By Priscilla Phiri

Lilongwe, September 10, Mana: Vice President Dr Michael Bizwick Usi has called on Malawi’s forestry sector to put into action the structures designed for forest conservation, emphasizing their importance for the country’s economic development.

Speaking at the launch of the Forest Plantation Fee Structure Report and a Public-Private Engagement on Forest Plantation in Lilongwe on Tuesday, Usi highlighted the misalignment of current forest pricing policies with community needs.

He pointed out that this misalignment has led to a minimal contribution of forests to Malawi’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“The implication of our forest policy pricing demands immediate action. Over the past five years, the forestry sector’s contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been a mere 0.1 percent.

This low contribution is a reminder of the gaps in policy enforcement and evaluation of forest resources, hindering both revenue collection and sustainable waste management,” Usi stated.

Recognizing these challenges, Usi mentioned that Modern Cooking for Healthy Forests (MCHF), with funding from USAID and in collaboration with MwAPATA, conducted a comprehensive study on Malawi’s forest fee structure, which aimed to assess whether revenue generation can sustain production.

“This study provides evidence to decision-makers, comparing the current fee structure with those in the Sub-Saharan Africa region to guide the establishment of an effective and competitive fee structure,” he said.

Usi also stressed the need for effective implementation structures and a conducive environment for private sector participation, which he deemed crucial for the success of environmental initiatives in the country.

He further instructed the Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change to name those involved in corruption within the forestry sector to address the corruption challenges currently affecting development.

Echoing Usi’s sentiments, MwAPATA Executive Director William Chadza emphasized the importance of the study, noting that it highlights the status of the country’s forestry sector in economic development.

“The research on assessing forest plantation fees and prices was undertaken to make a comparative analysis of our prices with those in other Sub-Saharan regions.

 “This will inform decision-making on how forestry and plantation contribute to the social and economic development of the country and how it can be enhanced,” Chadza said.

He also urged authorities to allocate sufficient resources to the forestry sector to manage the country’s forests effectively.

By Leah Malimbasa

Chikwawa, September 10, Mana: President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera has encouraged Malawians to consider patronizing Majete Wildlife Reserve as one way of supporting the country's tourism industry.

The President was speaking in Chikwawa when he together with First Lady, Madame Monica Chakwera visited the game reserve.

Before the tourist attraction, the president also inspected construction works at Kandeu Secondary School, which is being constructed under the Secondary Education Expansion for Development Project.

 Meanwhile, President Chakwera is inspecting the construction of a water treatment for the flagship Shire Valley Transformation Project in Chikwawa.

Later in the day, the Malawian leader is expected to switch on electricity at Pende Primary School in the area of Traditional Authority Kasisi under the Malawi Rural Electrification Programme (Marep 9).

By Salome Gangire

Neno, September 10, Mana: District Commissioner (DC) for Neno, Rosemary Nawasha, has said Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills are crucial to the youth for them to thrive in today’s digital era.

She was speaking Monday at Neno Integrated Youth Development Center (NIYDC) during a graduation ceremony of 32 youths who graduated after undergoing an ICT course at the institution held under the theme "From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for the Achievement of Agenda 2063".

Nawasha said in this digitalization era, ICT skills are an indispensable asset, therefore, she encouraged the youths to build their digital competence.

"The Neno Integrated Youth Development Center is becoming a hub for ICT skill development providing invaluable training to our young people. The skills you acquire here will enable you to compete in the global job market and contribute to the realization of Agenda 2063,” Nawasha said.

She therefore urged more youth in Neno to seize the opportunities by taking advantage of the institution and develop their ICT skills.

Centre Manager for NIYCD who is also the District Youth Officer, Ian Sukali appealed council and other organizations in the district to employ youths, particularly in roles such as data entry and digital management.

“Our mission is to provide youth with ICT skills that are practical and relevant to the job market. These graduates now possess the tools to excel in various sectors and we hope local companies will provide them with opportunities to apply their skills,” Sukali said.

Sukali also disclosed that the centre will soon start issuing Technical Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training (TEVETA) certificates to the graduates.

One of the graduates, Paul Clifford said the training will help him in his future endeavors.

"The skills I have gained here will be invaluable as I move on to tertiary education. The world is going digital, and I feel ready to meet the challenges ahead," Clifford stated.

Group Village Head Donda also praised NIYDC for its impact in the district, noting the centre has transformed lives through digital education.

