A road accident in Chitipa yesterday killed Tuntufye FM journalist Ephraim Nyirenda and ActionAid driver McDonald Mkwaila.
They died on the spot when an ActionAid vehicle, registration BR 4136, crashed with a Fuso Fighter lorry at Ibanda around 9am.
Nyirenda was going to represent Nyika Media Club at a meeting on how to achieve equal representation of men and women in elected positions.
Here died Nyirenda and Mkwaila
Nyika Media Club leader Mandy Pondani said the 34-year-old was dedicated, humble and “everyone’s person”.
She said: “We have lost a seasoned journalist who loved his job and was humble enough to work with young reporters. Most experienced journalists prefer working in cities, but Ephraim accepted to go to Karonga to assist Karonga Diocese establish Tuntufye community radio. As Nyika executive member, he was hard-working and always constructive in his contribution.”
Nyirenda formerly worked with Voice of Livingstonia.
Chitipa Police spokesperson Gladwell Simwaka said Nyirenda was in the front seat of the extensively damaged vehicle when the head-on collision occurred on Chitipa-Karonga Road.
Ronex Chizumila, who was driving the Fuso Fighter towards Karonga, lost control of his lorry and it swerved to the offside where it collided with an oncoming Toyota Hilux double cabin with four passengers on board, said Simwaka.
The two died of severe head injuries and two ActionAid employees—Stanley Mazani, 21, and ChaweziTembo, 38—were treated as outpatients at Chitipa District Hospital.
A 32-year-old woman Christina Friday is battling with scalds at Machinga District Hospital where she is admitted to after her sister’s husband poured hot porridge on her.
According to Balaka Police Station public relations officer Edith Kachotsa, Friday met the ordeal last Tuesday while she was trying to rescue her sister from the husband identified as Lovemore Joseph.
Friday in deep pain
“On the fateful day, Friday and her young sister went to cheer her sick daughter who was admitted to Machinga District Hospital. On their way back, they met Joseph, a husband to the victim’s sister who then started insulting his wife without a proper reason.
The two got on with the quarrel till they reached their house where Joseph started [physically] assaulting his wife. The victim followed the couple to rescue her sister but in the course of the attempt, her brother in-law took a pot full of hot porridge and poured it on her,” explained Kachotsa.
She further said the matter was reported to the police leading to Joseph’s arrest.
According to Kachotsa, Joseph who is 22 years old will appear in court soon to answer charges of acts intended to cause grievous harm contrary to section 235 of the penal code.
He hails from Mmanga village, in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Nsamala in Balaka.
The Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC) on Thursday confiscated meat products from Chichiri Shoprite in Blantyre after an inspection revealed the products were expired.
The commission which is mandated to regulate, monitor, control and prevent acts or behaviours which would adversely affect competition and fair trading in Malawi says it found 15 packets of expired meat products with a brand name Citerio, 111 packets of Kapani meat products with no clear expiry date labels and 68 packets of expired Angels samosa.
It said apparently, some of the labels for the samosa had been tampered with particularly on the expiry dates.
Speaking in an interview after the exercise, CFTC’s director for consumer welfare and education Lewis Kulisewa said they have since issued an interim cease and desist order and will launch a full investigation against Shoprite and the producers.
Warned Kulisewa: “We take the issues seriously especially the tampering of the labels because this is a clear criminal offence. The products might be dangerous to human health as they fall short of our standards.”
Kapani bacon and Angel samosa are manufactured in Malawi, while Citerio Taglifresco bacon is manufactured in Italy.
The confiscation comes barely two weeks after the Ministry of Health imposed a temporary ban on importation of processed meat and meat products from South Africa following a Listeria outbreak, which has so far claimed over 200 lives there.
Both CFTC and Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) witnessed the burning of the banned meet products by major super markets in the country including Shoprite.
Tobacco control leaders have warned the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World against a covet agenda to derail a global push to reduce smoking which kills almost 5 700 people in Malawi.
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease and Vital Strategies hit out at the foundation’s imminent study on why people smoke.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) ranks tobacco as the worst preventable killer, associated with over 7 million deaths globally.
Smoking kills 7.1 million, according to WHO.
Last September, WHO secretary general Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus blacklisted the foundation for receiving funding from Philip Morris, the tobacco company which buys the bulk of Malawi’s leaf.
On Monday, the campaigners hit out at the foundation amid reports that it plans to release a survey into why people smoke despite deadly public health hazards associated with tobacco.
The statement reads: “We don’t need a Philip Morris-funded survey to tell us why people smoke. Smoking is a worldwide health crisis created by tobacco companies – period.
“Corporations like Philip Morris International created and continue to drive the smoking epidemic by targeting children as customers, using slick and deceptive marketing to sell lethal tobacco products, and lobbying and litigating to block solutions that are proven to reduce smoking rates.”
