By Patience Longwe

Lilongwe, January 11, Mana: Police in Lilongwe have arrested Rose Tayitasi, 42- years- old for allegedly assaulting to death her biological 16-year-old son over the missing of her Itel keypad cellphone at Mitengo Village on February 10, 2025.

According to Lilongwe Police Spokeperson Hastings Chigalu, the deceased has been identified as Charles Muwelo.

Chigalu said on February 7, 2025 at around 22:00 hours, the suspect noticed that her cellphone was missing from the house and suspected her son (deceased) to be behind the theft of the gadget.

Chigalu narrated that filled with anger, the suspect took a piece of a tree and assaulted heavily her son aiming at forcing him to reveal where the deceased sold the phone.

“Unfortunately the boy never confessed to stealing the phone, until he collapsed and became unconscious.

“The development forced both parents, mother (suspect) and father to rush their son to Bwaila District Hospital for medical attention but without notifying either the police or neighbors of the incident,” he said.

They were later referred to Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) where sadly the boy died on Monday at around 06:00 hours while receiving treatment.

However, the couple was denied collection of the body, they were advised to report the matter to police first.

This is when the father to the deceased came to report the incident at Chisiyo- Bypass Police Unit.

Postmortem done by Kamuzu Central Hospital revealed that the boy died as a result of head injury secondary to assault.

The suspect who hails from Chimkwita Village, Traditional Authority Makwangwala in Ntcheu District, will be charged with murder.

By Lyte Ali            

Mangochi, February 11, Mana. In response to inadequate of rescue teams during natural disasters that has previously hit the country, the World Food Program (WFP) in collaboration with the United Kingdom (UK) have conducted training of trainers to 38 participants from various security agencies in the country in search and rescue program.

Speaking on Monday during the end of the week-long training program facilitated by experts from the UK International Search and Rescue team, held at Police Cottage in Mangochi, Acting Country Representative for WFP, Simon Denhre, said they organized the training following a request by government over inadequate response to previous natural disasters, particularly on search and rescue operations.

"We work closely with Department of Disaster Management Affairs in disaster management, and from previous disasters we learnt that we could do better on research and rescue, and we hope that the training will help Malawi to improve in disaster response," said Denhre.

Team Leader at the British High Commission Giles Henley, expressed satisfaction with the training's outcome, saying the UK team has been working closely with the Malawi government to train trainers.

"We are happy that we have trained people in the country, and we believe that this will help Malawi to have a vibrant national search and rescue team.

‘‘This partnership between the UK and Government of Malawi embodies a modern partnership, to address issues central to our shared priorities," said Henley.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Homeland and Security, Erica Maganga, said the training was very important as many areas in the country are prone to natural disasters hence the need to have experts in disaster response.

"We are thankful to the UK government for the successful training, and we believe that this will help us to improve our disaster response capabilities," said Maganga,

The program aimed to equip planners and responders with necessary skills on coordination and command aspects, as well as tactical-level preparedness to enhance the county’s disaster response capabilities was attended by delegates from the Police, Marine department, Malawi Defence Force, and Fisheries department.

By Brian Wasili

Mwanza, February 11, Mana: Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture, Richard Chimwendo Banda has said he is satisfied with progress and quality of the construction work of Mwanza Stadium, saying the facility will meet expectations of communities in the district.

Chimwendo Banda was speaking in an interview after visiting the site to appreciate progress of the construction work of the facility which is at over 80% completion as of Monday.

"Government is committed to continue facilitating various development activities across the country including Mwanza to benefit communities regardless of political affiliation and location," said Chimwendo Banda.

He said construction of Mwanza Stadium is part of the decentralisation programme so that local authorities are empowered through local revenue collection.

The 8,000 sitting capacity stadium which has cost government MK3.7 billion is expected to open in April this year.

In his remarks, Member of Parliament for Mwanza Central, Nicholas Dausi hailed government for constructing the stadium in the district, saying it has transformed the face of the district.

"As an entry point into the country, there was need for the district to have modern structures like this one," said Dausi.

Meanwhile, government has pledged to construct a modern market and bus terminal in the district.

