of the all-inclusive meeting of PAC”. 

The statement also states that just like MCP leader Lazarus Chakwera, PAC has chosen to ignore positive developments happening in the country. 

“PAC has also chosen to ignore any positive developments, including revival of the economy devastated by Cashgate, in order to make a biased conclusion in their statement,” reads the statement in part in reference to a statement PAC made recently on shortfalls in political and economic governance. 

Some traditional leaders made similar calls where, among others, they said PAC should appreciate what the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration has done in uplifting people’s lives at all levels in the country. 

The chiefs’ sentiments also came after similar outbursts by Muntharika and DPP authorities in reaction to the PAC’s critical statement. 

However, in reaction to the calls by the chiefs, PAC spokesperson Father Peter Mulomole in an interview with The Nation yesterday said they will not stop pointing out shortfalls within the government. 

He said: “PAC is not fighting anyone. It is our mandate as an organisation to pinpoint the failures of those in power, including the opposition.” 

As opposed to government accusations, PAC insists it remains open to dialogue.  

It is easy to be overly excited with the recent hype about the discovery of oil and gas deposits in Malawi. We have long wondered about how unfortunate the country was for it to be the only one on the continent not to be endowed with any significant mineral resource. With the discovery of uranium and now oil and gas we can rest assured that we are as blessed as other mortals elsewhere in Africa.

But this does not mean we should jump into oil drilling without thinking. The oil resource in Africa is associated with the notion of the oil curse for a good reason. In most African countries where oil has been discovered and exploited, oil has been the major cause of internal conflict, political instability, endemic corruption and general economic malaise. Far from providing the impetus for development for local communities and their countries, oil exploitation in Africa has been linked with environmental pollution and the marginalisation of the communities located where oil extraction and related activities take place.

The most common reasons for these negative effects of oil exploitation in Africa have to do with lack of appropriate legislative frameworks within which these activities are undertaken; lack of transparency in the processing and adjudication of prospecting and exploitation licences, in the conclusion of the relevant contracts with oil companies, and in the negotiation of profit-sharing agreements between government, oil companies and communities; and lack of robust, independent and effective regulatory and accountability mechanisms.

So far, the whole business of exploration and licensing in Malawi has been conducted under a cloak of secrecy. Neither has Parliament nor the general public been involved at every stage at all or in a meaningful way. There is no clear and transparent government policy that articulates the national objectives, principles, procedures and mechanisms pertaining to this important natural resource. The existing legislation is outdated, enacted as it was at the time when it was not considered probable that such a resource could be discovered. Without both a sound policy and suitable enabling legislation, Malawi is embarking on an oil exploitation path that predictably leads to the oil curse.

Most pressing is the need to seriously debate the pros and cons of offshore drilling. We might consider oil as the natural resource we have been waiting for, but it would be foolish not to recognise that Lake Malawi is itself an important and unique natural resource. It offers us fresh water in abundance, holds in its liquefied bosom a diverse range of unique fish species, and above all, offers the natural beauty that has attracted many tourists before and can attract more, with properly planning, commitment and dedication.

The risk of offshore oil drilling to this beautiful lake is too high to be ignored. The government needs to convince the public and Parliament why it thinks drilling in such an important resource is economically, environmentally, socially and politically desirable; that the drilling presents no risk of environmental damage; and that this whole enterprise is profitable, including disclosing all relevant evidence and sources that support its case.

As Malawi is counting her blessings on the oil front, many other neighbouring countries are also doing so. Mozambique is celebrating the discovery of about 85 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gasinTanzania, about 500 billion cubic feet of natural gas in Ugandaa and significant oil reserves in Kenya and Ethiopia.

There are no indications that all these countries are talking to each other about these developments. For our part, we need to consider the profitability of the whole project, given the stiff sub-regional competition and the risk to the fresh water resources we have.

One benefit to multilateral talks lies in the huge, and seemingly complicated, issue of oil refining. In Nigeria, where oil has been exploited the longest, crude oil is exported and refined oil imported back at significantly higher prices. Discussions about a possible joint refinery could help lower the costs of domestic consumption and probably improve the competitiveness of oil exports to neighbouring countries as well.

