By Abel Ikiloni in Berlin, Germany

Berlin, August 23, Mana: President Dr Lazarus Chakwera has assured Malawians in diaspora of government’s commitment to addressing their concerns such as loans which some students are struggling to get for their studies as well as on voting rights.

He was speaking at Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Berlin, Germany on Thursday when he had an audience with Malawians living in Germany.

Chairperson for Umodzi wa aMalawi, Alexander Kambiri, commended the President for granting them an audience which he described as a huge opportunity to relay their policy proposals directly to the President.

He said, despite talking and having access to the Malawian embassy all the time, it works better when things are taken directly to the Head of State.

“There are three things we raised to be considered which are to enable students get scholarship in Germany, Malawian who were not be able to access university education should have an opportunity to go on vocational training in technical colleges in Germany, challenges that Malawians face in Germany and the issue of cultural exchanges.

“We are happy because we have received positive response for example the President says we will be able to vote while outside the country as that is our right.

There are over 250 Malawian families in Germany. 

By Patricia Kapulula

Lilongwe, August 23, Mana: Deputy Secretary to the President and Cabinet, who is also Head of the Presidential Delivery Unit, Dr Janet Banda, says despite Malawi doing well in institution and structure in as far the fight against corruption is concerned, there is more to be done in terms of the fight itself.

She was speaking in Lilongwe on Thursday when she officially opened a day long Controlling Officers Forum.

She cited the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Institutional Integrity Committees (IIC) in government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as some of the structures and institutions put in place in the fight against corruption.

Over 100 MDAs have functional IICs since the National Anti-Corruption Strategy II was put in place in 2012.

“For the fight against corruption to be effective it needs leadership buy in. In this forum we have challenged and asked controlling officers, as leaders, to lead by example. Otherwise, it they are not pushing and are not implementing their mandate and taking their responsibility seriously in fighting corruption then nothing will work at the bottom,” she said.

ACB Acting Director General, Hilary Chilomba, appealed to controlling officers to strive to bring tremendous impact in the society by implementing anti-corruption activities through IICs.

He said it is important that controlling officers take internal mechanisms such as IICs seriously in regulating the conduct of corruption in their institutions.

“We are talking of IICs of which controlling officers are key. This meeting is a platform where we need to discuss issues and come up with way forward in as far as the fight against corruption is concerned,” Chilomba said.

Chairperson for the Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament, Peter Dimba, said there is need for collective action that builds a positive culture that upholds principles of accountability and integrity in the fight against corruption.

He said, as a Committee, they are geared to providing oversight role to IICs and make sure that those IICs that are not performing are summoned.

“Through that oversight role we have seen a number of IICs that were not doing well improving in their performance,” he said.

The forum drew together controlling officers from different MDAs to discuss issues of corruption and come up with a way forwarding in addressing corruption in the country.

By Abel Ikiloni in Berlin, Germany

Berlin, August 23, Mana: President Dr Lazarus Chakwera on Thursday witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Malawi and Re-Thinking Foundation for the 50 megawatt solar farm project between Mzuzu University (Mzuni) and Tauber Solar in Berlin, Germany.

Minister of Energy, Ibrahim Matola, signed the MoU on behalf of the government of Malawi.

He described the MoU as a great milestone in the energy sector where Ministry of Energy, Egenco as a generating company and Mzuni have signed an MoU with Germany company Sun Power Africa Limited in order to develop the solar park in Malawi.

Early this year, President Chakwera made an emphasis of adding more power to the country’s grid.

Matola said the signing of the MoU will see students doing engineering and electrical at Mzuni doing practical work and exchange of programs.

“The President has been talking about job creation; Malawians are going to be employed, the youth, who are graduates, and those doing engineering and electrical will also be employed in order to develop the solar power park,” Matola said.

Shareholder and Chief Executive Officer for Tauber Solar Group, Zeno Fleck, said the project is a great business investment for the people of Malawi as it will create employment.

“We will start the project immediately; we made the visibility study and in the next four weeks the project will start. It is a huge project which will need about 100 people from the beginning and we are investing about €70 million,” he said.

