By Steve Chirombo

Dedza, September 21, Mana: Women in Senior Chief Kachindamoto under Mtakataka area in Dedza district, have expressed gratitude for the money received under the Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Program (CS-EPWP) saying it will ease hunger that has hit their households.

The women made the remarks on Friday when the council was finalizing the disbursement of the funds to the participants of the program.

About 28,870 community members have received money amounting to K38,400 each having worked for 24 days. Their work included the construction of swales, gully reclamation, taking care of natural regeneration, and tree nursery establishments among others.

Lecia Christiano from Kakhome village said she was happy to have received the money and she hoped to buy food for her household.

However, she said unlike in the past, when more people were into charcoal burning, the program has demonstrated that they should be the game changer as vegetation is being restored.

Another woman, Nasoweka Saizi, from the same area said she was grateful to government for being part of the program.

“Our farming activities are now easy because of the way we are taking care of them. They are clear and smart. Our vegetation is even better than before,” she said

Saizi added that the money she received will feed her household and also enable her to get school items for her children.

Mwayiwawo Mathotho, another participant, said the money will likely close some gaps at her home while hoping her children will not be hit by malnutrition.

“Words fail me because I am part of this program. The money I have received today will help me buy food for my family as you might be aware that we had erratic rains in the last farming season which contributed to hunger that is hitting us hard,” she stated.

On his part, Franklin Gomani, Dedza district council, Land Resources Conservation Officer and also CS-EPWP’s Desk Officer said the program is going towards empowering the communities to be financially stable.

Gomani added that participants can buy food items, farm inputs, and school materials for their children.

“In terms of mitigating the effects of climate change or conserving the environment, we have at least done quite a lot, as the areas where we have put structures to harvest and control erosion is quite huge,” he said.

He, however, bemoaned inadequate key personnel and resource constraints, especially vehicles which he said hamper timely supervision efforts.

The CS-EPWP is a component of the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods and is being implemented under the National Local Governance Finance Committee with funding from the World Bank

By Golden Kang'oma

Salima, September 21, Mana: As one way of strengthening collaborative efforts between the media and Government officials, National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) Trust on Thursday organized an interface meeting between members of the media and Salima District Council officials.

NICE Trust's Salima District Programs Officer Queen Mataya, said the initiative was important as it provided a platform to discuss issues hindering the media from effectively executing their duties and how to build a strong working relationship with council officials.

"We want to empower the media to effectively report on issues that enhance transparency to address challenges in their working relationship and promote transparency and accountability in local governance," he said.

The engagement meeting was part of the ongoing "Boma Lathu" project which NICE is implementing and is aimed to strengthen the collaboration between the media and the district council.

“One of our interventions under the Boma Lathu project is to support the media in reporting issues that promote transparency and accountability. This interface meeting was crucial for both sides to discuss and resolve any outstanding issues that may hinder their collaboration,” She said

Mataya also expressed optimism that the dialogue would lead to a stronger relationship between the media and the council as the meeting provided a platform for both parties to openly discuss challenges and seek solutions to improve their collaboration.

Salima District Council’s Director of Human Resources and Administration, Grace Kantande, acknowledged the concerns raised regarding access to information and committed to addressing them.

“We have heard the concerns about access to information. Moving forward, we need to meet as management and determine the best way to support our media partners.

"The media is crucial to us, as they provide the information we need daily. We must improve how we share information with them to benefit not only Salima but the entire nation,” Kantande stated.

Director for Salima Governance Network (SAGNET), Charles Mwangupili highlighted the meeting's potential to enhance development projects through improved checks and balances facilitated by a robust media and council relationship.

“This engagement organized by NICE Trust is vital for improving our relationship with the media. It will undoubtedly contribute to better governance by ensuring that development projects are scrutinized effectively,” Mwangopili said.

By Moses Nyirenda

Lilongwe, September 21, Mana: Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Malawi chapter Chairperson, Golden Matonga has advised journalists in the country to remain non-partisan when covering political issues.

Speaking on Saturday during a fun run that MISA Malawi organized to raise funds for the construction of its training centre at Mtolankhani House in Lilongwe, Matonga said journalists should always remain neutral when writing or covering political issues.

“Journalists should adhere to neutrality in all contexts, it is something we have been sharing with our colleagues in a fraternity that we do not want to see any incident where journalists have been involved in partisan politics.

“It is very imperative that we remain neutral just as a referee in a game of football,” Matonga said.

He added that journalists should maintain ethical standards and present the views of all political parties professionally.

He also said that as MISA Malawi they will not protect journalists who might involve themselves in partisan politics.

“As MISA Malawi we will not defend any journalist who is involved in partisan politics supporting one candidate openly or indirectly, we have to remain as neutral as possible and that will inspire confidence from our audiences as well as our journalism,” he said.

Matonga further called upon politicians in the country to help in promoting ethical journalism as well as media freedom.

Also speaking at the fun run one of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Officials who participated in the fun run, Engineer Vitumbiko Mumba said as politicians they will continue working together with the media in promoting media freedom in the country.