Malawi badly needs to expand its base of revenue as international aid is shrinking, but this should not lead us into a desperate oil rush. We risk being slighted by the so-called oil curse that has smitten many of our African brothers and sisters elsewhere on the continent. n

* Danwood Chirwa is Professor of Law, University of Cape Town.

The United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator Mia Seppo believes Malawi has no business in a category comprising countries that at one time or another experienced war. Speaking during the launch of the 2016 Human Development Report (HDR 2016) whose index has ranked Malawi 170 out of 188 the UN-recognised countries and territories she said in a fast changing world, there is need for Malawi to change not only in the pace but also the quality of development that is taking place. In this interview, our reporter TINENENJI CHALANDA talks to SEPPO on why Malawi’s current ranking on the HDI should be of concern. Excerpts:

First, tell us what the HDI is and what it measures?

The Human Development Index is an integrated measure of three dimensions of human well-being, namely health [as measured by life expectancy], education [as measured by expected years of schooling and mean years of schooling] and a decent standard of living [measured by the per capita gross national income, GNI in United States dollars]. The HDI marked a significant departure from the practice of capturing  the development progress only through monetary measures such as increases in gross domestic product [GDP]. Aspects of people’s wellbeing are not captured in GDP and it was recognised that using only a monetary measure did not provide a true assessment of a country’s development trajectory.

Why is it important to look at the human aspect of development?   

United Nations Development Programme’s [UNDP] human development approach was developed in 1990 by Economist Mahbub Ul Haq, building upon Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen’s seminal work on human capabilities. This approach is about improving the lives people lead and the freedom of choice to live the lives they value.  Let me illustrate: A human being needs to be well fed, healthy and have shelter and do work, study, vote, socialise etc.

How does human development relate to economic development?

The human development approach calls for addressing concurrently the economic, social and recently also environmental aspects of development.  It considers economic growth a necessary but not sufficient condition for development. Economic growth is a means and not an end for sustainable development. The 1996 Human Development Report explored the link between economic growth and human development and concluded that there is no automatic link between the two but when these links are forged with policy and determination, they can be mutually reinforcing and economic growth will effectively and rapidly improve human development.

It is commonly seen that many countries have a higher GNI per capita, but are low on human development indicators. Malaysia ranks in the middle human development category despite having a higher GNI as compared to Chile which is placed in the high human development category, just because it performs much better on health and education.  Let’s compare Malawi and Mozambique; neighboring countries, both in the low human development category. While Mozambique has a slightly higher GNI per capita at $1 098 as compared to Malawi at $1 073; it performs much lower than Malawi on the health and education dimensions and hence has a lower HDI and ranking than Malawi.  Ideally economic growth should lead to fuller choices or opportunities for all people rather than many choices for a few.

Why should Malawi’s current ranking on the HDI be of concern?   

In the last 25 years, Malawi’s progress on the HDI has been extremely slow. It continues to feature in the low human development category and is amongst the poorest countries in the world. With an HDI rank of 170, it ranks in the bottom 20 countries and importantly is the only peaceful country to be so poor.

Between 1990 and 2015, Malawi’s HDI value increased from 0.325 to 0.476; its life expectancy at birth increased by 20.1 years, mean years of schooling increased by 1.9 years and expected years of schooling increased by 5.4 years. However, Malawi’s GNI per capita decreased by 27.2 percent between 1990 and 2015. This certainly is a matter of concern particularly when you consider its rich agro- economic potential and its relatively young population.

What do you think should be done?

National policy should not only focus on maximising economic growth but also simultaneously address equity, environmental quality and public participation, to ensure that people have the necessary capabilities, full opportunity and freedom of choice. Malawi has yet to fully exploit its opportunities and leverage its potential.  Unfortunately, we are witnessing rising inequality and deprivation in Malawi. The gap between the rich and the poor, the haves and have-nots, in education health, access to land and income generating opportunities is widening. And where inequality exists other social ills follow; it breeds corruption which hollows out the socio-economic foundations of a country.