In a separate interview, District Commissioner for Mwanza, Dr. Martha Magreta Sineta commended government for constructing the stadium, saying will help people in the district to do some small businesses during sporting activities; hence, improving their livelihoods.

"The revenue collected at the stadium will also boost local revenue that will empower the council to initiate some development projects that will benefit the community," said Sineta.

By Wanangwa Tembo

Kasungu, February 11, Mana: Member of Parliament for Kasungu North Constituency, Mike Bango, says there is need to build more primary schools to cut short the long distances that learners in rural areas walk to access education.

Bango says the long distances to school are a huge obstacle that forces learners, especially in rural communities, not to start school while in recommended ages or to dropout altogether.

He was speaking on Monday when Kasungu District Council was handing over the construction of Chikaka Primary School project to Bonongwe Building Contractors at Kampaliro Village in the district’s north constituency.

“This area is surrounded by four primary schools but are all at far away distances that children, especially those in lower classes, cannot manage to walk.

“This is why we have been in discussions with authorities to build a school here so that we reduce the distances and also encourage children to go to school,” Bango said.

The K238 million project, funded by the World Bank through Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD), includes the construction of a school block with two classrooms, a staff office and toilets.

“Our wish was to include two staff houses in the project, but we will explore other sources of funding including the Constituency Development Fund to make sure that the school grows and have structures that could accommodate all the classes,” Bango said.

Director of Planning and Development at Kasungu District Council, Annie Zimba said the government is committed to constructing more primary schools to accord learners easy access to education by cutting short the distances that they walk to school.

“We expect the contractor to deliver the project within three months, meaning by April we should have the structures ready.

“This project is funded under GESD which is a performance based grant so as a council, we are working hard so that we continue getting these funds and deliver quality projects to the people of Kasungu,” Zimba said.

In his remarks, Group Village Head Kampaliro hailed the project saying it will assist in ensuring that children who dropped out of school due to long distances go back to class.

In the 2024/2025 financial year, the council received K923 million, part of which will go towards the school project, construction of Dunda bridge, Chisinga market, and staff houses at Kachitsa Primary School and Tchesa Extension and Planning Area (EPA).

By Patience Longwe

Lilongwe, January 10, mana: The Director of Quality Assurance Services in the Ministry of Education, Associate Professor Golden Msilimba has said in its one-year operation, following the establishment of its secretariat in December 2023, and subsequent operations in January 2024, Teacher’s Council of Malawi (TCM) has of today received 6053 application from student teachers for indexing,93372 teachers applied for registration and 42844 applied for licensing.

In his remarks made on Monday during a press briefing held alongside with Teacher’s Council of Malawi (TCM) and Directorate of Teacher Education and Development, Msilimba said by 15 February all application forms shall have been processed and thereafter registration roll will be open for verification by registrants both physically and online.

“By 31^st March, we shall have the final document with all registered teachers and education administrators, and come 1^st April, the law will be in full force, and no unregistered teacher will be allowed to practice” he stated.

Msilimba also added that Manual application has delayed the issuance of registration certificates and licenses, as data entry clerks need to capture the information on forms into their system.

“Registration is done once, but licensing will be done every three years, teachers will be paying K 15,000 every year and after three years they will just be getting the license after cumulatively paying K 45,000 as fees for renewing the license” he said.

Meanwhile, Teacher’s Council of Malawi Registrar, Grace Mphandamkoko said, that the number of registered teachers shows very few are remaining and they are hoping will register by 31^st March.

“I encourage all you unregistered teachers to do it online to hasten the process of registering them,” she said

Director of Teacher Education and Development in the Ministry of Education, Dr Zizwa Msukuma said their directorate will ensure teachers continue undergoing continuous Professional Development (CPD) as per the requirement, and the same will be captured by TCM, which will warrant the renewal of their licences

By Zenak Matekenya

Dedza, February 7, Mana:  Households displaced by a power generation company in Dedza, Golomoti, have hailed the company’s livelihood restoration intervention program for its impact on their lives.

The company, called JMC Power, had a Power electricity generation project in Dedza in the year 2021 at Golomoti, Traditional Authority (T/A) Kachindamoto.

