By Moses Nyirenda

Lilongwe, March 5, Mana: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Africa Director, Ahunna Eziakonwa has said her organization is committed to supporting more solar energy solutions in the country in order to increase access to affordable and sustainable electricity among households in the country.

She made the remarks on Monday, after touring Sitolo 80kW Solar Mini-grid in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Ndawambe in Mchinji district.

Eziakonwa said she is impressed with how community members including women from within Sitolo Mini-grid are benefiting from electricity from the solar mini-grid hence their commitment to increase the off grid electricity access in the country.

“We have seen women who have managed to move from using firewood which is hazardous to their health, they spent hours looking for firewood, but this is not the case now

Therefore, I am impressed with the transition which has been made from using firewood to using hotplates which does not have any pollution effects because when you cook with the biomass you pollute the environment but also you can get respiratory diseases form that,” Eziakonwa added.

She said an organization they were also pleased to learn how the Sitolo 80KW Solar Mini-grid has improved children performance at school as the children are able to study during the night and teachers are also able to deliver their lessons at night.

The UNDP Africa Director also applauded people of Sitolo village for conducting various businesses with the use of electricity generated at the Mini-grid.

“Energy access should not only be about lighting houses but it should also be able to improve livelihoods and that is what UNDP believes, to see a business man who is a carpenter using electricity to make his work easier, faster and come up with much bigger production and make more money for him is very impressive,” she said.

Eziakonwa said apart from supporting Malawi through the project dubbed ‘Africa Mini Grid Programme’ which UNDP launched with Global Environment Facility in 2023 at COP28 in Dubai they are eager to extend mini-grid projects in over 18 African countries.

Minister of Energy, Ibrahim Matola hailed UNDP for its commitment to supporting energy sector in the country.

“We commend UNDP for their interest to support our energy sector, currently we have 180, 000 households that have been waiting since 2016 and the UNDP support would help us to clear that backlog and also new connections which are coming,” Matola said.

Through the Sitolo 80KW Solar Min-grid, 3,640 people are accessing electricity through connections to 728 households in addition to 94 businesses powered by the mini-grid.

By Moses Nyirenda

Lilongwe, March 3, Mana: Centenary Bank has launched digital insurance products and services which can be accessed and managed by customers through the bank’s mobile App, ‘CentreMobileMw’ available for android devices.

The products and services include motor vehicle insurance and funeral expense plans.

Speaking in Lilongwe on Saturday, the Bank’s Principal Banc Assurance Officer, James Msiska, said customers can select insurance and policies of their choice through the App.

“Customers can compare and select policies tailored to their needs in real time. For example, on motor vehicle insurance, one can compare premium quotations from five of our partner insurers and select the one that better suits their budget," Msiska said.

The insurance cover can either be under comprehensive or third-party on private or commercial vehicles which customers can conveniently pay using the platform and they can pick their insurance discs at any Centenary Bank branch convenient to them.

Msiska stated that, for funeral insurance, customers can include their family members.

“Besides one registering for him or herself, customers can further select the number of family members to cover and the desired payout amount.

"For example, with a premium of K200, one would benefit a payout of K200,000, and a premium of K1,000 for the maximum coverage of K1,000,000," he stated.

Msiska said, through the digital insurance services, the Bank aims to improve customer experience and meet the evolving needs of clients through their mobile platform as the streamlined process allows customers to efficiently evaluate and purchase policies completely through the App.

One of the bank’s customers, Caroline Phiri, applauded the Bank for coming up with the digital services saying they would save customers in times of need.

The digital insurance services are also aimed at reducing paper usage thereby making a positive environmental impact.

By Wanangwa Tembo

Kasungu, March 2, Mana: Misunderstandings have emerged between the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and communities in Traditional Authority (TA) Chulu in Kasungu over Kasungu National Park boundary with villagers claiming that DNPW wants to grab their farm land.

The dispute has halted construction of a perimeter wire on the eastern park side to protect surrounding communities from marauding elephants which destroy crops in the area.

A meeting summoned by DNPW on Friday involving chiefs from the concerned communities with Kasungu District Council officials, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Local Government, Unity ad Culture, the Surveyor General, Ministry of Lands, the police and other stakeholders failed to break the deadlock as chiefs demanded more time before allowing officials to visit the area to authenticate their claims.

Group Village Head (GVH) Kapatuka, accompanied by eight other GVHs from the area, told the meeting that park authorities want to create a new park boundary that would see at least 2,000 households lose their farm land.

He said: “We are not against construction of the fence. We want the fence as soon as possible because every day we are battling elephants that stray out of the park destroying our houses and crop fields.

“What we want is that the fence should pass through the designated boundary so that we don’t lose our land.”

Several other GVHs spoke in agreement with Kapatuka saying they are against the changing of the park boundary.

However, Kasungu National Park Manager, Ndaona Kumanga, refuted the claims of new boundary demarcations.

He said communities in the area have for a long time been cultivating in the land gazette as national park hence the resistance to shift as authorities want to erect a fence.