What should Malawi Government do to improve development?

For Malawi investing in human capital development makes economic sense; strengthening the two pillars of human development, education and health will lead to development of the country’s greatest asset, its people, turning them into a skilled and healthy workforce necessary for wealth creation and sustainable development.

Looking ahead as the country prepares its next national development strategy, the MGDS III, strategic investments in enhancing quality of education both at secondary and tertiary levels and greater focus on nutrition and stemming population growth are vital to ensure inclusive socio-economic development.

It is equally important to create an environment and policy framework that ensures that no one is left behind and that appropriate redistributive policies ensure that resources are directed at those who need them the most. One of the best entry points to do this is strengthening gender equality, which is a multiplier to catalyse economic and social development. 

Hon Folks, Inflation in March was down to 15.8 percent.  Same month last year it was in excess of 22 percent!

This news must be of great propaganda value to MBC TV which scouts for government cheer-leader rants with the precision of a heat-seeking guided missile.

Not that there is any problem attributing such gains—which are a result of a good maize harvest—to our leader, APM. 

It only becomes a problem if the leadership is only associated with and hailed for our collective success which, in the case of APM, is sparsely distributed over the first half of his five-year term. The President ought to take responsibility for our failure as a nation as well.

 Which is why, I’ve been waiting with bated breath for the day the 2016 Human Development for Malawi would make headline news on MBC, a state-run broadcaster funded by the tax-payer.

The UNDP report, which looks at human development using a weighted index measure of life expectancy, education and income, examines HDI trends from 1990 to 2015 only to establish that we have just improved slightly in 25 years from 0.325 in 1990 to 0.476 in 2015.

UNDP says the HDI of 0.476 is below the 0.497 average for countries in the low human development group where we belong.

When compared with other countries in the sub-Saharan Africa where significant strides have been made to grow the economy and enhance democratic governance, we are even further below the average of 0.523.

We definitely look like a nation in tents pitched on arid land in a country where we have no claim to sovereignty. 

Unfortunately, our leaders—including APM, the venerated Professor of Constitutional Law—simply look the other way when reality looks them in the eye. They’d pay any amount for the services of a court-crier to compose and recite epics that describe hell as paradise, sorrow as joy, failure as success and illusion as reality.

Malawi is among the 193 UN member states that endorsed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015. Either government already has prioritised, or is in the process of prioritising on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the world has committed to achieve.

Business as usual approach is what yielded the “slight improvement” in human development in 2015 despite that, at the dawn of the century, we embarked together with other developing countries in Africa on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) meant to reduce world poverty by half by 2015.

The fact that our HDI for 2015 is far below the average for sub-Saharan Africa serves to show that while majority of the countries on the continent covered a long distance going north towards achieving improved living standards, mediocre leadership of our multiparty era steered our ship in cycles and ended up very near where we had started.

It would be a mistake of the worst kind to think that the same business-as-usual approach will yield different, let alone better, results if applied in the pursuit of the 2030 agenda.

A closer look at the HDI indicators shows that while there were notable gains on life expectancy and education, we performed dismally on income, as measured in gross national income (GNI) per capita.

Simply put, in areas of development where leadership and resources of NGOs and donors play a major supplementary role to political leadership, there have been some tangible results.

But in the area of wealth generation and distribution where government enjoys unhindered sovereign authority to hire and fire, define policy and programmes and, more importantly, raise public revenue and spend it, we have grossly failed.

The cheer-leader clergy can say what they want against the damning PAC report but the fact is that we are no better off today under APM than we were under JB or Bingu or Bakili Muluzi.

Unfortunately, we will have to pursue the 2030 agenda without much donor support and that makes the sail even more turbulent than the MDGs.

If APM does not change his leadership style, he may win in 2019 but by the time he steps aside, the Titanic will be our grave on the ocean floor. n

President Peter Mutharika has been a victim of a social media hoax when he dropped off the face of the earth after a sojourn to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

It would be disrespectful and unpatriotic to repeat the malicious information that was spread on the President’s state of health save to say that it forced the Head of State to rush back home with a non-functioning arm.

