By Andrew Gondwe

Chitipa, June 5, Mana: Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) has asked Chitipa based journalists to adhere to media ethics and code of conduct ahead of the forthcoming general elections to avoid voter apathy.

Programmes Officer for CHRR, Maxwell Mvula made the call on Tuesday during a one-day media training which the organization conducted in the district.  

Mvula said CHRR decided to train the journalists on how best they can develop informative electoral messages without misleading electorates.

He also reminded the media to observe media ethics such as checks and balances, independence, fairness, proper identification, respect, transparency and accountability.

"By following those media ethics it's our hope that conflicts and violence will be minimized. This will result in free, fair and credible 2025 general elections in Malawi.

“As CHRR, we expect journalists to apply the knowledge gained from the training and reduce voter apathy during the 2025 general elections,” Mvula said.

He hoped that CHRR and the media will work together to sensitize the electorates on the importance of registering and voting and having free and fair elections to promote development in the country.

Bureau Chief for Tuntufye Radio in the district, Patricia Kayuni thanked CHRR for organising the training, which she said helped journalists to be reminded of their role as watchdogs in society.

She pledged that the media will civic educate the general populace on the importance of the forthcoming general election.

"As media practitioners, it's our role to desist from being biased and reporting election issues that can ignite violence. We will make sure that we craft electoral messages that suit all people,” she said.

CHRR is implementing ‘Enhancing the Participation of the General Public in 2025 General Elections” project with funding from UNDP.

The one-year project started in November 2023 and will phase-out in November 2024.

By Memory Kutengule Chatonda

Blantyre, June 5, Mana: Blantyre District Council has qualified for the 2023 performance-based grant under the World Bank funded, Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) amounting to K403 million to implement various infrastructural projects in the district.

Speaking during the dissemination meeting of 2023 Local Authority Performance Assessment (LAPA) results for Blantyre on Tuesday, Urban Development Specialist for National Local Government Finance Committee, Joy Pankomera, commended Blantyre District Council for performing well during the last year's performance assessment that has enabled the council to qualify for the grant.

“Honestly, I am impressed with the performance because if we look back, in 2020, the district scored 47 percent, in 2021, it scored 63 percent, and in 2022 the district scored 60 percent. For the previous LAPA of 2023, the council has scored 73 percent,” he said.

Pankomera said the trajectory was positive such that the NLGFC was hopeful that Blantyre will continue improving.

“The good news is; Blantyre has always been on average or above average. So we are very optimistic that the district is moving, and what is important now is that they should keep improving their results,” he added.

He advised the council to continue doing its job efficiently and diligently in the interest of the public it serves.

“The council should do its job well and rightly, and submit the monthly reports on time and in the right manner. The same should also apply to other sectors, including procurement, where the council officials need to follow all procurement procedures," he said.

District Commissioner (DC) for Blantyre, Alex Mdooko, described the meeting as insightful, saying it looked at a case-by-case situation about the trends achieved by the council since LAPA started.

“Blantyre District initially missed the GESD grant for two consecutive years and this was very painful as the council lost much in those two consecutive years meaning that the people we serve lost as well. This money was meant to support implementation of various development projects.

“Starting getting the grant for two years and with just one GESD funding cycle remaining, the council will work hard to improve on the rankings so that next time, we get good sums of money. For us to do this, we need to learn from the past, understand the present and plan for the future,” said Mdooko.

Performance-based grants are an additional source of funding that supplements the traditional funding mechanisms of local authorities to carry out various development projects.

Councils qualify for the grant based on their performance during the annual LAPA assessment.

By Memory Kutengule Chatonda

Blantyre, June 5, Mana: A delegation from Blantyre, Phalombe, and Nsanje on Tuesday took a transformative learning visit to the Dedza District Council with the primary goal of gaining insights on the implementation of food and nutrition programme by Self Help Africa (SHA) in four traditional authorities including Kamenyagwaza, Kasumbu, and Tambala in the district.

SHA, Programmes Manager for Food and Nutrition Security, Felistar Chulu said among others, the organization was implementing various interventions in nutrition, Water Sanitation, Hygiene (WASH) and other activities to build resilience to famine among vulnerable people.

“Through this, we are supporting dietary diversification promotion, integrated homestead farming, cooking demonstrations, and also promotion of the consumption of bio fortified crops. In addition to supporting agriculture activities, particularly livestock production,

“So far, we are happy with the work that we have been doing here in Dedza for eight years on food and nutrition. Before the SHA intervention, malnutrition levels were high but now the cases have gone down because of our intervention,” she said.