"It is pleasing to see the centre producing not only graduates but also tutors who are products of this institution. The centre’s influence on our youth is visible, and it’s making a real difference in our community," he said.

Neno Integrated Youth Development Center (NIYDC) was opened by President Lazaruus Chakwera on 19^th July 2022.

By Ed-Grant Ndoza

Mzuzu, September 10, MANA: It is not long time ago, when some people of the Northern part of Malawi especially Mzimba, could not be separated from their Livestock, like chickens,   goats and cattle.  In remote past, families who could not afford to raise   kraals (khola) were deprived of options besides sharing with   animals their dwelling houses, to guarantee their safety.  

I could still remember the days when my mother had taken   some whips on me over a misdemeanor, I used to seek refuge at my grandfather’s mud made and grass thatched house. The house depicted cool rooms smeared with   cattle dung.  When dusk crept in, six goats and three kittens, used to join us into the house.  They used to go straight to a corner of the vacant ‘dinning” room where the big man used to skillfully tether them so that the young ones were not trodden upon by the elders.

At night, it was something else. I could be woken up by either goats’ sneezing, or bleating   by the she goat (mother) which could not trace its kitten. I could also hear   a splash of urine that dug a canal that run up to the place we used to assemble fire.  I remember one night   urine extinguishing some little fire that remained before we had left for bed.  Although the extinguishing sound was loud my grandfather pretended not to hear despite both of   us having been awake.

I knew he was accustomed to the sound having slept with goats for years.

At times, sleep could be disrupted by goat’s stampede over something I could not explain

“It’s how goats behave” my grandfather    responded when I plucked courage   to find out the cause of stampede 

The morning task for my grandfather was to untie the goats from a pole sunk at the    corner of the   room, and tether them outside the house, at a nearby garden. He used a reed basket to clear the droppings that had a special heaping place at one home yard point, for them to mature before use in gardens, to boost soil fertility.

Sharing sleeping dwelling houses   with animals, especially chickens, goats, sheep, and calves, was a common practice   by most Ngoni families few decades ago.  There was an art in tethering the elder animals so that young ones were not trodden upon.  

This culture was being practiced ostensibly to secure the animals, especially in remote rural communities infested by hyenas, wild cats and other prey beasts. Rarely from thieves.

Every tribe or society has its own culture and art that make people’s life complete and worthy.

Culture is a set of values, beliefs, practices, habits, behaviors, views and all that identify a group of people or a society. Cultural values can encompass   food preferences, dressing styles, language, recreation   and other elements that make a group of people unique and different from others.

Art is an expression of people’s way of life. Artwork is a reflection of culture of a certain group of people at a certain period of time. Art serves as a powerful medium of communication a particular group of people use to express their beliefs, values, feelings, views and perceptions.  It mirrors all elements a particular tribe or society stands for as their identity. 

Art and culture are just two sides of a single coin. Art work can be presented in form of paintings, drawings, weaving, sculptures, pottery, dances and other artistic performances, symbols, words, signs and sound.

Art promotes coexistence and tolerance among people of different cultural and religious backgrounds by communicating religious and cultural values and beliefs of individual groups.  Therefore, art    enhances peace, unity and tranquility in societies habited by people who tow different cultures and religions. Undermining artistic features of a certain group of people leads to conflicts which, if not amicably and hastily resolved, will degenerate into civil war that can cost property and lives.

Religious and cultural groupings and institutions have always clashed into fierce conflicts over accusations of demeaning each other’s values and beliefs, through derogatory perceptions and actions, including blasphemy. Religious conflicts are rampant worldwide bordering on misunderstanding of values and beliefs.

Eric Brahm for Substark Magazine wrote on 2005, November, “Religion is central part of many individuals and any threat to one’s belief is a threat to one’s very being.”

Like other tribes, the Ngoni people are identified by their own unique culture and art that govern their society. 

 Ngoni people’s art and culture have been associated   with   animals (both, domestic and wild) and natural resources, especially natural forests.  Animals have their own relevance and efficacy   to their culture whose    beliefs and values    are reflected through their art. 

Animals for instance, serve as key raw materials for artwork that makes Ingoma, the Ngonis' war dance, complete and envious to watch. 

Art work supported by animals is demonstrated in the dance whose gear and other accompanying   materials are sourced from animal skins and other wildlife specimen.