So with the history of having your death foretold, it is only expected that the President would have a serious aversion to social media, in all its forms.

However, when the President’s men, at State House and Ministry of Information use the same social media for unmerited attacks within their own ranks, then it smacks of hypocrisy.

Since 2014, the government information system, specifically the Facebook page has been used to relay information to the public about the President and Vice-President activities, both local and international.

The page has been professionally run, albeit with embarrassing grammatical errors which are quickly corrected when observed.

It has become a trusted source of news with thousands of followers and it was not surprising that those running the page, I assume Ministry of Information thought it wise to communicate that the Vice-President, the man elected alongside the president, had attended an event which brought him closer to the citizens that he was governing.

Vice-President Saulos Chilima taking part in the Way of the Cross over Easter should have been a plus to the Mutharika adminstration. Whether he took part in his capacity as a Catholic faithful or as the Veep was neither here nor there. The President being a Catholic could have joined in or even attended the multi denominational procession for an even bigger effect.

But pulling down the story and pictures from the government page showing Chilima in a Way of the Cross procession was going overboard.

It just shows the length that some misguided individuals would go to create animosity between the President and his deputy.

As a nation, we would like to believe that whatever undercurrents of enmity between the two is a result of a few individuals who will in the end benefit from playing for both sides.

Is it really a crime for the VP to participate in the Way of th Cross when the President himself did not deem it important to do so?

Is the government Facebook page for the President alone and can the Ministry of Information, assuming they are taking instructions from State House come out clear on the purposes of that page?

If the government information machinery is there to communicate about the President’s activities alone, what is the State House Facebook page for?

As if that was not enough, a fake resignation letter sprouted out of nowhere indicating that the Vice-President would be resigning because he is not being covered on the State broadcaster. A cursory look at the letter would show anyone with gray matter that it was not genuine, not simply because Chilima does not seem the type to make such a hasty decision but because it just did’nt ring true.

It does not make sense that Mutharika would use that letter to remind Malawians that the long arm of the law would clamp down on those who commit cybercrimes.

It would be so easy for this government to get to the bottom of that fake resignation letter when it seemed simple enough to arrest a few Malawi Congress Party (MCP) officials on treason charges over WhatsApp messages.

This is not the first time that Chilima has been a victim of a social media smear campaign. Last year, the government did not take action when it was reported online and social media that the Veep had planned to take over power by forming a Cabinet in the absence of President Mutharika.

That must have been easier to swallow for a section of the administration because it advanced the agenda that Chilima was power hungry.

Urging Malawians today to use social media with a sense of patriotism, integrity and responsibility is well and good when it’s not for selfish reasons.

But as the expression ‘chisakomele mbuzi kugunda galu’ implies, disowning social media abuses should apply across the board not when you are personally affected.

It is also high time social media stopped being labelled as evil. It certainly cannot be so evil to this current administration if they can guard a Facebook so jealously and hog it for the President’s use alone. 

We, the Bottom Up expedition comprising our chief security officer, Nganga Maigwaigwa, PSC (RTD), our leader of delegation, Abiti Joyce Befu, MG 66, our religious advisor, Alhajj Mufti Jean-Philippe LePoisson, SC (RTD), our moralist, the Most Paramount Native Authority Mzee Mandela, and I, Malawi’s only Mohashoi, are here in Paris, Capitale de la France for a working vacation.  

We are here to observe le premier tour or the eliminatory round of French Elections this Sunday, April 23 2017 sponsored by ourselves. This year’s French presidential elections are interesting  since the incumbent,  François Hollande,  is not standing because les sondages as polls are called here showed that he was extremely unpopular amongst the ‘flies’ interviewed and his chances of retaining the presidency were virtually nil.

In this year’s elections, the candidate of the extrême droite, Marine LePen, a professional lawyer and iron lady leader of the Front National is one woman to watch.  Marine is an adroit campaigner. She is so courageous that she even fired her own father, Jean-Marie LePen, founder of the Front National Party. Imagine Atupele Austin Ung’onoung’ono firing Bakili Elesoni Muluzi from the dying UDF!