Following compensation for their displacement, JMC Power engaged the households in a Livelihood Restoration Project, where participants received training, farm inputs, goats and chickens.

Chairperson of the affected households Joseph Francisco on Monday told Mana that displaced 163 households have successfully ventured into agribusiness and other economic activities.

"Integrated training series in agriculture and village savings and loans equipped us with essential skills, enabling us to transform farming into a viable business model. We can now plan our farming activities from land preparation to marketing,” he said.

Francisco said using modern technologies in production of maize, groundnuts, vegetables and other crops, participants have constructed decent houses, achieved food security, and met their basic household needs.

As part of the project, JCM Power empowered 101 participants with literacy and numeracy skills enabling them to better comprehend business concepts and enhance their entrepreneurial effectiveness.

Agriculture extension development coordinator for Golomoti Extension Planning Area Martha Kumwela said an assessment by her office revealed significant improvements in food security among households participating in the program.

“This success is attributed to the adoption of climate-smart agriculture technologies including single seed maize planting and production of Mbeya organic fertilizer,” she said.

Dedza District Community Development Officer, Thanira Gondwe, commended local leadership for a well collaborative program implementation.

“This is an outstanding initiative in responding to development needs for the community. I extend my sincere gratitude to the chiefs, participants and all stakeholders for wholeheartedly supporting this development,” he said.

He hailed the participants for their dedication to acquiring literacy and numeracy skills emphasizing their critical role in driving development.

He pledged to provide reading materials from his office to help sustain the attained literacy skills, as this is a crucial step, given that the district's literacy level stands at 56.8 percent.

Golomoti JMC Power Liaison Officer, Feston Paliani, said the company had bought land from the households and there was a need for it to give support knowing the whole process affects people and it requires a restoration intervention.

JCM Power produces about 20 megawatts which it sells to the Electricity Supply Commission of Malawi (ESCOM).

By Sheminah Nkhoma

Lilongwe, February 10, Mana: Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda has assured the public that the country has sufficient antiretroviral drugs (ARV)drugs for HIV patients.

In an interview with Malawi News Agency (MANA) on Monday, Chiponda said the public should not worry about the drugs as they have in stock despite the recent withdrawal of the HIV and Aids funding by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“People should not panic about the withdrawal of USAID funds as they are reorganizing themselves, our services are continuing as they were in all health facilities across the country,” she said

 The Minister said government is also relying on other donor partners who are still helping in the health system of Malawi.

“We have the Health Sector Joint Fund, which includes contributions from Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom and other development partners in bridging the financial gap left by USAID withdrawal,” She stated

Chiponda further said the government has recruited additional healthcare workers to fill the vacancies left by departing US-supported staff.

 Recently USAID withdrew all projects in Malawi and other African countries due to significant budget cuts and policy shifts within the US government.

By George Mponda

Karonga, February 10, Mana: Karonga District Council on Monday gave a green light to a K28.5 billion budget for the 2025/26 financial year, with a focus on ramping up infrastructure and economic development in the district.

Presenting the budget during a full council meeting, chairperson for the Finance and Audit Committee Isaac Kalambo disclosed that K18.1 billion is the recurrent budget and K3 billion is the development budget while social support programs account for K6.8 billion. 

“Some of the major development projects in the budget include the construction of a K210 million Kasoba Maternity Wing in Paramount Chief Kyungu’s area, the procurement of a K72 million solar water pump at Miyombo Irrigation Scheme under Senior Chief Kilipula and the K118 million rehabilitation and extension of a minor theater at Kaporo Rural Hospital," Kalambo said.

"Over K592 million has been allocated to the education sector of which over K247 million will go to the School Improvement Grant, K82 million for teaching and learning materials while K261 million will be for other activities," he added.

According to Kalambo, key donor contributions, include K727 million from the Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD), K4.8 billion from the Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme (CS-EPWP), K1.9 billion from the Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) and K367 million from the Resilience Climate Recovery Programme (RCRP).

Ward Councillor for Uliwa Dyson Mzumara, raised concerns over the council’s allocation of many projects in Paramount Chief Kyungu's area.

