By Leonard Masauli

Lilongwe, July 24, Mana: Scores of people living surrounding the National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA), government officials among other stakeholders gathered to witness the inauguration of the first block train carrying 640,000 litres of fuel from Nacala Port to Lilongwe in Malawi.

The inauguration marks exactly 21 years after such services came to a halt in 2003.

However, the revamp of the train operated by Central East African Railways and Nacala Logistics has made history for the first time, traveling 988 kilometres from Nacala in Mozambique, carrying 640,000 litres of oil to Malawi.

Secretary to President and Cabinet, who is also NOCMA Board Chairperson, Colleen Zamba said the inauguration of the block train was a dream come true for the country after 21 years.

“We are very excited as government but as the Board. Today, we have witnessed the first block train carrying 16 tanks docking at the reserves in Lilongwe. This reduces costs and coincides well with the President, Dr. Lazarus Chakwera’s transformation agenda.

“This calls for Malawians to take good care of the infrastructure, as it is for the good of the country,” she said.

Minister of Energy, Ibrahim Matola said the development would improve availability of fuel and reduce on costs.

“These are the fruits from Chakwera’s visits to Mozambique, which he undertook after taking over the government,” he added.

Speaking at the same function, Minister of Trade and Industry, Sosten Gwengwe said the development would improve on transportation access and boost industries in the country.

“Chakwera is a silent performer. He promised to revamp the rail transportation and today we are here to inaugurate. This is a big vision foe the National needs, aside the ATM strategy which talks of Agriculture, Tourism and Mining,” he pointed out.

NOCMA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Clement Kanyama said the restoration of the rail services would bring about efficiency in fuel transportation and ensure speedy delivery of goods in the country.

According to the General Manager for Nacala Logistics, Chandra Mohan Singh said in three months the train would bring 1 million to 4 million litres of fuel.

“We are happy to contribute to the growth of Malawi as Nacala logistics. We are planning electrify the rail as well as extending the rail services and connect with Zambia,” he said.

By Chisomo Kambandanga

NKhata Bay, July 19, Mana: Marine Police in NKhata Bay have arrested four fishermen for allegedly fishing in Lake Malawi using illegal fishing gears.

Spokesperson for Nkhata Bay Police, Sergeant Kondwani James said the suspects were arrested on Thursday July 18, 2024 by Nkhata Bay Marine Police who were on patrol together with fisheries officers.

James identified the suspects as William Kondowe, 26, from Mwale village, Pyson Mpauka 38 from Jumbo village, Madalitso Nyirenda 37 from Mphatso village and Brian Mphasi 23 fromTchulitchuli village all in the area of Traditional Authority Chapindika in Rumphi District who came to Nkhata Bay to do fishing.

"The suspects will appear in court soon to answer charges of using illegal fishing gears which is contrary to section 3 (1) of Fisheries Act," said James.

NKhata Bay District Fisheries Officer, Dellings Kamenya said the monofilament fishing nets are not allowed because they are so destructive to fish and at the same time none biodegradable once left in the water.

"At first we were just confiscating these gears without arrests but we have now taken an extra step to arrest those found using them because they are a threat to water bodies and the environment," Kamenya said.

By Tione Andsen

TNM Super League leaders, Silver Strikers Thursday consolidated their lead after playing 13 games when they demolished Mzuzu City Hammers with a 5-0 win at Area 47’s Silver Stadium in Lilongwe.

The Area 47, Bwandilo outfit has maintained their unbeaten run for the season and have gripped to their nine-point gap to their close challenger, Mighty Mukuru Wanderers who had recorded a win over Chitipa United 2-0 at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre.

Silver scored through their right back, McDonald Lameck, 5 minutes, Chinsinsi “Terminator” Maonga, 19 minutes, “rejected stone and inform’, Stain Davie 27 and 69 minutes and Paul Kansungwi, 46 minutes.

For the past three games against Mighty Waka Tigers, Civil Service United and Kamuzu Barracks, the Central Bankers performance was found wanting that they manage to protect the unbeaten record.

During Tigers encounter, they throw it away in the dying minutes to earn them a draw, while in Lilongwe derby they struggled in the first 45 minutes and come up with a magical display to ern them maximum points.

The biggest test was evidenced with defeat appeared imminent when Kamuzu Barracks miraculously were lead 2-0 at the break but the championship mentality lifted the spirits of Central Bankers to level the scores in the last half and collected a point,

With only two games to wind up the first round of the league, surely the Bankers should finish on the high in order to enhance their chances of claiming the league title of 11 drought years.  