The other candidates are François Fillon, Emmanuel Macron, Jean-Luc Melanchon, Benoît Hamon, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, François Asselineau, Jean Lassale, Philippe Poutou, Jacques Cheminade, and Nathalie Arnaud. Among the 11 candidates only three candidates François Filon, Marine LePen and Emmanuel Macron stand a chance of becoming president de la France.  And only two will battle it out in the second tour on May 7 2017.

For two weeks, we will be lodged at Cité internationale universitaire de Paris located in the 14th Arrondissement or District from which we will venture out to entertainment places in Moulin Rouge and Saint Denis. We  are also to visit and shop at Versailles. But, we will not climb the Tour Eiffel because Nganga thinks it is not safe to do so during tense times.

We left our beloved Federal Tribal Republic of Malawi aboard an Ethiopian aeroplane falsely marketed as Malawian Airlines on Wednesday through the Kamuzu International Airport in Cashgate City.  For Nganga, this was the first time he had been inside a plane. Despite his excitement and bravado, his trepidation was easy to observe as he was the only person in the entire cabin that was sweating despite the in-cabin air conditioning.

“So, where is the driver?” Nganga asked as we, Jean-Philippe near the window, Nganga in the middle and I near the aisle, fastened our seatbelts.

“Which driver?” Jean-Philippe asked.

“The one who will drive this aeroplane?” Nganga insisted, making Abiti and Native Authority Mandela who shared a two-person seat opposite us, chuckle like conjoined twins.

“Che Maigwaigwa, it’s a matter of parlance or professional jargon. Cars are driven, motorcycles and horses are ridden; boats are steered; planes are flown or piloted but not driven!”Abiti whispered.

“You don’t drive a canoe; you row it. Clear, now?” Native Authority Mandela asked.

“In short, a pilot is a driver or flier of aeroplanes!” Nganga said, laughing as he wiped his face with a mouchoir en papier or serviette as toilet paper is diplomatically named in aeroplanes.

“Except that a pilot is a bit more intelligent!”Jean-Philippe said.

“You call someone who learns and memorises how to ‘parotically’ manoeuvre machinery intelligent?  Please reserve intelligence for the person who innovated or created the machinery!”Nganga said.

Nganga was jocund during the entire flight to Ethiopia, where we transferred to the waiting Air France Airbus A380-800, a huge plane capable of seating the entire refugees at Dzaleka and keep them airborne, fed and entertained until the Malawi Government and the United Nations agree where to resettle them.

We arrived here in Paris through Charles de Gaulle International Airport. Our handlers, pleasant young people, drove us to the city centre.

“Vous êtes d’où?” one girl asked.

“We are from Malawi,” I answered.

“Mali?”

“No. Malawi, dwarfed by Tanzania to the north east; Mozambique to the east and south and Zambia to the west.”

“Is your president male or female?” the girl went on.

“Renseignez-vous via l’internet,  mademoiselle!” I said, shutting her up.

It has been a sad Easter. Losing five people in a boat accident on Lake Malawi, (with 11 more people missing as of Thursday) closely followed by the demise of one of the country’s most respected politicians under the former president Hastings Kamuzu Banda’s regime, Mr. Robson Watayachanga Chirwa.

It is actually a shame that 53 years after independence, many parts of the country including big and densely populated settlements such as Usisya and Mlowe in the North, for example—are still not connected by roads usable by vehicular or motorised traffic.

The deaths of the five people (May their souls rest in peace) who were aboard an overloaded boat—which police have described as an “unseaworthy” on Sunday—as they were returning to their homes in parts of Rumphi and Nkhata Bay after attending Easter Prayers at Mlowe in Rumphi should therefore squarely be blamed on our development planners’ failure to connect the two places with an access road. We are a sad country that is ruled by politicians who are long on rhetoric and short on doing the larger good for the country.

Almost all politicians who traverse the length and breadth of Usisya and Mlowe during campaigns will tell the people that they will construct a road between Usisya and Mlowe once elected into government. But once the elections are over, nobody talks about the road project and sooner rather than later people are back to their old and trusted mode of transport—boats—until another parliamentary and presidential campaign comes again.

