By Prisca Promise Mashushu

Lilongwe, January 17, Mana; The Minister of a Labour, Vitumbiko Mumba has said he will push more efforts to revise regulations and policies that support volunteers to have safe working environments.

The Minister said this during the commemoration of volunteer’s day at Airwing Primary School in Lilongwe on Friday.

He said volunteerism is more than just an act of goodwill as it is a driver for sustainable development for a resilient and inclusive economy that the country is envisioning.

“Volunteers play a crucial role in eradicating poverty by engaging in grassroots activities that improve livelihoods and skills development by enabling the empowerment of communities, particularly women and youth.

“For Malawi with abundant youthful human resource, volunteerism has helped to engage the population in a productive way so that we all contribute to the national development,” Mumba explained.

The Executive Director for National Youth Council of Malawi, Rex Chapota, hailed government for its initiative to support volunteers in the country by ensuring inclusivity of youths and women in programmes that promote national developments.

“As a council we are highly involved in the issues of volunteerism since about 80 percent of the volunteers are youths hence a call for measures to ensure that all volunteers in the country are doing their work in a safe environment by receiving the necessary support and resources.

“The government under the Ministry of labour should also continue to ensure that volunteers are safe from physical attacks by making sure that communities are aware of their important roles they play in fostering developments in the country,” he explained.

One of the volunteers, Gomezgani Nkhoma, also applauded the government for its support towards volunteers but has appealed for support at local and national level towards volunteers work in different areas.

“People especially in rural areas lack proper communication when it comes to volunteers something that is compromising their work hence a need for action from all parties to support volunteers from the grassroots levels,” he noted.

The volunteer day, was commemorated under the theme “Volunteer actions towards sustainable and inclusive future”.

By Patricia Kapulula

Dedza, January 17, Mana: Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change is working on logistics to get the right legal support and authorization so that forest guards have proper equipment to properly guard the country’s forests and reserves.

Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change, Owen Chomanika, made the remarks Friday during the pass out of forest guards at Malawi College of Forestry and Wildlife in Dedza.

105 forest guards have graduated with certificates after a six-week training in basic weapon handling and sustainable forestry management.

He said the guns currently used by forest guards are not suitable for the task as they are meant only to scare and not subdue the offenders, which puts them at risk in the event of an attack hence the need to have the arms upgraded.

“We are going on training that is intense than before while at the same time making sure how best we can equip the guards to manage patrols so that we have proper protection of our reserves and forests,” he said.

He expressed concern that the country experiences massive deforestation, as there are a lot of illegal loggers in most reserves.

Malawi targets to afforestate 4.4 million hactares by 2030, which Chomanika said is possible with proper forests guards who are well equipped.

One of the graduating recruits, Willard Fred, hailed the training saying it has given them the expertise to protect forests and reserves.

He thanked the Ministry for the consideration to upgrade their weapons saying it will go a long way in forestry sustainable growth.

“Our work is not easy as we meet people who have weapons such as pangas and stones. These people mobilise themselves to attack us.

“However, with the expertise we have acquired we will fight and protect forests in the country. Our work is not to kill but to protect our forests,” he said.

The Ministry is expected to recruit 1,500 forest guards to ensure that the country’s forests and reserves are properly guarded.

By Patience Longwe

Lilongwe, 17 January, Mana: The Malawi Country Manager for Mukuru, Pride Chiwaya, has expressed gratitude for the success of the "Kuiphura ndi Mukuru" promotion, stating that the promotion has been highly effective in achieving its primary objective—encouraging customers to use the Mukuru wallet.

Speaking on Friday at Mukuru offices in Lilongwe during the finale of the competition, Chiwaya said the Mukuru wallet is important in the country in a way that it is the safest way of transacting and also it gives their customers a chance to keep their funds and to transact at their convenient time.

"In October we had about 1,100 entries and in November the number of participant customers increased to 1,400 and in December, which was our final month the number of entries increased to 1,700 so we are encouraged with this outcome and grateful for our customers and we just want to encourage our customers to continue using Mukuru wallet because it is their only convenient way of receiving and sending funds," he said

Chiwaya also added that as Mukuru they are excited because they have seen that month after month the number of customers who utilize the Mukuru wallet to receive funds internationally is so far growing.