The campaigners dubbed the foundation as a marketing ploy in an attempt to distract the world from the multinational firm’s “true goal: selling more tobacco products.”
“Research funded by Philip Morris through the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World is being released in service of their ultimate aim: to protect Philip Morris profits by keeping people around the world dependent on tobacco products,” the activists state.
Recently, the foundation, together with Africa Institute for Corporate Citizenship (AICC) organised a meeting with government officials, parliamentarians and civil society leaders to discuss the need for crop diversification as tobacco yield and earnings keep dropping.
“Currently, we have enacted a law that will help in marketing commodities come out from this project. We gradually need to start diversifying as the world now is changing,” said James Munthali, the former minister of Agriculture James Munthali, who heads the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture.
However, the tobacco control campaigners warn that the pro-tobacco movement use seemingly noble interventions to delay efforts to smoke out tobacco, falsely portray tobacco firms as socially responsible entities and gain access to the policymaking table.
Malawi is not party to WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, which 181 countries have ratified so far.
Government has long stated that signing up would wreck the economy as tobacco remains the major export, injecting almost two thirds of forex into the fragile economy.
However, the reluctance to sign the global pact against tobacco use has excluded Malawi from global conversations on how to gradually diversify exports and achieve a smoke-free world.
This makes the country a soft spot for tobacco corporate giants vying to increase their customer base and profits.
The campaigners wrote: “Legitimate tobacco control and public health advocates are on the leading edge when it comes to using research to help end this global crisis.
“Projects like The Tobacco Atlas are equipping the field with data that clearly identify the causes behind the tobacco epidemic and the proven solutions that can end tobacco companies’ grip on families, communities and countries across the world.”
The latest edition of the Atlas, released this month at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Cape Town, South Africa, shows that the tobacco industry is increasingly targeting vulnerable populations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East that lack strong tobacco control policies.
Delegates at the conference noted that if Philip Morris was truly committed to ending the tobacco epidemic, the company would stop marketing its “deadly products and blocking proven solutions to reduce smoking”.
First it was Lilongwe, the international award-winning movie. Now it is Nyasaland. Filmmaker and actress Joyce Mhango-Chavula is ready with her latest movie Nyasaland and will be according Malawians a chance to sample it.
Mhango-Chavula said Lilongwe residents will be the first to sample her new movie when it premieres tomorrow March 24 at Madsoc Theatre in Lilongwe.
Nyasaland follows her 2016 production, Lilongwe, and it tackles the divisive issues and damaging elements that some cultural practices have brought upon the various Malawian societies whose judgement and conclusion are yet to inform any standing decision going forward.
Making strides as a filmmaker: Mhango-Chavula
So, tomorrow evening Malawi will be given an opportunity to see and appreciate this rumbling debate from another perspective and the attempts that Mhango-Chavula mirrored in trying to solve the cultural conundrum through Nyasaland.
“Every time I introduced myself as a Malawian during my official travels, people were always curious to know about the hyena story. This triggered something in me to produce a movie that would not only dwell on the hyena.
“So, in this film am bringing out the positive efforts by many people in trying to combat the harmful cultural practices. I wanted to highlight that strong and independent Malawi woman who is not afraid and victimised,” said Mhango-Chavula.
She said she intends to screen the movie, which had a production budget of K3.5 million, in various festivals around the world despite the standing problem of lack of movie theatres and cinemas.
“It is very painful that despite many individual efforts in the art industry, our progress is still very slow. Film makers and artists have been crying for government and private sector support for so long but there is nothing tangible yet.
“We simply do not have the required infrastructure to spur growth of the industry. But we will keep on pushing, even if it takes forever we will not stop making movies,” said the writer, director and producer of Nyasaland.
Film Association of Malawi president Ezaius Mkandawire says the efforts that have been made by people like Mhango-Chavula need to be commended as they work under very difficult circumstances.
“In the face of all the hardships, we have individuals like her who are still giving their last breath to represent the industry which is beset by countless challenges. They have displayed that it possible to achieve great results with minimal resources,” he said.
Mkandawire said it is the view of his association that time is ripe for the country to establish a film commission which should be fully supported by the government in order to spur growth of the industry.
Forming the cast of Nyasaland are Brenda Mselu in leading role supported by Joyce Kathewere, Chifuniro Zacharia and Kelvin Ngoma.
Mhango-Chavula scooped the southern Africa movie category of the African Magic Viewers Choice Award which is organised by Multichoice Africa for her movie Lilongwe. n
Malawi Queens yesterday exorcised their demons to end an 11-game losing streak in style by outsmarting Fiji’s Pearls 67-52 in their second match of the four-nation Taini Jamison Trophy in New Zealand.