And when an accident happens, the police will heap the blame on overloading by the water vessels. I thought the Malawi Police Service is supposed to have a functioning marine department patrolling the whole length and breadth of the lake from Karonga to Monkey Bay all the time.  

It is for this reason that despite his weaknesses and the bashing that the founding president of this country Hastings Kamuzu Banda has had, I dare say that at least he had a vision for Malawi in as far as transport infrastructure development in the country is concerned. He made a mark and his footprints are still visible in this sector. Some of his landmark developments in the sector are the Lakeshore Road from Salima all the way to Karonga. In the North, the Kacheche—Chiweta Road also stands out.

During Kamuzu’s time, lake as well as railway transport sectors were equally robust and almost all parts of the country were connected by what I can describe as some reliable mode of transport.

I will not be coy to say the country’s transport sector took a huge knock during the Bakili Muluzi’s administration. The prosperous Air Malawi we knew during Kamuzu’s started ailing during this time; while the thriving railway line that once span Nsanje to Salima to Lilongwe and Mchinji also got heavily battered during the same period. The road net work also became a shadow of what Kamuzu had put in place.

Talking about Easter Prayers and the Way of the Cross, I am reminded of 2014 when all presidential candidates became very prayerful as they thronged the streets of the country’s cities participating in the Way of the Cross. It was clear that their participation was for the purpose of wooing voters. That is why you didn’t see a single 2014 presidential candidate in any of the events this year. I can guarantee that come 2019, they will be back at each and every public event including the same Way of the Cross to woo voters. The good thing is that people know why they take part in such events. So, yes, let them come again in 2019.

A report by the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) says the number of people living in extreme poverty in southern Africa will worsen by 2040, where the majority—45 percent—will be concentrated in Malawi and Madagascar.

According to the report titled Extreme poverty set to rise across southern Africa, economic growth in southern Africa is not expected to trickle down to the most vulnerable members of the society and the region is not expected to register economic growth that is high enough for its rapidly growing population.

The report further reveals that low public service access paired with expected population growth and modest economic growth means that much of the population will continue to lack support and means to help them pull themselves out of extreme poverty.

“Much of the population already lacks access to basic infrastructure and health services. Less than a third of the population has access to piped water, less than half has access to improved sanitation facilities and the region has the third-lowest life expectancy in the world” reads the report.

Southern Africa accounts for nine percent of extreme poverty globally although it only accounts for 2.5 percent of the world population.

In Malawi alone, a 2015 study by Oxfam titled A dangerous Divide: The state of inequality in Malawi revealed that an estimated 9.5 million people will live in poverty by 2020 up from 8 million people in 2015.

Commenting on the forecasts, Catholic University head of economics department Gilbert Kachamba said the results are not surprising as Malawi and Madagascar in particular have agriculture as the major component of gross domestic product (GDP).

He said “There is need for a paradigm shift. We need to boost other sectors of the economy other than agriculture. The manufacturing sector needs to grow so that the volume of unprocessed products being exported is reduced significantly and volume of manufactured products increase significantly”.

On his part, Chancellor College economics professor Ben Kaluwa said to get out of poverty, a country’s economic growth must be substantially higher than the population growth rate while at the same time the level of inequality should be narrowing. 

Malawi’s gini-coeficient —a measure of the extent of distribution of income—jumped from 0.39 in 2004 to 0.45 in 2011.

Malawi’s poverty rate has been worsening in the past three years, captured at almost 70 percent as of last year, the recent World Bank reports in its recent bi-annual Malawi Economic Monitor publication.

The publication puts into perspective Malawi’s economy by monitoring trends to help guide policy interventions and economic planning.

The poverty rate had dropped to 69.3 percent in 2014 from a peak of 70.1 percent the previous year but since then there has been an upward surge to reach 69.6 percent, showing the country is losing the battle against poverty which the bank says is striking half of the rural population. 