One of the lucky winners, Fatima Mateyu Who has won the grand prize said she is much grateful and encourages others to use Mukuru wallet.

The "Kuiphura ndi Mukuru" promotion, which ran from October to December, rewarded customers with various prizes, including smartphones, Bluetooth speakers, brand-new TVs, Mukuru golf shirts, and cups.

Today, Mukuru announced the grand prize winner, Fatima Mateyu from Mangochi, who has won a brand-new Mitsubishi Xpander vehicle. The grand prize will be officially presented to her on January 20, 2024.

By: Steve Chirombo

Dedza, January 17, Man: Dedza district council, Principal Nutrition and HIV Officer (PNHAO), Lottie Makina on Thursday disclosed that his office managed to reach out to 721 out of school adolescents with Iron Folic Acid (IFA) by December 2024.

The disclosure came about during an engagement meeting between the District Nutrition Coordinating Committee (DNCC), District Health Management Team (DHMT) members and officials from the Department of Nutrition, HIV and AIDS (DNHA).

Makina said it was through a multi-sectoral approach between his office, other departments and partners, to reach out to such number of adolescents in the district.

“At first, when the program started in 2019, we reached out to all schools both primary and secondary, as well as to the 34 health facilities; but getting to 2022, the program was scaled down to 41 Joint Program on Girls Education (JPGE) schools and 10 health facilities,” stated Makina.

He further said realizing the lower impact, his office and other partners agreed to do the supplementation through the youth clubs in order to reach out to more adolescents.

“We reached out to 721 out of school adolescents thanks to DNHA and UNICEF. IFA supplementation in schools has been performing well although there are a few eligible adolescent girls who refused to take due to false beliefs and faith issues.

“But we saw good participation of the youths when we used the youth clubs and boys took lead in advocating for the same although the target were girls,” he stated.

However, Makina pointed out that supplementation of Micro Nutrient Powder (MNP), faced numerous setbacks due to inadequate sensitization on the program resulting in limited knowledge by caregivers on nutritional benefits of Ndisakanizeni (MNP) for their children adding if the program was to roll out again, there is a need for a massive awareness campaign.

On his part, Samson Mfuyeni, Health Promotion Officer (HPO) in the department, said their coming was to discuss with the council team on how they would accelerate both MNP and IFA in the three months’ period of January to March 2025.

He said generally, there is low uptake of MNP and IFA supplements in all implementing districts.

“Some results based survey showed inadequate knowledge by the communities on usage, importance and availability of the supplements. At the same time, it has been realized that elements of centralized distribution of the supplements in some districts also affected their uptake,” indicated Mfuyeni.

The department’s HPO also pointed out that the main objective of the roadmap was to ensure distribution of the supplements reach 80 percent in the targeted districts. These to be done through mass awareness campaigns, decentralized distribution of both logistics and supplies and the supplements using the Child Health Week Campaign Strategy.

The three months implementing period to increase uptake of the supplements is done with support from the World Bank.

By Memory Chatonda

Blantyre, January 17, Mana: Communities in Blantyre have expressed happiness with the construction of Chipande Health Centre in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Machinjiri, which is expected to serve about 18,000 people.

Blantyre District Health Office (DHO) has also rehabilitated a maternity wing at Makata Health Centre in T/A Makata in the district.

Both facilities are set to open on Monday January 21 next week, according to the Blantyre DHO spokesperson, Chrissy Banda.

Speaking during the final preparatory meeting at Makata Health Centre on Friday, Group Village Head Chilipa under T/A Makata said he was happy that mothers with under-five children and pregnant women will now access essential health care services close to their homes.

"Previously, pregnant women used to deliver in transit because they couldn't endure traveling to Mlambe Hospital due to the long distances, but the rehabilitation of the maternity wing is a relief to them and will also help prevent needless deaths," said Chilipa, who represented T/A Makata.

On the other hand, T/A Machinjiri said receiving critical health services and treatment for common illnesses when one was sick was a "nightmare", as his subjects relied on hospitals that are far from his area for treatment.