Before the triumph at the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland, the Queens had suffered 10 straight losses in all competitions last year and had a poor start in 2018 following an agonising 42-75 defeat by hosts New Zealand’s Silver Ferns in the opener of Taini Jamison Trophy on Wednesday.
Relieved: The Queens ended their losing streak with a win over Fiji’s Pearls
The win has given them a mathematical chance for title contention tomorrow.
The world’s 12th-ranked Queens are tied on three points with second-rated Silver Ferns, who lost to fourth-ranked Jamaica 51-59 yesterday. Jamaica has six points from two-straight wins.
This means Malawi needs to triumph over Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls in their last preliminary round match this morning and keep their fingers crossed that New Zealand can falter against seventh-ranked Pearls this morning.
Nevertheless, history shows that Fiji has never beaten Silver Ferns in any competition.
The other option is that the Queens must beat Jamaica by at least 66 baskets to get rid of the Sunshine Girls’ better basket difference as, at present, Malawi’s basket difference is minus 18 against Jamaica’s 47.
Shooter Mwawi Kumwenda, who was named Player of the Match, hailed her team mates for the win.
“We played with one spirit. Let’s bring it on for tomorrow’s game. Above all, thanks for the support for me to be named Player of the Match,” she said.
Despite the win, Queens head coach Griffin Saenda, who did not accompany the Queens due to an illness, said a win against Jamaica is important.
He said: “It was predictable that we could win against lower-ranked Fiji, but it is a tall order to go past the Jamaicans, who have height advantage. If we triumph against the Sunshine Girls, it would show that we are ready to compete for honours at the Commonwealth Games. We have to use all the necessary measures, including quick and short passes, to outclass them tomorrow.”
Assistant coach Griffin Saenda Jnr said they would fight on.
“We know it’s not going to be easy,” he said.
The last time the two sides met in 2015 Netball World Cup, the Queens narrowly lost 62-63 in Australia to miss semi-final spot.
Malawi national football team, the Flames, will travel to Kampala, Uganda in two groups for Tuesday’s international friendly against the Cranes at Nelson Mandela Stadium in Namboole.
The first group comprising five players and three officials leaves today while the rest of the squad will fly out tomorrow, according to Football Association of Malawi (FAM) general secretary Alfred Gunda.
He said the team is travelling in two groups due to flight complications.
Flames and the Cranes battling it out in a previous encounter
“It was impossible to book the whole squad in one flight, so we had to split the team into two groups with the first leaving earlier while the main group will travel on the initially scheduled date,” he said.
Meanwhile, team manager James Sangala said the change on the itinerary would not have an effect on the team’s preparations.
“The good thing is that the first group will leave tomorrow evening after completing the day’s training session. So, they will not miss anything as far preparations are concerned,” he said.
Sangala said all foreign-based players Robin Ngalande, Frank Banda, John Banda, Charles Swini, Richard Mbulu, Dalitso Sailesi and captain Limbikani Mzava, except Platinum Stars duo of Robert Ng’ambi and Gerald Phiri, who excused themselves, are available for the strength testing match.
Coach Ronny Van Geneugden is using the international friendly to prepare for the South Africa Cosafa Cup in May and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers which resume in September.
Uganda first face West Africans Sao Tome and Principe tomorrow before playing the Flames on Tuesday.
Captain Denis Onyango of Mamelodi Sundowns will lead the Cranes in the two international friendly matches.
Be Forward Wanderers and Nyasa Big Bullets invade Central Region this weekend to play two friendly matches each as they continue to fine-tune ahead of the 2018 season scheduled to kick off next month.
The Nomads first assignment is tomorrow against Mitundu Select at the Mitundu Ground, while the People’s Team will be in Ntcheu to take on Mafco FC at Lake Valley Ground.
Wanderers taking on Civil last season
Twenty-four hours later, the Nomads will travel to Dowa to meet Civil Sporting Club at Answer Academy Football Club Ground while Bullets will be locking horns with Silver Strikers at Silver Stadium.
The Bullets and Silver game has been organised by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) Malawi Chapter to fundraise for constructing offices.
Nyasa Big Bullets assistant coach Elijah Kananji said in an interview on Wednesday that the two games will help them in assessing new players.
“Playing a physical Mafco and a skillful Silver will give us a clear picture whether we will stand the heat or not,” he said.
Wanderers team manager Stevie Madeira also described the two matches in Mitundu and Dowa as important in their quest to defend the title.
He said apart from playing Mitundu, it will be an opportunity for their supporters to interact with their players.
“They just hear the names of their players like [Joseph] Kamwendo, [Esau] Kanyenda and [Lucky] Malata. This is an opportunity for our fans to interact with such big names in Malawi football,” said Madeira.
On Sunday’s game against Civil Sporting Club, Madeira said having failed to beat the Civil Servants last season, the game itself speaks volumes.
