By Austine Patrice Kachilika

Mzimba, February 18, Mana: Chairperson for civil society organizations (CSOs) in Mzimba South, Christopher Melele says lack of resources is negatively affecting delivery of school feeding program in the district.

Speaking during a field supervision exercise of the program on Friday, Melele said there is need to find solutions as quickly as possible before many learners drop out of school.

He said: “We have noted that Mtangatanga, Wozi, Kasangazi, Kamwaphimbi, Mathandani and Machelechete primary schools, are generally encountering similar difficulties including lack of food, inadequate resources for cooking and maintaining health and sanitation, for instance, chlorine. There is also lack of training of food handlers.

 “School feeding program provides meals that act as an incentive for parents to send children to school and keep them there. I fear that the trend of school dropouts will skyrocket if the pupils are not incentivized enough to steer their motivation towards education,” he said.

Head Teacher for Kasangazi Primary School, Lloyd Mfune said through community contributions, schools are partially relieved the pressure of sourcing maize, soya beans and groundnuts during the harvesting season, but appealed for more support.

“Despite the help from our surrounding communities in sourcing food and help in food preparation, the food sourced is not enough to last us three terms, as a result, we are forced to stop preparing porridge for the learners,” said Mfune.

Nutrition Officer for M’mbelwa District Council, Gift Simkonda said findings of the inspection will be discussed with relevant stakeholders to map a way forward and find solutions to the problem.

By Andrew Mkonda

Lilongwe, February 18, Mana:  District Commissioner for Lilongwe, Dr. Lawford Palani has assured the people of Area 25 in Traditional Authority Chitukula in the district that the council is committed to resolve an issue on the demolition of illegal structures as soon as possible.

Area 25 block leaders and their subjects wanted to hold vigils on February 21, 2024 at Lilongwe Civic Offices to express their disappointment with some business people who are constructing shops within the grave yard.

haired a stakeholders meeting on Friday aimed at mapping a way forward for the planned vigils, Palani said Lilongwe District and City Councils are working around the clock to resolve the issue amicably by following the rule of law.

“Resorting to holding vigils will not do us good. I want to assure you that we are working tirelessly and following the Law to resolve this issue amicably.

“We will take action very soon and your concerns will be addressed” said Palani.

Lilongwe City Council Director of Planning, Hilary Kamela said the council has now lifted the injunction that was restraining their office to demolish the illegal structures.

“It has been a long journey, but we are committed to enforce the law by demolishing all the structures that were constructed illegally. Our hands were tied-up due to the injunction that was there, but now we are free to enforce the law,” he said.

However, Kamala expressed disappointment by some business people who are failing to understand that any building structure in the city and even in the district set-up has to follow the development plans of the council.

Let us change our mind-set, it is against our cultural values to construct structures within a grave yard. Once buildings have been demolished by the council, that should be a strong message to intelligent people,” he said.

Speaking in an interview on condition of anonymity, one of the block leaders expressed satisfaction with the resolution of the stakeholders meeting and promised to maintain peace and order in the area as they are waiting for the demolition of the illegal shops.

By Joel Phiri

Mzimba, February 17, Mana: At least 129 youths in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Khosolo in Mzimba on Friday graduated in various vocational trades after completing a three months mobile training programme under Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training (TEVET).

Speaking at the graduation ceremony held at Kanjuchi Community Day Secondary School in the district, Inkosi Khosolo appealed to the graduates to put the skills learned to better use.

“The skills should enable you embark on various income generating activities. You should apply such skills by starting various businesses and secure jobs in your various areas of expertise,” Khosolo said.

Inkosi Khosolo appealed to TEVET Authority to scale up mobile training to more youths saying the 129 graduates represent a small number of youths who are looking for such training opportunities in Khosolo, Kanjuchi and other areas.

TEVETA Director of Training Programmes, Modesto Gomani, said the Authority will continue with the mobile training programmes to ensure more youths, who live in far flung areas of the county, are offered an opportunity to train and hone vocational skills that would enable them earn a living.

Two young ladies with disabilities, Dorothy Banda and Dinah Banda, graduated in tailoring.

Gomani said TEVETA is promoting positive discrimination to promote people with disabilities.

M’mbelwa District Council Acting Director of Trade, Chimwemwe Sichinga-Kumwenda, expressed hope that the trained youths will remain in the country and use the vocational skills to develop their district.

“More youths are jobless because they lack skills. Vocational skills are good because they enable one to employ themselves which we hope these youths will do,” Sichinga said.

One of the graduates, Esnart Shaba, described the training as worthwhile saying she was loafing at home because she could not enrol in a college after completing secondary school education in 2021.

The graduates were trained in bricklaying, carpentry and joinery, cosmetology, edible horticulture and motor vehicle mechanics, among other trades.

By Monica Tambala

Lilongwe, February 16, Mana: Some Members of Parliament (MPs) have asked government through the Ministry of Justice to consider renovating some magistrate courts in the country, which are currently in dilapidated state.

Posing her supplementary question to the Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo in the August House, MP for Zomba Malosa Constituency, Grace Kwelepeta, bemoaned the dilapidated state of Domasi Magistrate Court which she said hinders timely responses to judicial cases.

“I really ask the Ministry of Justice to consider renovating Domasi Court which is in a bad state and even the house of the magistrate is not in a good state, such that our magistrate stays very far from the court and that gives problems when he has got urgent work that needs to be done.