MISA Malawi's fun run among others attracted journalists and politicians who had a run from Game Complex to Gateway Mall in Lilongwe.

The event was sponsored by members of various political parties namely: MCP, United Transformation Party (UTM), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) company, Lab20 Innovations.

By Brian Wasili.

Mwanza, September 21, Mana: A total of 13,950 households which have been affected by hunger in Mwanza District have been assured to benefit from the 2024/25 Lean Season Food Insecurity Response Programme which government is distributing to hunger-affected households.

The assurance was made by Deputy Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture Owen Chomanika MP who was guest of honour at the district launch of the programme at Phanda School in the area of Senior Chief Nthache (Mwanza West Constituency) in Mwanza District on Friday.

“It is the government’s commitment to ensure that this programme is rolled out to all districts of the country so that every household affected by hunger is given food,” said Chomanika.

The Minister said that districts of Mwanza, Blantyre and Neno are the top three worst affected by the hunger situation in the country due to various reasons such as El-Nino, which resulted in a dry spell in some areas therefore the government could not wait until the situation got out of control.

The maize distribution exercise is a response to the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee 2024/25 report which projected that about 5.7 million people in the country would require food aid between October 2024 and March 2025, citing delayed onset of rains, prolonged dry spells and high cost of agricultural input as some key contributing factors.

Under the programme each targeted household is expected to receive 50 kilograms bag of maize per month up to March 2025.

In Mwanza, of the total of 62,777 people that need food support 13,950 households have been targeted for the programme, translating to 5,185 from Traditional Authority (TA) Nthache while 6,108 and 2,657 families are in TAs Kanduku and Govati respectively.

Chairperson for Mwanza District Council Bellon Kasambwe commended the government for considering distributing the maize a month earlier (September) than anticipated when many households in the district are suffering from hunger.

He urged all those who received the maize not to sell or exchange it for beer because doing so would frustrate government’s effort to fight hunger in the district.

Member of Parliament for Mwanza West Constituency, Joyce Chitsulo thanked government for rolling out the programme saying it will address food shortage among some of the affected households in her area and asked for more support from stakeholders to reach out to the rest of the people in need of the food aid across the district.

“It is not that people in my constituency did not grow the staple food but because the rains did not come as expected over the past two consecutive growing seasons,” said Chitsulo

A beneficiary, Joyce Golasi, 62, from Nguteya Village in the area said she has lived on eating mangoes therefore the maize will address the food shortage in her household.

“I will take care of this food so that my children should not suffer because of hunger,” said Golasi.

By Manasse Nyirenda

Rumphi, September 21, Mana: Regional Commissioner of Police for the north, Richard Luhanga has pledged to deploy more officers to newly opened K42 million Livingstonia Police unit in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Kachulu in Rumphi.

Luhanga made the remarks Friday during official opening of the police unit which has been built by Rumphi District Council with funding from Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD)

He said that police presence in the area will also assist in fighting against entry of illegal immigrants and pledged to deploy 10 more officers in addition to three who are already at the unit to strengthen security.

Luhanga then urged the people in the area to report anyone harboring illegal immigrants to police and also warned against vandalizing public property whenever there are misunderstandings between police and the community.

"We expect that whenever there are differences, they should be settled within the lines of the law. Those who destroy government property will be hunted down and brought to book. They are here to serve you and we expect peaceful coexistence between officers and community.

Similarly, I expect my officers to be exemplary and professional when discharging their duties. I am going to discipline all errant officers," said Luhanga.

District Commissioner for Rumphi, Emmanuel Bulukutu said that security is important in the area because Livingstonia is one of the areas which is earmarked for hotel development under President Chakwera's Agriculture, Tourism and Mining (ATM) Strategy towards attaining Malawi 2063.

He also pledged to community members that the council will build houses to provide conducive accommodation to the officers.

TA Kachulu said he was grateful for the intervention saying it would help in reducing cases of gender-based violence, and child abuse among others in the area.

GESD is a performance-based grant which is funded by the World Bank.

By Chisomo Kambandanga

Nkhata Bay, September 21, Mana: Disaster Risk Management Officer for Nkhata Bay District Council, Rachel Kamanga Friday has cited financial hiccups and inadequate capacity building for personnel as some of the factors that affect the council in responding to disasters effectively.

Kamanga was speaking when Umunthu Plus presented to the District Executive Committee, Capacity Building Project on Disaster and Logistics Management in the district.

The project among others aims at improving the capacity of the council to respond to all forms of emergencies.

"This is a timely project considering we are going towards the rainy season when disasters are imminent.

At times we fail to effectively respond to such disasters due to lack of capacity by personnel at all levels apart from financial constraints and this project is a good intervention," Kamanga said.

Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for Umunthu Plus, Rumbani Mgula said that the project strived to fill gaps the council experiences when disasters hit the district.

"We observed that some councils just keep relief items in trucks due to limited storage facilities and this trend can lead to theft of the items, hence the project will fill that gap," Mgula said.

The six-month project which is funded by the World Food Program is expected to be implemented in Nkhata Bay, Karonga and Nkhotakota with each district getting about K23 million kwacha.