“Civil have been giving us headache and last season we failed to beat them twice, meaning they have a strong squad,” he said.
Government says swimming should not be for the elite only and has pledged to ensure that all Malawians are offered an opportunity to participate in the sport.
Minister of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development Francis Kasaila said this on Tuesday when he opened the Africa Swimming Confederation (Cana) Zone IV Championship.
The 14-nation tournament is being held at Africa Bible College (ABC) in Lilongwe and will end on Saturday.
Kasaila (L) presents a medal to one of the winners
Malawi has 32 swimmers at the event most of them drawn from elite schools and families.
Kasaila said it was a major concern that most Malawian youths are sidelined from swimming which he described as an important sport as it is part of the Olympic Games.
“We will ensure that youths at district level have the facilities like swimming pools which will help inspire local Malawians to take part in swimming competitions. We, therefore, urge the private sector to ensure they support these projects,” he said.
Cana Zone IV president Jace Naidoo said it was not only in Malawi that the sport is participated by the elite.
“This problem is everywhere in the region. But we have seen some countries like South Africa making progress. They have constructed pools in local schools and we have seen much talent being exposed through that,” he said.
At the start of competition on Tuesday morning, no Malawian swimmer had won a medal but Aquatic Association of Malawi president Willy Tafatatha was positive.
“Most of the categories we participated in were tough ones but we are optimistic that we will win medals.”
Economists have said the 2.6 percent rise in the average savings rate will help spur the country’s savings rate, which stands at a paltry 2.9 percent.
Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) statistics indicate that the country’s average savings rate has soared to an average of 8.4 percent from an average of 5.8 percent recorded in December 2017, before the policy rate was reduced from 18 percent to 16 percent.
People queue in a bank to either deposit or withdraw money
At 2.9 percent, Malawi’s national savings rate is below the recommended average of 12 percent, which negatively affects economic development.
Economists argue that a higher savings rate a country registers naturally results in the rapid growth of gross domestic product (GDP.)
When household savings are deposited in the commercial banks, they contribute to private savings and become available in the national accounts.
Despite interest rate liberalisation, savings rates have continued to tumble as follows; five percent of GDP in 1990, -3 percent in 1993, 10 percent in 1994, -4 percent in 1996 and -2 percent in 1999.
In an interview yesterday, Catholic University dean of social sciences Gilbert Kachamba said while the reduction in the policy rate is leading to more savings, a rapid rise in savings may lead to a fall in consumer spending which can lead to a fall in aggregate demand; hence, a recession.
“This can be used as a sign of economic growth. With this happening, we expect to see the investment levels rising too and in return, unemployment rates must fall,” he said.
Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama) executive director Maleka Thula said while there is a deliberate move by the banks to promote deposits, the outturn will lead to an improved savings culture among Malawians.
“This outturn is a good stance taken by banks as it is going to promote a culture of savings as at 7.8 percent inflation rate, savers will realise a positive real interest rate with deposit rate at 8.4 percent.
“But the expectation was that the decline in commercial bank lending rates arising from a downward revision in policy rate should have been followed by a drop in savings rate. However, banks must have increased their savings or deposit rates to mobilise more deposits,” he said.
But Alliance Capital Limited said although individual savings are not high enough for investment, it is important that the economy gets reorganised to woo resources from all avenues to improve the country’s rate of savings.
In an earlier interview, Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) spokesperson Mbane Ngwira said that low rate of savings rate has been a result of the economy not performing well.
Economists say savings rate in the country is influenced by factors such as income, liabilities, dependence ratio, location and other demographic factors.
If you followed Malawians on the social media, it is apparent events in Zimbabwe generated a lot of interest. It drew comparisons with 1993, the excitement, hope and prospects of a bright future. Some even went to caution that our brothers in Zimbabwe need not get too excited because change is sometimes no change.
Things remain the same. What I found interesting about events in Zimbabwe is that it was good distraction from the issue affecting most Malawians. Electricity.
Who loves bad news by the way? On a lighter note, the major beneficiary of the events in Zimbabwe could not be Zimbabweans themselves. There is a school of thought that reckons our own Escom was a major beneficiary of the “political change” in Zimbabwe. Because it became s across the world with the Malawi social media at it, cries about black outs were temporarily off the radar. Who could blame them? Comrade Bob is no ordinary man, and besides some theories contend that he has roots in Nkhotakota, a place known for various organic herbs and fish. But we cannot ignore the costs that these power cuts have brought to the country.
For starters sake, over 55 percent of Malawians live below the national poverty line. The poor come in different forms and exhibit different characteristics. Most are informally employed and run small businesses. These include barbershops in the suburbs. Small grocery stores, butcheries, meat sellers. Some are welders while others are farmers selling fresh produce. Others are dairy farmers selling fresh milk.