“We have no intention to continue seeing people fighting with elephants on daily basis because of the absence of the wire. We are trying our best to have this problem solved once and for all but our efforts are being halted community resistance.

“We are not creating new boundaries. We want the fence to pass through the gazette boundaries. We are equally surprised that people claim to have leased the land meant to be inside the park,” said Kumanga.

Gideon Chamatwa, a farmer in the area, claimed he bought the land saying land officers at Kasungu District Council were part of the lease process and authenticated that the land doesn’t belong to the park.

Surveyor General, Masida Mbano, said his team will move in to verify the authenticity of the lease documents that communities claim to have.

District Commissioner for Kasungu, James Kanyangalazi, said he has always worked to resolved resolve the issue but communities have not been cooperative.

“When we got reports that elephants are destroying crops in the area, we rushed there, only to be embarrassed and threatened by the community such that we did not want to go back out of fear,” he said.

Kanyangalazi asked the chiefs to treat the matter with urgency and invite authorities to visit the area.

However, the chiefs have requested for a week more before they communicate the date.

Since 2019, at least 2,783 reports of elephants strays from Kasungu National Park were reported; 697 were recorded in 2023 affecting 17 GVHs.

The problem has been exacerbated by cultivation of crops along the park boundary and inadequate perimeter fencing covering about 90 kilometres, leaving a stretch of at least 40 kilometres open.

Member of Parliament for Kasungu North West, Baudeni Mtonga, said the destruction of crops has resulted in many households facing acute food shortage.

He hopes a lasting solution would be found to have the project completed.

Director for DNPW, Bright Kumchedwa; Deputy Director for Chiefs Administration in the Ministry of Local Government, Culture and Unity, Darwin Mngoli; Commissioner for Eastern Police Region, Rhoda Manjolo and officials from the Attorney General’s office also attended the meeting which was supported by International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw).

By Andrew Mkonda & Rennie Tembo

Lilongwe, March 2, Mana: World Bank Senior Social Protection Specialist and Co-Task Team Leader, Ivan Drabek, has expressed satisfaction with different interventions that beneficiaries under Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme (CS-EPWP) are undertaking to protect their catchment areas from different catastrophes.

Drabek made the remarks Friday during a field tour at Mgongonda Micro Catchment Area in Nathenje, Lilongwe.

The tour was aimed at appreciating progress of the project implementation under the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP).

He said it is interesting and encouraging to see that beneficiaries and traditional leaders have taken ownership of the project.

“It is impressive to see interventions beneficiaries are doing in their catchment areas. Listening to them explaining knowledge and skills gained from field assistants and teaching others who are not part of this project is amazing,” he said.

Brabek assured beneficiaries that the Bank will do all it can to reach the targeted number of beneficiaries and increase their wages due to impact of the recent devaluation.

National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) Social Support for Resilient Livelihood Project Coordinator, Paul Chipeta, assured beneficiaries of receiving their wages on time saying all the challenges that were causing the delay have been sorted out.

One of the beneficiaries, Potiphar Alufeyo, thanked World Bank and all stakeholders for the initiative saying apart from conserving the environment, the project has also assisted in improving their livelihoods.

“I used to harvest little due to climate change but with the knowledge and skills gained from this project such as pit planting basins, manure making and gully reclamation, I am optimistic that this year I will have bumper yields,” he said.

He asked World Bank to continue with the project so that as many people as possible benefit from the project.

SSRLP is a US$516 million project funded by the World Bank and the Multi Donor Trust Fund partners (USAID UK-FCDO, EU, Ireland, Iceland and Norway).

The project’s components are the CS-EPWP, Social Cash Transfer Programme and the Livelihoods Support and is being implement in all the 28 districts across the country.

By Fostina Mkandawire

Salima, March 2, Mana: A mega farm under Greenbelt Authority (GBA) in Salima has transformed lives of community members who are benefiting from the initiative through employment.

Speaking during a media tour of the 100 hectare Chikwawa Irrigation Scheme located in the area of Senior Chief Khombedza, one of the beneficiaries, Owen Mwase, described his experience at the scheme as life changing.

He said before being employed at the farm he used to struggle to make ends meet especially feeding his family.

He said after being employed at the farm as a casual labourer he now affords a decent life.

"I have managed to buy twenty chickens and two goats and buying food for my household is not as difficult as it used to be. Our area is marred by food insufficiency since our crops did not do well the last farming season," he said.

Mwase is happy that he now affords to send his children to school saying he pays school development fund and buys notebooks for his primary school going children using wages realized from the farm.

Another beneficiary, Kerita Lyson, commended the initiative saying she is now independent and no longer depends on her relatives to take care of her four children as she receives K16,100 in wages every Friday.

Lyson said, through the wages, she has managed to rent one hectare of land where she has planted maize and is assured of food sufficiency.

Group Village Headman Mwazawala under Senior Chief Khombedza, in whose area the mega farm is located, is highly appreciative that most of his community members are employed at the farm.

"Government would have singled out any area in Salima but they chose this area. I do not take this for granted. Many people in this area were struggling financially and were food insufficient. Therefore, the timing for establishing this farm is good.