Machinjiri, therefore, expressed gratitude to the District Health Office for its decision to have the Chipande health facility constructed in the area to ease the challenge.

However, he advised his subjects to guard against any sort of vandalism of the facility to benefit them now and for future generations.

Blantyre DHO spokesperson, Chrissy Banda concurred with the communities in the two T/As that for a long time they have been longing for a well-equipped health facility in their respective areas, noting that only healthy people can contribute positively to national development.

Banda also observed that the DHO's quest to provide health care services to improve the health and well-being of people signifies that Blantyre District Council is moving in line with Malawi 2063 development aspirations.

From Monday, Makata Health Centre, built in 2007, will be offering maternity services in addition to already existing services offered such as OPD services, antenatal care, under-five clinic services such as vaccinations and growth monitoring and HIV testing to about 41,650 people.

The works for the two facilities have been financially supported by the government and a well-wisher, Claus Chikufenji who contributed about MK500 million through Akonda Ministries International Organization.

By Donald Zimba

Lilongwe, January 13, Mana: Minister of Natural Resources & Climate Change, Owen Chomanika, has called for intensified efforts and investments in aquaculture, emphasizing its critical role in achieving the Malawi 2063 development agenda.

Speaking at the Aquaculture Investment Forum, hosted by the Department of Fisheries at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) on Thursday, the Minister expressed concern over the declining state of fish production in the country.

“Fish has become a luxury for many Malawians, which is sad because fish was one of the affordable sources of protein just a few years ago. Our aquaculture sector currently produces around 10,000 metric tons of fish annually, but our target is to achieve 100,000 metric tons by 2030,” Chomanika stated.

He stressed the need to prioritize industries like aquaculture to bolster the country’s economic growth, highlighting the sector’s potential to address food security and improve livelihoods.

“The status of the aquaculture industry is not a good one. We need to investment in this sector,” Chomanika said, appealing to development partners to support Malawi’s aquaculture ambitions.

Dr. Zewdy Gebremedhin of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), representing the donor community, expressed their willingness to collaborate and help revitalize the sector.

The forum also featured notable speakers, including, Mr. Napoleon Dzombe, Mtalimanja Holdings, Mr. Paul Kwengwere, Chief Executive Officer of the Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (MITC), Mr. Alfred Tsitsi, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Malawi.

Under the theme “Harnessing Aquaculture Potential for Sustainable Livelihoods and National Economic Growth in Malawi,” the forum explored strategies to strengthen the sector, enhance production, and attract both local and international investments.

The event highlighted aquaculture’s potential as a key driver for Malawi’s sustainable development and economic resilience.

By Chisomo Kambandanga

Nkhata Bay, January 17, Mana; Director of Public Works (DPW) for Nkhata Bay District Council, George Gopani, has said construction of a mausoleum for Orton Chirwa at his home village Manolo in the area of Senior Chief Timbiri in Nkhata Bay will be finished in May this year.

Gopani said this on Thursday in an interview with Malawi News Agency in Nkhata Bay.

He said the mausoleum is being constructed with funds from the Malawi Government amounting to MK1.4 billion.

"We are constructing the mausoleum, four houses for family members, two staff houses, and a library. As you can see, it is a big project and we were supposed to finish it last year. However, due to other challenges, there has been an extension and we are expecting it to be finished in May this year," said Gopani.

"Construction of the mausoleum for late Chirwa who is one of the individuals who played a great role in the country's history is important for the preservation of his legacy and a potential tourist attraction," he added.

A niece to the late Chirwa, Dawila Bulukutu Chirwa said they are expecting the government to empower family members for them to be financially stable.

"We are thankful to government for the ongoing construction of the mausoleum and residential houses which will improve the living conditions of our family members who lost everything due to our exile in Tanzania," Chirwa said.

"Although government is constructing the mausoleum, our family was financially affected due to the exile and the death of our uncle while in prison. Therefore, we would also like government to consider empowering us financially so that we shouldn't be beggars while living in good houses," she added.

Orton Chirwa who was a lawyer and political leader was appointed Malawi's Minister of Justice and Attorney General in 1964. In 1992, he died in prison after spending nearly 11 years on death row.