 Special artwork is applied in organizing dancing regalia made from wild animal skins, which is knitted into clothes like wear. These skins, from different animals, such as leopards, lions and other smaller animals with beautiful dot spots skins cover the whole body, except the head, which is also  ]taken care of ,  by state of the  local art hat, skillfully meshed  with unique birds species   feathers. 

The skin (from cattle) is also used to make shields (protective gear), spear handles and cattle tails are fixed at the end of the spear, to add beauty to the dancing weapon. 

Dancing materials that were also sourced from wildlife include beads, ivory necklaces, rings, jewels and horn trumpets (mbata), from an African antelope, known as Kudu. 

Ingoma dance is a replica (carry forward) of dances performed by the tribe each time they emerged victorious in fears battles, some time ago.  

The Ngoni people, under Zwangendawa Jere, who fled hostilities perpetrated by notorious Ngoni King, Tchaka Zulu, in South Africa, from   1818 to 1822, engaged in persistent battles on their way to Malawi, and arrived in Malawi in 1840

Ingoma dance is called war dance because performers aggressively wield weapons like spears, shields and complemented by combatant facial expression and victory   songs. 

Armed men are main dancers and are called' impi’ meaning a battalion. The dance is incomplete without women behind the impi who offer lead vocals.  Women have their own attractive gear dominated by beads around their necks, hands with some donning birds feathers in their heads.

And a Notable dressing for women is a cloth loosely covering their lower part of their bodies. 

Some animal and birds specimen fixed in their heads and   ears add a beautiful spectacle.      In resonance with the songs, the impi pounce hard on ground with bare feet, as they wield shields and spears, a visitor will not help scampering for safety. Art skill is also demonstrated in the dance itself.  Except for away performances, to ensure safety of the dancers, the dance is performed at a specific place in the village. It is performed in cattle kraal, where the matress -like -dung provides safe feet landing.

The use of skin and birds feathers were not limited to    supporting Ingoma dance.  Cattle skins were also used to bury chiefs while    dried ones made good sleeping mats for miserable income families. Cattle skins were also used to bury chiefs while    dried ones made good s

sleeping mats for miserable income families. The skin was also used as strings on wooden beds. Feathers from domestic birds (chicken) made good pillows.

In addition to providing materials for Ingoma dancing gear, domestic animals (cattle) were also paid as lobola (dowry system). In addition to providing materials for Ingoma dancing gear, domestic animals (cattle) were also paid as lobola (dowry system). 

Special art work is also depicted in metal fabrication works, in making spears, arrows machetes,, hoes knives and other useful metallic objects. Elderly artists used to craft a goat skin bags to blow charcoal into flames, in an improvised furnace, to melt metallic objects and shape them into designs of their choice. 

Besides animal and birds specimen obtained from forests, trees are also important commodity harvested from the forests for artwork.  The Ngoni people use special trees to make bows, spear handles, hoe and ax handles, beating sticks (Mchiza), clubs and other useful wooden   materials. Trees were also used to be carved into pounding sticks and mortars, sculpted into bee hives, rough wooden chairs, and poultry and pig feeding troughs.

Natural forests were also sources of food products like flying ants, mushroom, honey, fruits and other products used for various domestic purposes. 

Wild animals were hunted down by dogs or killed with classical traps made from wire and   ropes.  Villagers close to streams devised their own unique art to fish. They used traps (chino) or poisonous plants (mutetezga) to catch fish, in their suffocated state.

Like said earlier, the Ngoni people have been always next to animals. Besides serving as lobola, (Cattle) animals were source of food, milk, luwende (boiled blood), meat and prestige.

Some villagers boasted huge herds of cattle, just for fame, since animals were socio-culturally looked at as a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Some villagers in possession of tens of cattle, lack necessary basic needs, including school needs for their children. In some extent, family members took a piece of meat only when the animal breaks its leg in a fight, killed in a fight or rescued from a predator.  

It is on meat preservation that the Ngonis prove to have no equals. They have unique art to preserve meat that   people from other tribes are disillusioned with, and can invite serious nausea to some.  This is Zimpeto art.

An animal meat (cattle and goat) is chopped into long strings and are spread across small trees arranged in lines, resting on four elected trees, in between which, a very small fire is assemble. The fire is not so strong to gate keep flies.  It is exclusively smoke that engulf the meat. As fire gets weaker and weaker, smoke too, decreases, opening swarms of blue flies to invade the meat, in the process. In a short time, the blue flies lay hundreds of eggs that swiftly hatch into white and legless larva like organisms, called maggots. 