"One notable thing I have observed is that people working at the farm are organized and are jealously guarding it from ill intended people. The maize is doing well and we are anticipating bumper harvest,” he said.

BGA Chief Executive Officer, Eric Chidzungu, revealed that the Authority plans to expand the mega farms to scale up more job opportunities and ensure food security in the country.

"We believe in collaborating with communities to give them ownership hence solely depending on local workers for the success of the farm,” he said.

He expressed satisfaction that despite Salima having experienced dry spells in the past two weeks, Chikwawa Scheme is estimated to produce more than 280 metric tonnes of maize this season.

Chikwawa Irrigation Scheme has, currently, employed 140 locals manning the 100-hectare farm in the district.

By Sellah Singini

Lilongwe, March 2, Mana: Minister of Labour, Agnes NyaLonje, has described the National Skills Competition as an incentive for Technical Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training (TEVET) trainees to demonstrate their skills and help raise skills levels across Malawi.

Speaking at Lilongwe Technical College on Friday during the closing of the first ever National Skills Competition, NyaLonje said the competition gives the trainees an opportunity to be creative, innovative and develop abilities to work under pressure.

She said Malawi’s socio-economic development agenda requires competitive skills to enable the country produce products and services that can compete on both local and international markets.

"It is worth noting that, currently, the TEVET system, through TEVET Authority, is striving to produce more artisans with skills that can match up to the acceptable national and international standards," NyaLonje said.

She said this, in turn, will result in improved quality of Malawi's national infrastructure and increased national employment, including in major projects, rather than relying on imported labour.

"It will facilitate a culture of innovation, which lies at the heart of economic growth," she added.

NyaLonje said, the competition environment also encouraged trainees to produce quality work well beyond their qualification levels which demonstrates to industries that the trainees can meet labour market standards.

She, therefore, urged all students to take competition as a springboard from which they must push and aspire to participate in international skills competitions.

TEVETA Board Chairperson, Pyoka Tembo, said 117 contestants participated in the regional competitions in April last year from seven technical colleges from the Northern Region, eight from the Southern Region and nine from the Central Region.

32 of the 117 contestants, who proceeded to the national round, received awards for doing well in their various disciplines such as automobile mechanics, tailoring and design, bricklaying, fabrication and welding, ICT as well as plumbing.

The competition has helped trainees develop key employability skills in areas such as problem solving, time management, effective team work and communication.

By Moses Nyirenda

Lilongwe, March 1, Mana: Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, Liana Kakhobwe Chapota, has urged the public and stakeholders in the water sector to take an active part in planting trees in the country in order to conserve and sustain water sources.

She made the plea in Lilongwe on Friday when she presided over the tree planting exercise organized by Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) in partnership with Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) at Lilongwe River catchment area at Malingunde.

Chapota said trees play a greater role in conserving water sources such as rivers and dams hence the need for more trees to be planted if water sources are to be conserved and sustained.  

“It is an undeniable relationship between trees and water sources because trees give a good vegetative cover which helps to conserve water resources hence the need to plant more trees to sustain water sources,” Chapota said.

She applauded LWB and MHC for initiating planting of over 6,000 trees at Malingunde saying, once they grow, the trees would assist protect Lilongwe River catchment area while at the same time sustaining availability of water in the river.

She, therefore, urged the two institutions to continue planting trees in order for the country to have more trees that would assist in water conservation.

“My advice to LWB and MHC is that planting of trees should be an ongoing exercise not only in the rainy season but also off season,” she said.

LWB Board Member, Lingalireni Mihowa, said the exercise was organized to plant trees that would protect Lilongwe River catchment where the Board sources its water.

“We thought of planting trees to conserve Lilongwe River which supports our ability to supply quality water to the people of Lilongwe,” Mihowa said.

MHC Board Chairperson, Reverend Jaleck Kachipanda, said they partnered with LWB in tree planting after noting the role that LWB plays in supplying water to the people of Lilongwe including those living in MHC houses.

By Ireen Mseteka

Likoma, March 1, Mana: Likoma District Education Manager’s (DEM) office has awarded outstanding Standard Eight teachers for good performance of their learners in the 2022/2023 Primary School Leaving Certificate Examinations (PSLCE).  

Speaking during the award ceremony on Thursday, Chief Education Officer for Likoma, Zimulange Mhango, said the gesture was aimed at motivating outstanding teachers to continue working hard. 

“As a district we get good PLSCE results but not good enough. That is why we decided to organize these awards to encourage teachers to work harder and send more learners to secondary schools,” Mhango said.

Member of Parliament (MP) for Likoma, Ashems Songwe, said he launched a primary school quiz competition to improve education standards on the island district.

“We want to ensure the district’s performance improves effective this year. Our primary schools should start sending learners to national secondary schools.

“At the moment, we want to buy a multifunctioning printer so that printing services should be within reach. On top of that, government is constructing school blocks and libraries in the district,” Songwe said.

One of the outstanding teachers, Peter Chigoo, who is also Deputy Headteacher for Ulisa Primary School, said he always works hard and gives lessons to learners from 6am to 7am even during holidays and weekends.