Easter, when Christians commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, came and went. Sadly on Easter Sunday, we had a tragic boat accident on Lake Malawi in Rumphi where a boat carrying worshippers capsized. Dying on their way to praise God. I call this the natural conspiracy of nature and that we should never question God’s deeds.

And the same Sunday, the nation also woke up to a “resignation” letter by Vice-President Saulos Chilima on the grounds that he was facing dark forces within the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).  This was just a day after Chilima had participated in a Way of the Cross, apparently the only high profile politician that did so.

“These negative forces are making my work a strenuous and void exercise that will only lead to failure, a trait I have not and cannot associate with,” read part of the letter that turned out to have missed a few time zones of April 1 Fools Day.

It transpired that the letter was fake, with the press office of the Vice President out rightly disowning it when our reporters made enquiries.

Hours later, several developments happened that started making some of us question the origin of the fake letter in question. First, it was Malawi Voice—the DPP online mouth piece that carried a story accusing former President Joyce Banda of being behind it. Second, Information Minister Nicholas Dausi was on MBC and Capital FM threatening to arrest those behind it. Third, President Peter Mutharika—speaking when he was briefed on Optic Fiber Backbone Project—warned that he may have to crack on social media to tame the abuse.

Well, all these efforts were commendable, but some things here raise suspicion looking at the speed at which the Minister of Information and Malawi Voice moved to pin suspects. For what motive or benefit could Joyce Banda fabricate such a letter? When the Information Minister says he knows the culprits, is he talking of the same Joyce Banda?

Was this not a cheap, immature, amateurish propaganda meant to hoodwink the public that the Vice-President was not interested in his job as one way of lining up reasons to start side-lining him in government or fire him from the party?

If it was not, then why all-of-a-sudden this interest from a WhatsApp circulation; yet last year when the President prolonged his stay in the US, the government chose to believe a similar social media talk that Chilima had assembled a Cabinet ready for a takeover.

What is the difference between the two social media abuses? For starters, the President even went public in Mulanje that some people were planning to take over his government which was a thinly unveiled attack on his Vice-President who was also a victim of rumour mongering that time.

Why this selective justice? Did the government choose to believe that story and that it is why it never bothered to threaten anyone with arrest? Where was the energy that has been spent on this resignation fabrication during that most dangerous rumour mongering that bordered on treason?

Should we conclude that the DPP is slowly, but surely becoming clueless and strategically bankrupt in its plan to attack the Vice-President? Should we assume that that letter is an inside job, but it has backfired and the DPP wants to look holy by fronting refutals?

I refuse to see these developments in their raw form. There is something that is happening only that the players are amateurish otherwise the energy from the government this time on this purported resignation letter is betraying and suspicious. 

­Amid the pain inflicted by persistent failure, the Flames set about their 2018 Championship of African Nations (Chan) campaign this afternoon against the Barea of Madagascar, under a new coach, hoping to take the first step in exorcising the ghost of countless doomed missions in the jungles of African football.

The contest—slated for Mahamusa Municipal Stadium in the Indian Ocean island nation’s capital Anatananarivo—will kick off at 2.30pm local time.

It will be coach Ronny van Geneugden’s first competitive match in his quest to turn the ingredients of the Flames side into an appetising dish.

While the Belgian mentor stressed that there would be no quick fixes to the Flames woes during his unveiling, in an interview with Weekend Nation on Thursday, Van Geneugden said he is hoping for a good result against a side ranked 20 places below his team (120).

“It will be a hard game, it’s never easy playing away. We have information that there is a lot of pressure from the people of Madagascar that they must get a good result and the stadium will be full.

“So, we shouldn’t concentrate much on their ranking, but I have a feeling that we will have a good result and then get it over and done with in the return leg at home.

“The motivation is good, the morale is good,” said van Geneugden sounding ice-cool.

He added that the focus on training has been on tactical approach considering that they are playing away.

“We also had to work on the psychological aspects to ensure that the players are mentally strong and focused going into the match.”

Team captain Dave Banda said they are not under pressure in the countdown to the showdown.