The more flies patronise the meat, the greater infestation of maggots is observed. What used to stun Ngoni visitors was the absence of attention to the infestation of flies to the meat.  No one will spare energy to whisk away flies, let alone shake maggots off the meat. Maggots that cling loosely on the meat, drop off and land on   fire and blow up, bringing a horrible smell.  

In fact, the organisms were not maggots. They were given a special name, Zimpeto.  Zimpeto was a culturally constructed name to replace the name maggots.

Zimpetos   were just innocent organisms. They were good Samaritans in meat preservation.  They helped to tenderize and add a unique decomposing flavour to the meat.  In absence of refrigerators, it could have been a big challenge to preserve meat without Zimpeto artwork.

 We talk about times when food qualified to be a real meal when it accompanied meat.

The Ngonis had their own derogatory words to relish like vegetables and legumes. They used to say relish must be killed. Relish must produce blood.  “Are you an animal to eat vegetables,” they could ask derogatorily.  In those days, it was going to dawn for Nutritionists to preach the gospel of nutrition that emphasizes a minimum dietary requirement, only certified with presence of fiber rich food stuffs, like vegetables. 

What was surprising, however, was that no family member was bed-ridden, suffering from macro and micronutrients deficiency related illness or food contamination. Those were times when parasites like biting ants, mosquitoes and flies could not register their presence and impact on people’s health.

“No one fell sick, let alone open bowels after consuming Zimpeto tenderized meat,” Challenged one villager, in his late 70s.  It can be argued, therefore, that zimpeto were beneficial organisms.  

In addition to   aggressively hauling to the meat a strange decomposing flavour, the tenderizing Zimpeto was also a strong catalyst for the softness of the meat, even when the animal was too old to cook and chew.    

The Spokesperson for Mzimba Jere Ngonis, Ndabazake Thole said the art of Zimpeto was the only way people could preserve meat in large sizes.

Said Thole, “In those days, meat was just plenty.  Meat was the best food for the Ngonis.   Zimpeto culture was the only ideal technique to preserve meat for number days,”

Children living in towns, off for vacations in their parent’s villages, earned canes on their buttocks for wrongly calling Zimpeto as maggots. It used to take their parents to apologize for the wrong name of the glorified organisms.  

Elderly men did not correct boys' wrong doing by words of the mouth. The only treatments was severe beating with a special beating stick known as Mchiza. Of course, young boys were nurtured with good manners because of a culture of communal meals, a system where all meals from a few houses were   brought and eaten at one place. 

The Tcheni culture instilled cleverness and jack up way of doing things among boys. In Tcheni culture, boys carefully watched the pace of eating and they had to quickly remove the remaining food and place another dish of meals.   The boy could shout the word   ‘Tcheni!'  Before pulling the remaining small meal from the Centre of eating circle, usually close to the cattle kraal, (ku mpala). Delays in removing remaining food was a big crime, attracting a penalty, usually beating with Mchiza.

By Happy Milanzie

Lilongwe September 9 Mana: The Burundi national team suffered its first defeat in their second game, losing 1-0 to Senegal at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe, Malawi, during the 2025 African Cup of Nations.

The Teranga Lions were all over in search for a goal, but the Swallows of Burundi remained solid, preventing them from finding the back of the net in the first half.

After persistent pressure for 71 minutes, Senegal finally found relief through an Ismaila Sarr penalty. The spot kick was awarded when Sadio Mane was brought down in the 18-yard box by Burundian defender Nsabiyumva Frederic.

In a post-match interview, Burundian coach Nda Yiragije Etienne said his team showed resilience and maintained their fighting spirit, despite conceding a penalty that disrupted their game plan.

"Most of them are young and still in the process of getting the experience of national team football," he said.

"I hope our next game will be more interesting looking at the way we have played today," added Etienne.

He revealed that the battle is still on in group L and Burundi has got more chances to qualify for 2025 total energies African cup of the nations in Morocco.

Burundi won their first away match against Malawi national team at Bingu national stadium.

Senegal’s coach, Aliou Cisse said having three points has energized the journey of Senegal for 2025 African cup despite a disappointing start at home with a draw against Bukina Faso.

"We did not play well but the players have managed to get three points though the team missed a lot of clear chances," he said.

Senegal is leading in the group L with four points, seconded by Burundi three points.

Burkina Faso is in third position with one point, while Malawi's national team is at the bottom with no points.