Mzuzu Vice Chancellor, Professor Wales Singini, expressed excitement because Mzuni has an idea of taking part in the energy sector through development of its solar farm at Choma.

“Our initial idea was that we should be able to provide a platform for our students to learn practically in terms of how to deal with renewable energy systems but at the same time, as a university, we should also be able to generate some resources to support our functionality,” he said.

He said the university took the idea seriously by working through all processes such as the visibility study and all what is required after getting permission from the Minister of Energy.

“We were given a go ahead to engage ESCOM for the possibility of obtaining power purchase agreement and we have reached an advanced stage,” he said.

By Abel Ikiloni, in Berlin, Germany

Berlin, August 22: Mana: President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera on Thursday met and engaged in fruitful discussions with leadership of Lubeck University in Berlin, Germany.

Chakwera lobbied for capacity building in the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases in Malawi’s health sector which he says is key to building sustainable communities.

He said this during an interface with a delegation from Lübeck University Clinic who have expressed interest to help the country through specialized training of nurses.

Currently, Malawi has one specialized nurse in dialysis while the rest are trained as general nurses. Currently, government is training another lot of specialized nurse in few programmes offered at Kamuzu University of Health and Sciences (KUHES).

In addressing this gap, Lübeck University Clinic which is a leading research university in situated in Northern Germany which focuses almost entirely on medicine and sciences with applications in medicine and Government of Malawi intends to build and enhance collaboration so that most nurses are equipped in NCDs.

Head of delegation of Lubeck University who is also Director, Professor Kristina Kusche-Vihrog, said they are geared to help Malawi adopt new systems and technologies towards a healthier society.

“We are geared and committed to helping Malawi build on its capacity and adopt new technologies in overcoming challenges in the medical field.”

The development aligns with the Health Sector Strategic Plan among other requirements promotes the specialization of the nursing profession for effective service delivery.

By Robert Nayeja

Nsanje, August 21, Mana: Member of Parliament for Nsanje South West, Eurita Mtiza challenged Women Legal Resource Centre (WOLREC) and Oxfam to address barriers that hinder marginalized groups from participating in politics if Malawi wishes to achieve the 50-50 aspirations

Mtiza made the statement on Wednesday after an engagement meeting with political aspirants in Nsanje organized by WORLEC and Oxfam.

“There is a need to also engage political structures and traditional leaders as sometimes they do not level the playing field. This destroys the political ambitions of marginalized groups like women, “she added.

Mtiza said engagement meetings were critical, as they would encourage women, youth and people with disability to go into politics.

“We have a lot of women, youths as well as people with disability that can contribute positively to the social economic development of our nation but they are blocked by political structures, “she added.

One of the participants, Mphamvu Kalima who is vying for the position of ward councilor said the engagement meeting was fruitful as it encouraged women, the youth and people with disability, to participate in politics actively.

“We want such kind of engagement to be taken to chiefs and political parties so that they should understand that people with disability like me should be given an equal platform to compete in key political positions,” she added.

The District Gender Officer in Nsanje, Edson Njembe praised Oxfam and WORLEC for the timely engagement adding that the engagements will encourage more marginalized groups to actively participate in politics.

“As a district, we need to promote this campaign so that we can contribute to the 50-50 campaign to see good representation of women both in parliament and in the full council,” he added.

Oxfam and WOLREC are implementing a project called Promoting Gender Transformative and Youth Inclusion Democracy in Malawi which rolled out in 2023 and is expected to end in 2027.

The project is implemented in seven districts of Salima, Dedza, Mulanje, Nsanje, Machinga, Rumphi and Mzimba with support from the European Union.

By Tione Andsen

Lilongwe, August 21, Mana: FDH Defending Champions, Nyasa Big Bullets Wednesday night marched into the first 2024 Cup final after beating Moyale Barracks 3-1 in a thrilling semi final encounter played at Bingu National Stadium in Area 48 in Lilongwe before a capacity crowd.