The Lali Lubani Boys victory over bad travellers, Chitipa United have seen them increasing their points to 24 points after suffering a painfully last minute defeat against Moyale Barracks at home.

They had to quickly forgo the loss and their Cameroonian nicknamed “Predator’, announced his arrival when he pounced two goas and 19 and 58 minutes.

Premier Bet Dedza Dynamos were held to a 2-2 draw in a thrilling encounter at home against third placed, Kamuzu Barracks to share the spoils.

The Visitors had to dig deep and they come from behind twice through Olson Kanjira, 15 minutes and Zeliat Nkhoma, 73 minutes.

Dedza Dynamos went into lead after 10 minutes though Victor Lungu and they regained the lead after 64 minutes through Marko Chiwaya.

Dedza have 16 points and number 10 while Kamuzu Barracks have 22 points and are third on the log table.

Debutantes, Baka City have suffered another defeat within a six of five games as they failed to contain Moyale Barracks and they were beaten 1-2.

They are now confined in relegation zone as they are still anchoring the 16 team log and they are finding it hard to win at home.

Last game they lost to Chitipa United and they are failing to move their points tally as it is stuck on seven.

Baka City had their consolation goal in the 72 minutes through a penalty scored by Maxwell Magwere while Moyale’s Luke “Destroyer” Chima, 15 minutes and Khumbo Mhone, 64 minutes.

However, Defending TNM Super League Champions, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets have ended their winless run when they beat FOMO 3-0 on Wednesday.

Bullets had found the net through injured free, Gasten Phodo, 16 minutes, misfiring weapon, Babatunde Adepoju, 39 minutes and young and promising right winger, Stanley Billiat, 73 minutes.

Bullets have 20 points are number five while FOMO have 14 points and number 12.

Creck Sporting were unlucky at they failed to defend their lead after 30 minutes though George Chaomba against Civil Service United at Civo Stadium in Area 9 in Lilongwe.

They gave away in the last 15 minutes when Civil had to score twice through Muhammad Baision, 75 minutes and Chifundo Ngapengamba, 90 minutes.

With the defeat, Creck have suspended their coach, Mac Donald Mtetemera pending investigations due to poor performance and they have 19 points on position seven while Civil have 19 points on position nine.

Mafco were not merciful against Karonga United after they edged them 2-0 at Chitowe through Innocent Makawano, 26 minutes and Auspicious Kadzongola, 63 minutes.

Mafco have 19 points on number eight while Karonga have 15 points on position 11.

Bangwe All Stars and Tigers equal power as they settled for 0-0 draw at Mpira Stadium.

Bangwe are on number 15 with eight points still in relegation zone while Tigers are on position 13 with 13 points.

By Pempho Nkhoma

Blantyre, July 18, Mana: Gap Connection crew has organized a street talent show to be held on Sunday July 28, at Nkolokoti Primary School ground in Machinjiri township in Blantyre to unearth and promote talent among youngsters ahead of Machinjiri Awards later this year.

Gap connection, an entertainment group consisting of musicians and dancers will award top performers in various entertainment categories sometime in the year.

In an interview with Malawi News Agency on Thursday, one of the organizers, Eliyas Chakuamba said the crew has organized the show to also inform the public about this year’s Machinjiri Awards.

“Every year before the award ceremony, we come with these free shows to inform people about the new changes on how we do things. We keep on bringing new things to satisfy entertainment lovers’ taste,” he said.

He added that the July 28 event will also provide an opportunity for upcoming artists to showcase their talent.

“Stars are born from these free events because we give chance to upcoming artists to perform,” Chakuamba added.

He disclosed that Gap Connection plans to introduce a new programmme called ‘Street Talent’, saying this show will help to identify talent in the township and help the young talents to get into the mainstream entertainment arena.

He therefore appealed to stakeholders for partnership and sponsorship to assist them in rewarding prize money to winners in the Machinjiri Awards.

“We fail to award winners deserving prizes because we don’t have enough resources. We only afford to give them trophies,” Chakuamba added.

In a separate interview, Lil mish a hip hop musician who was named best trap/ drill artist at previous Machinjiri Awards and is expected to perform at the event expressed excitement saying that the platform helped him to make a name in the music industry.

“Street bash helps upcoming artists to display talent,” said the rapper who just released a new track called ‘One and Only’ and has promised a mesmerizing performance on the day.