She described the visit by the three districts as crucial in appreciating the impact of SHA intervention in Dedza District and also identifying performance gaps that needed improvements.

Farmers Union of Malawi's Head of Member Services, Modesta Mlia Tembo hailed SHA intervention observing that FUM, being the umbrella body of farmers in Malawi ensures that farmers are well nourished under a multisectoral nutritional program being done in Blantyre with support from KFW through UNICEF

“Under this, we have WASH, early childhood development, infant and child feeding practices as well as maternal and nutrition health. So SHA is also implementing a similar nutrition intervention like and we are here to learn how they are implementing nutrition resilience,” she said.

Tembo said FUM also learnt ways of sustaining the intervention and how to involve community structures in the programmes, adding that the visiting delegation was impressed with various interventions in Dedza.

The food and nutrition programme is implemented by district councils and is facilitated by FUM in Blantyre, the Hunger Project in Phalombe, and SHA in Dedza.

Principal Nutrition and HIV and AIDS Officer (PNHAO) for Blantyre, Ruth Hara described the learning visit as beneficial to the council in the implementation of the nutrition programs at the district level.

"I have learned a lot from the knowledge exchange visit to Dedza, more especially on the anti GBV tool kit, district nutrition strategic plan, involvement of religious structures on issues of nutrition as well as ways of strengthening the linkage between Village Nutrition Coordinating Committee and the promoters,” she said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Director of Nutrition in the Ministry of Health, Blessings Muwalo commended FUM, SHA, and Hunger Project for complementing government efforts in the implementation of tangible interventions to support nutrition programmes.

He urged District Nutrition Coordinating Committees from the three districts to utilize the knowledge gained to transform their areas.

By Tracy Mtegha

 Mzuzu, June 5, Mana: Minister of education, Madalitso Wirima Kambauwa has described the ongoing Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) examinations as impressive, saying everything is going as planned.

She made the remarks on Tuesday after appreciating the progress of the examination at Katoto Secondary School in Mzuzu.

Kambauwa said as government they are satisfied with how the examinations are going on.

“We have visited several schools today, so far so good and we can say that exams have started well and we hope we are going to end successfully.

She further encouraged all students who are sitting for the exams to take them seriously.

“Make sure to be punctual all the time because coming late for the exams would make you nervous which can make you perform poorly,” she said.

Kambauwa said security for the exams has been tightened with engagement of Malawi Defence Forces (MDF).

He urged MDF officers to be strictly professional to ensure all malpractices are reported and dealt with. 

This year, 163,950 students are sitting for the examinations, whereas 168,219 sat for the examinations last year.

By Martin Chiwanda & Charlie Ligomeka

Machinga, June 5, Mana: Machinga District Health Office has applauded community level stakeholders for putting efforts in mobilizing community members to receive Covid-19 vaccine, making it the best performing district in the country in vaccine uptake.

District Chief Preventive Health Officer, Alfred Phiri, announced of the performance to a full council meeting on Tuesday, saying the achievement is due to efforts by stakeholders which include traditional and faith leaders as well as politicians.

He Machinga’s best performance has put the district on the map making it a role model to other districts.

He added that Machinga is very unique as traditional leaders and politicians played a crucial role in ensuring that their subjects received the vaccine.

“This is a very good achievement for the district which has come because of good coordination with the full council members,” said Phiri.

Traditional Authority (TA) Mizinga, whose area recorded good number of vaccine recipients, said Machinga’s best performance testified their good efforts in mobilizing subjects during campaign against Covid-19 pandemic and cholera transmission. 

“We are happy that Machinga has emerged number one in the Covid-19 vaccine and cholera prevention in the country with 75 percent outreach. This is not a mean achievement in as far as prevention is concerned.

“As traditional leaders, we collaborated very well with all community leaders, Health Surveillance Assistants, politicians and faith leaders to reach out to our subjects to sensitize them on the benefits of the vaccines and dangers of shunning the vaccines,” he said.

He said traditional leaders have proven to have capacity to mobilize their subjects on issues of national importance.

Machinga District registered 1,025 Covid-19 cases and 43 deaths according to the USAID and UNICEF statistics.

Statistics also confirm that two villages of Mbewe in TA Nsanama and Chiundu in TA Mlomba have almost every member vaccinated against Covid-19.