What a send-off for the people’s team as they are expected to leave the country Thursday for their second league match of the CAF Champions league preliminary against Red Arrows in Lusaka, Zambia as they are carrying a 2-1 lead.

Bullets will now face Premier Division side, Blue Eagles in the finals of FDH cup after they had sent off Karonga United packing with a 2-0 win during the first semi-final match played at Civo Stadium in Area 9 in Lilongwe.

Bullets’ prodigal son, Babatunde Adepoju stunned Bingu stadium fans which his solemn effort goal to finish off the games and it was a marvel to watch.  

It was balanced affair with both trams creating scoring chances but the physically play of Moyale played to their disadvantage.

With three minutes into the game, Babatunde went into the danger but his shot was blocked by Victor Mwale and four minutes later, Moyale’s Luke Chima had his goal bound shot blocked for a corner.   

Moyale’s Chima had another opportunity of taking his side into the lead after 14 minutes but he shot wide and six minutes later was brilliant exchanges by the Kaning’ina boys which involved Charles Nkhoma, Clifford Chimulambe and Boniface Chuma.

Bullets took the lead 1-0 after 21 minutes when Ephraim Kondowe slotted home a Babatunde pass after he had played the ball between tow Moyale defenders, Mwale and Jere.

Five minutes later, prodigal Babatunde had his name on the scoresheet when his cannonball like shot kissed the back of the net leaving Moyale keeper, Olyce Nkhwazi helpless.

At half hour mark, sensing danger, Moyale Barracks pulled out of form midfielder for Chifundo Damba to strengthen their heart of the pack in which Bullets was dominating.

Moyale’s Allan could have reduced the arrears after 45+1 when he shot was craftily blocked with keeper Richard Chimbamba beaten.   

The two teams went into break at 2-0.

The second half saw Bullets’ left back was exposed and Moyale capitalized on and it only took seven minutes for Allan to pull one back to make the scores 1-2.

Babatunde has his long range effort flying wide at goal to the excitement of the Bullets faithful’s.

Bullets made tactical change when the chips were down in the midfield and they rested Ronald Chitiyo for Lloyd Aaron and the game turned into a balanced affair.

What a goal! At 71 minutes when Babatunde dribbled past Mwale and Jere before providing a dummy over keeper, Nkhwazi before planting home his second and third for his team to make it 3-1.

To consolidate the lead Bullets rested Stanley Billiat for veteran left back, Previous Sambani after 72 minutes and two minutes later they introduced Sean McBrams for Kondowe.

McBrams showed that he has potential to operate right deep inside the central pack where he gave Moyale Barracks defence terrible times.

Four minutes were added but no goal was scored and it ended 3-1 in favour of Bullets.

“Babatunde is back and he is so flexible on the ball and his third goal was a real art of a striker,” Soccer fan, John Jere said.

He said Bullets’s hope is now restored in him and the scoring drought days are being reduced by every game.

By Lisa Lamya

Blantyre, August 21, Mana: Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda Wednesday said Malawi is alert on the Mpox disease, which was recently declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Kandondo made the sentiments in Blantyre on the sidelines of a supervision visit at QECH to monitor the progress of the work on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) at the microbiology lab.

"We have already engaged WHO and Africa Center for Disease Control (Africa CDC) to ensure that Malawi receives Mpox vaccine so that people are protected from the disease,” said Chiponda.

Currently, Malawi has two suspected cases of Mpox in Blantyre, a 31-year-old man, and a 17-year-old boy respectively. 

According to Chiponda, the two cases are being closely monitored, one at the hospital and one at home.

"These suspected cases are under control, and we are working with Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme to ensure we test the samples, “Kandodo stated.

She also urged the public to practice good hygiene to prevent the spread of Mpox.

Meanwhile, QECH Director Dr Kelvin Monad said QECH is being vigilant on Mpox and expects results for the first suspected case, today.

"Once the results are out, we will share them with the ministry and they will be able to communicate with the general public," Monad said.

MOH has assembled health experts to develop Malawi-specific guidelines for managing MPOX.