If you visit the outskirts of our cities, there are lot of these mobile markets selling all kinds of fresh produce. People from urban areas often flock to these places to get a bargain. It is rational consumer decision.
While putting an exact monetary value, it is very clear that many hours without electricity has a huge cost. The barber cannot work. Similarly, the welder cannot work. Then the butcher cannot sell meat that is going bad because the consumer with a fridge is also unwilling to buy. Dairy farmers have their milk go bad. So goes the equation. So one can see that such a loss of energy has serious consequences on the very small businesses that often serve the poorest of our society. This sounds simplistic, but if we look at the wider picture, it is not only a recipe for macroeconomic dysfunction, but it actually catalyses it.
So, when I walked into a service station a few months ago, I could not do any transaction because there was no electricity. Yet a few years ago we applauded MRA to have installed value added tax (VAT) collection devices to stop tax cheats in their tracts. But this case of a business failing to sell because there is no electricity means that potential tax that I could have paid was lost. To some extent a VAT reflects the level of production. Any under collection is generally linked to an economy that is growing or very shaky, or for lack of a better word, fragile.
So one can actually argue that power cuts are also affecting VAT collection because business close or reduce the number of trading hours. While this is a case of a single business, if we add up them up, it does not look that good. It is a vicious cycle considering the fact taxes fund the budget and any shortfalls have to be financed through borrowing that pushes taxes up.
Nonetheless, I like the optimism of the president as he laid another foundation for a hotel in Lilongwe. Media reports cite that he acknowledge the role of foreign direct investment in job creation. Malawi needs foreign capital to grow.
However, as a country we need to do our part in providing a climate that is conducive for foreign capital to generate returns, create jobs with minimal costs. One such route is ensuring that we generate enough electricity, not through diesel powered generators. That, now we should be planning generation capacity to cater for a population of over 80 million, well beyond election terms. It is a trait of all great and progressive nations that think well ahead of their time. Piecemeal solutions are often very expensive.
Malawi has created conditions necessary to facilitate its entry into the digital economy, Minister of Information and Communications Technology Nicholas Dausi has told an international forum.
Making a presentation on Tuesday during the Innovation Africa Digital Summit 2018 taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the minister told the audience of information and communication technology (ICT) captains from around the world that Malawi already has in place the right policies, laws, regulations and infrastructure to spearhead ICT development and usage.
Dausi: New reforms are taking place
“We are steadily heading towards the doorsteps of the digital economy. Everyday, new reforms are taking place in this sector,” said Dausi, citing a decision by government to place ICT among the priorities for focus and attention.
Now in its sixth year, the summit aims to promote digital connectivity across all spectrums to the benefit of Africa as a whole.
Running through the progress that has been made, Dausi said Malawi is reviewing the National ICT Policy of 2013, a new Communications Act is in place and the Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act got enacted in response to the advancements that have taken place in the ICT sector.
Three weeks ago, Dausi said the country validated the National Cyber Security strategy and the Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert), to deal with cyber security threats, is being set up under the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra).
“To complement these developments, we have also started working on coming up with the Data Protection Act. Soon a Bill will be introduced in Parliament,” he said.
Dausi also told the meeting that a number of regulations have been put in place to assist in promoting the sector, among them, to do with interconnection, quality of service, numbering, licensing, broadcasting/content, tariffs and consumer protection.
He said the entry into the telecommunications subsector has been eased with the introduction of a converged licensing framework by Macra to provide for a technological service neutral regime where operators have a four-tier licensing framework to operate under.
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development has opened up Shire River at Kamuzu Barrage in Liwonde, Machinga to increase water flow for Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) to boost power generation.
The ministry’s Principal Secretary Grey Nyandule Phiri said in an interview yesterday that on March 17 2018 a technical committee comprising government officials, engineers and hydrologists recommended increasing the flow of water in Shire River to allow Egenco generate more power to avert the power shortage that the country has experienced lately.
Works in progress at Kamuzu Barrage
He said: “The ministry regulates the Shire River for the benefit of the nation. There was a meeting on March 17 2018 where the technical committee recommended the increase in flow rate of water to increase power generation. Currently, water is flowing at 120 cubic litres per second.”
However, the PS said the ministry will be monitoring the flow of water to continue conserving it through regulation of water flow, observing that in the recent past—due to effects of climate change—flow rate in Shire River has not been normal.
The technical committee’s recommendation to increase the flow has seen Egenco increasing power generation to 200 megawatts (MW). This brings the total power generation to 275 MW, about 35MW shy of the suppressed national requirement.
On top of the hydro 200MW, Egenco is also generating 20MW from diesel powered generators while Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) is generating 55MW from generators that the power supplier hired from Aggreko.