“We have several Chiefs in Karonga but the budget presented today is showing a lot of projects being implemented in the area of Paramount Chief Kyungu leaving out other areas which seems to be unfair," Mzumara complained.

However, acting District Commissioner for Karonga Frank Mkandawire explained that the council allocates projects based on needs.

"There are areas whose projects have taken long to be finished and those were prioritised. Besides that, most of the projects being implemented in Paramount Chief Kyungu's area are location specific, especially the urban and city roads which are meant to be done around Karonga Town which falls in Kyungu's area," Mkandawire explained.

On his part, Senior Mwirang'ombe has urged the council to empower local businesses to generate higher revenues, which in turn, would boost the council’s income.

By Milcah Mathias and Pempho Nkhoma

Blantyre, February 10, Mana: Blantyre-based football team, Chilobwe United Football Club on Monday planted 1,000 trees at Soche Hill in Blantyre to restore the environment and combat climate change impacts including devastating floods that affected the community in the past.

Speaking after the tree planting exercise, Chilobwe United FC Public Relations Officer, Julio Chimbuzi said that being a community team they have various social responsibility projects including community environmental conservation and charity works.

“Our theme for this year is ‘where football meets community impact’ which means everything we are doing is attached to the community. We saw it fit to take up the initiative of planting trees on this hill because our area was heavily affected by Cyclone Freddy,” he said.

Chimbuzi, who is also the Events Manager for the team, added that they will continue to look after the trees by implementing safeguarding initiatives.

“We have been given this area and have named it after our team; we are calling it Chilobwe United Forest. We will be coming to take care of the forest and make sure that as the team is growing, the trees are protected,” he added.

Soche Mountain Conservation Trust Field Officer, Sean Gondwe commended Chilobwe United for the initiative saying that it has complemented their work of restoring and conserving Soche Mountain.

“We thank Chilobwe United for planting 1000 trees. It means they have saved more than 1000 lives, and the same trees will protect the coming generation from natural disasters,” he said.

Gondwe therefore advised other organisations and community members to consider protecting already existing trees, citing that conserving the environment is not only about planting new trees.

“If we take good care of already existing trees, after five years they will be more useful than these new ones. Most of the time, we focus on planting trees forgetting that already existing trees are equally important,” Gondwe added.

Chilobwe United FC was last season’s Southern Region Betika Division 1 League Champions and was promoted to Thumbs Up Southern Region Premier Division League

By Donald Zimba

Lilongwe, February 10, Mana: The Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate change, in collaboration with the Malawi Environment Protection Authority (MEPA), has announced the immediate resumption of the implementation of the Environmental Management (Plastics) Regulations following a court ruling upholding the ban on thin plastics.

Speaking at a press briefing in Lilongwe, at the Department of Environmental Affairs Headquarters, Secretary for Natural Resources and Climate Change, Dr. Yusuf Mkungula, hailed the ruling as a victory for environmental protection.

“This ruling bans the importation and use of thin plastic bags in the country. It is in the best interest of Malawians and our environment,” he stated.

Mkungula emphasized the harmful effects of plastic pollution on water bodies, wildlife, and human health, reaffirming the government’s commitment to environmental sustainability, a key pillar of Malawi 2063.

“This decision legally enables the government to fulfil its mandate of protecting the environment and public health in line with Enabler 7 of Malawi 2063, which calls for a clean, secure, and sustainable environment,” he added.

Failure to comply with the plastics regulations is an offence punishable by law, with penalties including imprisonment, confiscation of property, monetary fines, and possible closure of non-compliant facilities.

MEPA Director General, Dr. Wilfred Kadewa, commended the government for taking decisive action and urged the public to support enforcement efforts by reporting violations.

MEPA Board Chairperson, Dr. Robert Kakakoma, stressed the importance of collaboration with the media in raising awareness. “As the protector of the environment, MEPA is committed to working closely with the media to ensure effective implementation of this ban,” he said.

The Ministry reaffirmed its commitment to creating a healthier and more sustainable Malawi, emphasizing that the court’s ruling strengthens the government’s resolve to address the plastic pollution crisis.