“So my plea to the Minister of Justice is for him to help us renovate the court and houses through maybe liaising with the Minister of Lands so that we can have good facilities at Domasi Court,” she said.

Speaking in an interview with the media, Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo concurred with the concerns of the concerned MPs, saying courts are indeed one of the very visible symbols of access to justice which is one of the legs of democracy.

He however said the lack of adequate funding to his ministry is what has rendered the judiciary incapable of resolving some of the problems to do with construction and rehabilitation of courts.

“So the concern of most Members of Parliament is that either there are not enough courts in their constituencies, the courts are too far from their constituencies or that the courts that are there are in a dilapidated state and need to be repaired, and that is a real problem.

“But the problem has always been funding. There has not been enough money for construction of courts or rehabilitation of courts. Judiciary has always been pleading for better funding,” he said.

In his address to the media, Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda commended members of the House from both sides for coming to the deliberations and representing their people.

He further urged the members to stay active in deliberations and expressed optimism during the coming budget deliberation scheduled to commence next week where he said, time permitting, two bills will be tabled.

By Petro Mkandawire

Blantyre, February 16, Mana: Executive Director for Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN), George Jobe, has expressed gratitude over the Healthy System and Immunization Strengthening (HSIS) project, saying collaborative efforts between Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs) and Mother Care Groups has improved vaccine coverage among children in Malawi.

Jobe expressed his gratitude on Friday during a meeting with the HSAs at Ndirande Kachere CCAP, which was held to strengthen linkage between HSAs and Mother Care Groups on top of learning HSAs achievements in the course of HSIS project implementation.

Speaking during the meeting, Jobe said the status of vaccine coverage in under five children has greatly improved with almost 98% because of the support from HSAs and Mother Care Groups.

He added that through HSIS project, MHEN trains the care groups about advocacy in order to address challenges associated with the vaccines in the community.

“Refusing vaccines has reduced greatly, coverage has improved greatly, especially in the areas where there are Mother Care Groups. It is therefore important to have care groups because community members can easily understand issues of vaccines,” said Jobe.

He then disclosed that Blantyre was the lowest district in vaccine uptake among nine districts before the implementation of the project in 2017, as it was recorded quantitatively to have 40% vaccine coverage, adding that as of 2024, vaccine coverage has greatly improved to almost 98%.

HSIS is a project being implemented by MHEN in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mchinji, Chitipa, Mzuzu, Kasungu, Dowa, Ntchisi, and Mzimba with funds from Global Alliance Vaccine Immunization (GAVI), running from 2018 to 2025.

In her remarks, Zingwangwa HSA Supervisor Florence Nasava said at first their facility's vaccine coverage was below 60% but working hand in hand with Mother Care Groups has helped the facility to reach out to almost 100% of mothers in their community to participate in children clinics and vaccine uptake due to advocacy on child vaccination and immunization.

“In past years, our vaccine coverage was at lowest as most community members had myths and misconceptions on vaccine. The project has really helped to alert people on the importance of children's vaccine and immunization and this has helped to improve attendance at under five children clinics up to 100%,” said Nasava.

She therefore expressed gratitude over the decision to hold HSAs and Mother Care Groups meeting, saying the meeting was ideal as it strengthened working relationship between the two.

Nasava also called MHEN and other organizations to support Mother Care Groups with resources, such as push bicycles for easy mobility and uniforms for identity in the course of their voluntary work.

By Wanangwa Tembo

Kasungu, February 16, Mana: Non-Governmental Organizations Regulatory Authority (NGORA) Executive Director Edward Banda has applauded Good Neighbors Malawi for complementing government’s effort in service delivery through construction of secondary schools in Kasungu District.

Banda was speaking at Sankhula Community Day Secondary School in Kasungu on Friday during an inspection of the international charity’s projects as part of NGORA’s activities in the regulation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

He said: “As NGORA, we are very impressed with the investment that Good Neighbors Malawi is making in the country, specifically what we have seen here in Kasungu today, responding to education needs.

“We have seen very good structures for community day secondary schools. This is commendable work by partners, as you know there is increased demand for education services.”

Banda also hailed the NGO’s efforts in helping farmers to enhance their production and generate more income through agriculture initiatives, village loans and savings groups.

“So the community must build on this support so that the initiatives are sustained. We must integrate sustainability and ownership from the beginning because the support will not be there forever.

“For NGOs, we appeal to them to be honest. They must report what they do and not what they are not doing. Where there are elements of dishonesty, there are penalties attached but that is not our intention. They are government’s partners so we expect them to assist in quality service delivery,” he said.

Country Director for Good Neighbors Malawi, Gyo Jin Joo, said the visits by NGORA are important in that they will enhance collaboration which will ensure that the works of NGOs are aligned with government’s priorities.

“Our work includes provision of individual sponsorship to kids. So we go to those communities where the kids reside and provide schools, hospitals, water and other projects like income generation, advocacy and livelihood.

“We also come in for emergencies when need arises. Ideally we want to see development in these communities. We want to see that the children grow into persons that can contribute towards the development of their communities,” she said. 

Apart from secondary schools, Good Neighbors Malawi has also constructed health Centre’s and libraries and drilled several boreholes in Kasungu through its integrated service delivery approach in the development of a child.