In explaining the recent prolonged power shortages, Egenco said 95 percent of power generation in the country is still dependent on water.
Egenco senior public relations officer Moses Gwaza said in an interview that the rains that come in the Southern Region, especially Upper Shire Valley, were the ones that Egenco was using to generate electricity.
He said: “In the past few weeks we have had no rains in the Southern Region so that affected power production. We engaged the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development who control the Shire River flows to allow us increase the flow at Kamuzu Barrage.
“The approval was given on Saturday March 17, 2018 and since then we have increased production. We are now able to generate around 200 megawatts on average from the hydro power plants. In addition, we have about 20 MW from Egenco diesel generators supported by 55 megawatts from our colleagues at Escom.”
Apart from the hydro, Egenco has since stepped up its effort to increase and diversify the electricity generation with the installation of 20MW diesel generators at Mapanga in Blantyre, 10MW in Lilongwe and six MW already commissioned in Mzuzu.
The power generating company is also procuring 20MW Solar PV which is likely to be connected to the national grid as discussions with Escom were at advanced stage.
Gwaza further explained that a K5 billion dredging and dam expansion of Tedzani project was on course and the procurement of dredging machine for Kapichira was on course.
In the past two weeks, the country experienced, yet again, an increase in power outage despite President Peter Mutharika commissioning diesel powered generators to supplement the hydro generation in February 2018.
Participants to the second leg of the Pre-Budget Consultations Meetings have challenged government to improve on implementation of resilience policies to respond to weather shocks such as dry spells which have negatively affected agricultural production.
In their contributions in Lilongwe yesterday, Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama) and Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn) said the slow implementation and low agricultural production threaten to stagnate economic growth.
The two bodies have since urged government to make tangible investments in irrigation as one way of building resilience in case of drought and resulting in low agricultural production as it happened this year.
Thula: We need to see fruits
In a contribution under the theme Towards Development Oriented, Resilient and Inclusive Budget, Ecama executive director Maleka Thula said when the agriculture sector experiences slow growth, the economy cannot grow.
He said despite the investments in value addition, there was need to move to large-scale mechanised farming to improve production not smallholder farming.
Ecama has also called for the review of the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) to analyse its relevance.
Said Thula: “The agriculture sector is too fragile due to adverse weather patterns as such there is need to put more resources towards irrigation development to overcome challenges of low productivity and climate change effects.
“We need to start seeing the fruits of the Green Belt Initiative after delinking it from the Ministry of Agriculture [Irrigation and Water Development]. What is needed now are results.”
In its presentation titled Building a Productive, Competitive and Resilient Nation, Mejn lamented the little progress in implementation of resilience building interventions in climate change adaptation and management.
Mejn noted that only half of the 28 districts were practising climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, an increase of four from 2016.
“We are not recovering fast enough from shocks and perhaps this is undermined by financing or technical capacity of those in the frontline of service delivery. We are failing to break the cycle of vulnerability from weather shocks, something which is crucial considering that Malawi is an agro-based economy,” said Mejn executive director Dalitso Kubalasa.
Mejn also found that only two percent of the targeted 10 percent of the population has been cushioned from the impact of drought and floods since 2016.
Malawi being an agro-based economy, at least 30 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) is from agriculture followed by wholesale and retail then manufacturing.
In 2018, dry spells experienced mid-rainy season and fall army worms leading to the loss of over 600 000 hectares of maize threaten the growth and the ever decreasing inflation have prompted the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development to revise downwards to between four and 4.5 percent from six to seven percent economic growth targets.
In the 2017/18 budget, the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development released K21 billion for the purchase of maize but had to set aside an additional K34.8 billion in the revised budget for the advance purchase of 200 000 metric tonnes by Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation and National Food Reserve Agency.
Responding to the proposals, Secretary to the Treasury Ben Botolo, who led the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development team in the absence of Minister Goodall Gondwe, said the government had planned heavy investments in agriculture through the Shire River Basin programme and the Bwanje Valley Irrigation programme but these required private sector assistance to be fully developed.
He said: “Land is critical to ensuring these irrigation investments bear fruit. There is need to organise farmers through cooperatives, analyse the land holding by smallholder farmers and put it to good use through irrigation.”
Botolo said government would still consider private sector involvement in commercial growing of crops such as maize even after few companies expressed interest or had the capacity for large-scale crop production.
Other contributors such as Malawi Health Equity Network (Mhen) appealed to Treasury to consider allocating 15 percent of the budget to health in line with the Abuja Declaration with particular consideration of increasing the Other Recurrent Transactions vote for fuel to cater for standby generators at district hospitals.
Mhen’s wish-list also included purchase of medical equipment such as dialysis machines, ambulances to improve the response to referral cases, recruitment of health workers trained by the government as well as improved infrastructure developments.
Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama) has cautioned government not to attempt to implement all priority areas of the Third Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS III) which is estimated to cost about K8.6 trillion over a five-year period.
Contributing to the 2018/19 National Budget during the Lilongwe leg of the Pre-Budget Consultations Meetings yesterday, Ecamasaid not all sectors identified in MGDS III can be targeted given the limited resources available to the government and development partners.
“We fear the resources are not adequate to implement the whole wish list,” Ecama executive director MalekaThula said.
President Peter Mutharika presents a copy of the MGDSIII to Norwegian Ambassador Kikkan Haugen
MGDS III has identified several flagship projects which the government and development partners hope will spur economic growth and reduce poverty in the key priority areas of agriculture, water development and climate change management, education and skills development, energy, industry and tourism development, transport and ICT infrastructure, and health and population.
The ambitious five year strategy includes flagship projects to cost about K3.5 trillion in order to scale up public investments.
These include Shire Valley Transformation Programme, construction of Mombera University in Mzimba, construction of coal-fired power plant at Kam’mwamba in Neno and expansion of the Limbe-Marka and Nkaya-Mchinji railway lines.
Ecama said government should instead focus on priority areas in agriculture, energy, health and education.
“Key priority areas in MGDS III need to be translated to implementable development projects in the 2018/19 budget,” Thula said.
On its part, Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn) said the competing priorities of 2018/19 budget such as planning for elections, rising unemployment and mitigating against food shortages should not prevent the government from including growth and strategy blueprints such as MGDS III and the African Union Agenda 2063.
Mejn executive director Dalitso Kubalasa said of the five priorities in the MGDS III, the overarching priority should be building a productive, competitive and resilient nation.
He, however, bemoaned the late disbursement of funds for government interventions and slow movement towards scaling up alternative sources of energy as some of the factors that could hinder realisation of the priorities.
Ministry of Health Principal Secretary (PS) Dan Namarika has asked non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to be transparent in their projects and strive to leave a legacy once their project period has completed.
He made the call yesterday during the official launch of the Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric Aids Foundation (Egpaf) Catalysing Paediatric Tuberculosis Innovation (CaP TB) in Malawi project.
Namarika’s reaction came in response to a question on the cost of the project as the foundation did not disclose the actual cost in its presentation.
Namarika: Where is the transparency?
He said: “Most organisations are asking government to be accountable, but they themselves are not accountable to government. For the donor community who are giving us funds they believe that the money goes to Malawi Government but in some cases the overhead costs are huge. So you find an institution has money for us but in actual sense 30 percent of it goes back to the organisations. Some even 60 percent, so where is the transparency and how much is the cost of this project?”
The CaP TB project seeks to identify, assess and set in motion plans to scale up new improved tools for diagnostics, drugs for treatment and models of service delivery.
Namarika said catalysing or increasing detection of TB and managing TB in children is a problem and in children it is worse because they don’t produce sputum that is used to diagnose it; hence, the innovation from Egpaf will help reduce the burden.
Egpaf country director Veena Sampathkumar said they aim to bring the possible treatment to kids and ensure they are healthy.
She said: “To answer the PS’s question, the project is $1.1 million for a period of four years in seven districts of the country. We are working closely with the Ministry of Health and we believe in equity so that every child is protected, treated and are healthy.”
CapTB is a four-year project funded and supported by Unitaid which aims to reduce paediatric TB morbidity and mortality in nine sub-Saharan African countries and India.
In Malawi, the project will be implemented in Mchinji, Dedza, Ntcheu, Mwanza, Blantyre, Chiradzulu and Thyolo districts with five objectives, thus: creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment, introducing effective and innovative models of care to improve detection of paediatric TB cases, increase access to improved paediatric TB treatment, generating novel evidence and ensure that childhood treatment is integrated in national systems.
Globally, an estimated one million children are in need of TB treatment, yet only 39 percent are diagnosed and reported to national TB programmes. Little has been done to expand access to case identification, innovative diagnostic tools or child-friendly treatments that are now available.
According to the National TB Control Programme, in 2016 the country registered 16 959 TB cases where 8.6 percent was paediatric.
First Lady Gertrude Mutharika has urged people in the country to join hands in ending child marriages.
She made these remarks yesterday when she officially opened the End Child Marriage Campaign launched by World Vision Malawi (WVM) at Kammwamba ground in Neno District. The campaign’s theme is It Takes Malawi to End Child Marriages.
Mutharika (L) meets Palmer at the launch
In her remarks, the First Lady said everyone should make a commitment that every child in marriage should return to school.
“This responsibility lies in all of us—parents, teachers, traditional and religious leaders. Everyone should ensure no child is going into marriage. The time is now,” said Mutharika.