“We are very much at ease, but at the same time we are aware of the task at hand. The plan is to unsettle them by getting an early goal. We will give it our best shot,” he said.

According to Football Association of Malawi (FAM) vice-president James Mwenda who is the team leader, the coach also dwelt at length on evaluating the friendly match against Kenya’s Harambee Stars that took place on Tuesday in Nairobi where the Flames held the hosts to a goalless draw.

“He worked on rectifying the shortcomings. That said, the morale in camp is high and the players are aware of the importance of this match,” he said.

The Flames were scheduled to get the feel of the match venue in the afternoon yesterday.

Madagascar coach Auguste Raux was quoted by Le Express yesterday as saying he expects a tough match against the Flames.

“The choice for the final squad was not easy because all the players were good, but we have retained the majority of our key players. Hopefully playing at home will give us an edge,” he said.

While van Geneugden will bank his hopes on Banda, a battle-hardened midfielder in the mould of a tiger, his counterpart will look up to Jeannot Vombola who won the 2015 Cosafa Cup edition Golden Boot Award.

Van Geneugden has been preaching the gospel about introducing a free-flowing passing game so as to keep possession but his opponents will also need to exercise a lot of caution against a side that has scored five goals in their past three matches.

And just like he did against Kenya, he is tipped to apply a defensive 4-5-1 formation, with Ernest Kakhobwe in goals, Stanley Sanudi, Francis Mlimbika, Lucky Malata and John Lanjesi in defence. His subtle engine that is Banda will man the midfield which is also likely to include Chimango Kaira, Simeon Singa or Yamikani Chester, Kelvin Hanganda and Gilbert Chirwa—with Muhammad Sulumba as the lone striker.

Madagascar have won two of their last three matches against Sao Tome de Principe (1-0 and 3-2) in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) preliminary qualifiers and drew the other against Angola’s Negras Palancas 1-1 in a 2017 Afcon qualifier.

On the other hand, the Flames have won once against Swaziland’s Sihlangu, drawn once against Kenya’s Harambee Stars 0-0 and lost once to Lesotho’s Likuena 1-0 in the quarter-finals of the 2016 edition of the Cosafa Cup.

The two teams have met seven times and each has won three times, drawing the other. The last time they met was in the Cosafa Castle Cup last year in which the Flames won 1-0. 

What started as a teaser to reggae music lovers in the country has now been confirmed as a show.

A few days ago, Lucius Banda wrote on his Facebook account asking fans to help him choose the next artists to bring to Malawi.

With a poster of Culture featuring Kenyatta Hill, reading “Malawi are you Ready?” the artist teased the fans.

While the euphoria was all visible as merrymakers could not hide their excitement, Soldier, as the legend is fondly called published another poster of the two reggae sides, with  caption “Lilongwe can you help us in choosing the right venue for this big event?”

On Friday, he went to confirm that Culture and Kenyatta Hill are going to perform in Malawi on June 2 and 3 this year.

“Finally its official, Culture featuring Kenyatta Hill will start with Blantyre on the 2nd June at Mibawa Multipurpose then Civo stadium on the 3rd. Please write down your favorite songs for culture to consider them on the list,” announced Banda.

According to the poster, supporting artists include the organizer himself, Black Missionaries, Anthony Makondetsa, Skeffa Chimoto and Soul Raiders among others.

While some fans could not stop waxing lyrical over the possibility of watching the two reggae legends performing as well as the title of songs they would love to watch, others expressed reservations over the
choice of venue in Blantyre.

“Mibawa is too small for these giants in music industry ,” wrote Tango Ngalawa. His sentiments were echoed by several others responding to the post like Gilberto Chibira who said: “Soja Mibawa yachepa ikhale Kamuzu Stadium. Behold, Mr. Sluggard, Payday, Zion Gate.”

Formed in 1976 as a Jamaican roots reggae group, Culture is known for famous songs including Two Sevens Clash, Natty Never Get Weary and I’m Not Ashamed.

Kenyatta, son of late lead vocalist and songwriter for the traditional roots reggae group Joseph Hill, is expected to be the main toast of the Malawi tour.