Machinga District fared badly on issues of vaccine until 2022 when the district started new strategies of involving traditional leaders, politicians, religious leaders to mobilize subjects to receive the vaccine.

By Beni Bamusi

Thyolo, June 6, Mana: Thyolo Police Station has registered a decrease in general crime rate by five percent and road accidents by 33 percent.

Thyolo Police Officer-in-Charge, Francis Chisoti, disclosed this Tuesday during Station Executive Committee (SEC) stakeholder engagement.

He attributed the trend to the increase of manpower and stakeholder coordination against crime which has resulted in increased patrols and police vicinity day and night.

“From January to May 2024, Thyolo registered 385 cases compared to 405 in 2023 representing a four percent decrease.

“Two road accidents have been recorded this year whereas three road accidents were recorded in 2023 representing a 33 percent decrease,” he said.

Thyolo District Commissioner, Hudson Kuphanga, applauded the police for performing well in providing security in the district.

He said it is encouraging to see minibus operators obliging to use the bus depot which has minimized minibus congestion and accidents.

The meeting attracted faith leaders, community policing chairpersons, traditional authorities, representatives of the business community and the police.

By Innocent Chunga

Nkhotakota, June 5, Mana: National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) has commended Nkhotakota District Council for its improvement in various areas in the 2023 Local Authority Performance Assessment (LAPA) results.

Speaking Tuesday during dissemination of the results in the district, NLGFC Social Safeguards Officer, Chawanangwa Soko, said the Council has improved in performance in accountability including Access to Information (ATI), development planning and budgeting, contract management and implementation, education service delivery and procurement management.

"The projects promote access to information to make sure that citizens, media houses and civil society organizations are aware and have information of each and every development project that is happening within their areas and Nkhotakota District Council has scored 100 percent on ATI," said Soko.

According to Soko, the Council also scored 100 percent in education service delivery and procurement management respectively.

He appealed to the Council to continue keeping their records highs that it continues shining among other councils.

However, Soko, who is also a member of LAPA System taskforce, urged the Council to improve on health and agriculture service delivery as well as budget execution.

"The performance has been good since 2020 but the council can achieve the highest if they improved in financial auditing and other services which it has not done well," he said.  

Nkhotakota District Commissioner, Ben Matengeni Tonho, said the Council has taken into consideration all recommendations so that they can be addressed to fulfill objectives of the assessment.

"We have been urged to conduct regular and systematic performance evaluation, continue strengthening system operations and continue revising the indicators to make sure that they are realistic in terms of measurability and importance, among others," said Tonho.

According to NLGFC 2023 LAPA results, Nkhotakota is on position three after scoring 79 percent and received K476, 132, 889.00 for various development projects.

By Richard Kagunda

Kasungu, June 4, Mana: Malawi Law Commission Chief Civic Education Officer, Gills Msiska, says the increasing cases of child neglect in the country expose children to violence.

He made the remarks in Kasungu on Tuesday during a training of Area Civic Education Coordinators (ACECs) who are part of the National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) Trust volunteer structure.

Msiska said the commission has observed a knowledge gap on child and gender related laws among the communities which negatively impacts on child education hence embarked on the trainings to bridge the gap.

“In 2022 we partnered NICE Trust to conduct legal literacy sessions in schools and communities to raise awareness on child rights and protection issues.

“This time we are continuing with capacity building for the ACECs who are the people on the ground, updating them on laws that have changed in regard to child protection so that they should also help in raising awareness on the same,” he said.

Msiska said the country still lags behind in enhancing child protection hence called for collaborated efforts among stakeholders to curb the vice.

He said: “As a country we still have a lot of work to do in dealing with violence against children. That is why we are raising awareness on laws regarding child protection to ensure that every one is aware of child protection matters.”

NICE Trust Programmes Officer for Kasungu, Pilirani Chaguza thanked the Law Commission for organising the training which he said will help to reduce cases of child abuse in the communities.

“Like our case in Kasungu, we have many cases of child marriages, child labour and now cases of child trafficking are also becoming rampant. So the training has come at the right time.

“We have a large community of volunteers who will help to take the messages to every corner of the district so that we collectively deal with violence against children,” Chaguza said.

According to a recent ‘Violence Against Children and Young Women’ survey report, at least 40 percent of girls and 64 percent of boys suffer physical abuse during childhood.

The Malawi Law Commission in partnership with NICE Trust are implementing the legal literacy activities with financial support from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).