In her remarks, United States Ambassador Virginia Palmer said the US government is already working with Malawi in promoting education for children.
“When a child is educated, they can make good decisions in life. Even those who want to be in business will be able to make good plans. As such, Malawi needs to work hard to end child marriages and send them to school as one way of combating poverty,” she said.
Also speaking at the event, WVM national director Hazel Nyathi said Malawi should scale up efforts to ending child marriages.
“We have been implementing nutrition and education programmes to enable children attain a better life. In our efforts to empower communities to take responsibility in ending child marriages, we seek to bring local interventions that will complement national policies in ending child marriages,” she said.
Kanengo Police Station on Tuesday arrested a Lilongwe resident in connection with an armed robbery committed during the night of March 17 at Area 51 in the city.
Kanengo Police Station spokesperson Laban Makalani told Malawi News Agency (Mana) that the suspect, Mike Phiri, 30, was part of a gang that raided a house belonging to an employee of Senpha Investment and stole a company car and assorted household items.
Some of the recovered property
“We received a report that the robbers broke into the house of one of Senpha Investment’s employees and they also demanded cash from her. The victim surrendered K6 000 and car keys. The robbers made away with assorted items, including two laptops, an external hard drive, speakers, three car batteries, a GOtv decoder, curtains, clothes and a Toyota Hilux registration BS 2212,” he said.
Makalani also said police conducted investigations which led to the arrest of the suspect.
According to Makalani, police have recovered three plasma television sets, five laptops, five cell phones, a mattress, two expand suitcases, eight laptop bags, two motor vehicle batteries, assorted curtains, four subwoofers, a generator, two pairs of timberland shoes and assorted clothes.
Meanwhile, police are searching for the suspects who are still on the run.
National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust in Mangochi District has advised health officials to check the tendency of allowing learners to undergo voluntary male medical circumcision (VMMC) during school time.
In an interview on Wednesday, Nice Mangochi civic education officer Turner Banda said the tendency is fuelling school absenteeism among the circumcised children as their wounds take time to heal.
VMMC is disturbing education in Mangochi
“The same officials were on a campaign sometime back condemning the rolling out of the exercise when school is in session. They argued that it would disrupt the promotion of quality education,” he said.
Banda said messages reached everybody in the district, including the traditional initiators (Angalibas) who promised to take heed of the advice.
“Government should be committed and serious with the way it conducts its business. The fact that it wants to reach many people in VMMC campaigns should not compromise development,” he said.
Banda said the act is tantamount to killing the children as it is denying them access to education.
But in an interview, Mangochi District Hospital spokesperson Harold Kabuluzi said the hospital understands the complications that may arise when one is circumcised; hence, it conducts VMMC among students during school holidays.
“I am not sure about this. All I can tell you is that we always embark on the exercise among students when they are on holiday. During the time when school is in session, we circumcise those who are not in school and adults,” he enthused.
Petani Mtonga, wachiwiri kwa mkulu wa nthambi ya matenda a khansa kuchipatala cha Queen Elizabeth mumzinda wa Blantyre wati matenda akhansa akagwira mawere amatchedwa khansa ya m’mawere.
Sabata yatha, Mtonga adati matenda a khansa alipo a mitundu ingapo.
“Sabata yatha ndidafotokoza bwino lomwe kuti kwambiri matenda a khansa amayamba okha kotero sizitengera kuti ndi chiwalo chanji chomwe chakhudzidwa ndi matendawa choncho mai aliyense amakhala pachiopsezo cha khansa ya m’mawere. Ngakhale izi zili chomwechi, amayi osuta fodya komanso oledzera amakhala pachiopsezo chachikulu chifukwa mufodya ndi mowa m’mapezeka zinthu zomwe zimakolezera matendawa,” iye adatero.
Dotoloyu adati zizindikiro za khansa ya m’mawere ndi monga kutuluka zotupa m’mawere, kuchita zilonda m’mawere, kutulutsa magazi m’mawere ndi kusintha mtundu kwa mawere.
“Njira ina, mayi amatha kuimirira kapena kugona pansi ndi kuyamba kusindikiza bere lakumanzere ndi chikhatho chamkono wakumanja mozungulira, ndi kubwerezanso ndi bere lakumanja momvetserera bwino ndipo akaona kuti mukumveka kanthu kalikonse kachilendo, athamangire ku chipatala,” iye adatero.
Mtonga adaonjeza kuti pali zikhulupiriro zosiyanasiyana zomwe zimatha kuyambitsa khansa m’mawere zomwe zilibe umboni ndipo mu mndandanda wa zomwe zimayambitsa matendawa ku ziwalozi mulibe. Iye adati zinthuzi ndi monga kuika foni za m’manja m’mawere, kuvala khamisolo wa pa kaunjika ndi zina zambiri. n