“I will give the audience a nice performance,” he said.

Other artists to perform at the bash include Ice Bleck, 6 July, Juxy, Shango, Jeromy, Kinta, Ravin Mafia, Mwale, M JizyBoy, Exacta, Funnix, Gaza Uno, K Fella, Papa Juxy, El Genesys and Kin Six.

At the event patronage will also be entertained by other activities like poetry and dancing.  

By Priscilla Phiri

Lilongwe, July 18, Mana: After nine years of successful implementation of a Food and Nutrition Security Programme (FNSP) designed to promote nutrition and food diversification in Malawi, GIZ Team Leader for FNSP, Dr Martina Kress said the outcomes of the project’s implementation would go beyond the project's life span as the programme concludes.

The Team leader said this at a learning event for Animal Source Food Programming which was organised by GIZ on Thursday, in Lilongwe.

Speaking at the event, Kress highlighted that through good partnership and structures laid out in the years of implementation, GIZ has been able to implement long lasting and sustainable impact in the catchment areas of its project.

“As we look back at many years of implementation of our nutrition programme which was designed to make people eat more diverse diets particularly to mothers and young children,

We have worked with our political partners, the department of nutrition in the Ministry of Health and through the structures that they have laid over the years, we were able not to just implement our project in the moment but to ensure that whatever we have implemented has an impact beyond the project’s life span,” she said.

Kress pointed out that throughout the years of implementing the FNSP project, GIZ has had an ample time to learn, question and analyse the outcomes of the project to be able to achieve its success.

“When you have a project that has taken so long you have an ample time for learning. The idea was never to design something that we would then implement without questioning what we started with,

But rather to design something and while we implement we check on it to see if we are achieving the desired outcome,” she explained.

Kress expressed confidence in the project’s outcomes that they would remain sustainable even after the project concludes.

 One of GIZ's partners in the FNSP project, representing Ministry of Health, Deputy Director for Department of Nutrition, Kondwani Mpeniuwawa commended GIZ for the initiative by saying it aligns with the country’s health agenda in Malawi 2063.

Principal Nutrition and HIV/AIDS Officer at Dedza District Council, Lottie Makina revealed that GIZ’s FNSP project remains an exciting prospect and still has a lot to offer to Malawian households.

“The project still has a lot to offer by helping the people to take livestock as part of their daily diet, because many people keep livestock for income generation neglecting its relevance in reducing malnutrition,” he said.

Meanwhile, GIZ’s learning event is still under way and it is set to close on July 19, 2024.

GIZ has been implementing the FNSP project and livestock production together partners with funding from the German Development Cooperation.

The project has been implemented in Dedza and Salima districts.

By Elia Chibwe

Lilongwe, July 18, Mana: Anti-Corruption Bureau and Malawi Law Commission have disclosed that they are developing new legislation law as an effective tool in protecting whistle blowers from victimization and intimidation by society.

In an interview after a Press briefing on Thursday in Lilongwe, Acting Director General for ACB, Hillary Chilomba said that protecting whistle blowers would play a vital role in fighting against corruption in the country.

“We are making strides to come up with legislation that will be used as effective tool. What we are saying is that fighting against corruption is not actually supposed to be left out to ACB but actually it is supposed to be left to each and every citizen.

 “That’s why we are saying we need to protect a whistle blower and in this case those people who got information that they need to expose and after exposing, we have to investigate. If there is evidence we are supposed to protect,” he said.

Chilomba added that ACB was making stride in fighting against corruption in the country as the number of cases are being reported for investigation.

Director for Law Reform in Malawi Law Commission, Mike Chinoko said the new law would offer whistle blowers protection against victimization and oppression in the country.

“Whistle blower is potentially a witness because we do not have a specific law addressing the protection of whistle blower matters in Malawi,” he said.

Chinoko divulged that the laws that were enacted do not go further in actual protection of the whistle blower.

“We do have some laws about whistle blowing such as Financial Crimes Act, Corrupt Practices Act, Public Officers Declaration of Assets Act, Business Interest and liability Act and Access to Information Act but all they do is to mention that someone can make a report on corruption, on financial crimes,” he singled out.

Director of Corruption Prevention, Mary Phombeya said once the law was completed, ACB would raise awareness to public and guide it on how the law would be used for them to have the accurate knowledge.

She said the law would open great opportunity for the society to be free from pressure and desperation.

The law is expected to be launched in the end of this year.