By Sylvester Kumwenda

Dowa, August 20, Mana: Dowa district council has elected Councillor Gift Nkhono Songeya of Kayembe ward as its new chairperson in elections held on Tuesday during a full council meeting.

Songeya got eight votes, beating closest contender Eliza Chulu who got five votes while Richard Kasanje got four votes and Billy Mtika came last with two votes.

In an interview after being sworn in, Songeya who went into the votes with a call for youth empowerment, said he was excited to be elected council chairperson.

"Being a chairperson comes with a lot of responsibilities emanating from the trust of my fellow elected members.

"Going forward, there are several areas I would like to focus on, for example, water. Dowa has water challenges due to its geographical composition, so I would like to see efforts in provision of potable water to the rural masses intensified.

"Also as an agro based district, we would like to see how best we can help our farmers, not only to ensure food security, but also that farmers benefit a lot from their produces and improve their livelihoods," said Songeya.

He then called for unity amongst all the elected council members and secretariat saying that whatever they may be doing, the guiding spirit must be the development of the people especially in rural areas.

Songeya has replaced Councillor Mayamiko Kambewa of Mponela ward who served from August 2023 to August 2024.

Kambewa in his remarks wished the new chairperson success during his new tenure and also thanked the council for what he described as an opportunity to serve the people of Dowa.

"I have served for the maximum of two years which was filled with tremendous success including scooping number one in the Local Assembly Performance Assessment which is no mean achievement.

"But I wish my successor all the best as he assumes office. My advice for him is to work closely with the District Commissioner who is always eager and available to work on issues about the development of the district. Also for him to be dedicated, hardworking, selfless, and prioritize the needs of the district above anything else, " he said.

Holesi Madeya of Chiwere Eastward got six votes and has been elected council vice chairperson after defeating other contestants like Alfred Vinthenga who got five votes, Richard Kasanje with four votes and George Wailesi who received two votes.

Dowa First Grade Magistrate Yohane Nkhata administered the oath of office to the new chairperson and vice chairperson, in the elections which were presided over by Malawi Electoral Commission officials.

By Brian Wasili

Mwanza, August 20, Mana: Mwanza West Constituency, Member of Parliament, Joyce Chitsulo has condemned laziness among some people in her area who wait for government’s handouts instead of working hard in their field to provide food for their families.

Chitsulo said this when she presided over this year's Catchment Conservation Management district launch at Chimwalira community ground, Thambani Extension Planning Area (EPA)in Traditional Authority Govati on Monday.

“We have a lot of households that are food insecure year in and year out yet they have ability to work in idle wetlands where they can do irrigation farming,” said Chitsulo.

She also deplored depletion of Thambani Forest Reserve through charcoal, saying such loss of forest cover contributes to climate change, resulting into erratic rains.

In his remarks, Senior Chief Govati asked farmers to start preparing their gardens for the rainy season so that they should plant maize and other crops in good time and further encouraged the farmers to make manure to avoid panicking when the rains start.

“You should not only depend on crops. Keep small livestock for consumption and to broaden income at your households,” added the senior chief.

District Director of Agriculture Environment and Natural Resources, Feston Kwezani urged farmers in Mwanza West Constituency to put into practice what was showcased at the Catchment Conservation Management launch so that its purpose should be achieved.

Before the launch, Chitsulo and other invited guests toured Manjenje and Makhutu irrigation schemes, manure making, goat and fish farming, bee keeping and catchment conservation activities among others.

Hunger Project and World Vision Malawi supported the launch which was held under the theme: Integrated Catchment Management and Conservation for Enhanced Climate Resilience, Improved Livelihood, Food and Nutrition Security.

By Paul Madise

Lilongwe, August 20, Mana: The Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) has disclosed the disbursement of MK200 million to councils in the country for sensitization and beneficiary targeting for the 2024/25 Lean Season Food Insecurity Response Programme.

Chipiliro Khamula, Public Relations Officer for the DoDMA has told Malawi News Agency about the development highlighting the disbursement of funds ranging from MK2 million to MK20 million depending on the population expected to benefit from the program.

Khamula has also stressed the significance of the exercise in identifying the most vulnerable and right beneficiaries for the program.

"According to the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee, a total of 5.7 million people are projected to be food insecure between October this year and March 2024 and will require food assistance," he said.

Malawi Government, through DoDMA and various humanitarian partners, has been mobilizing financial and in-kind resources following president Dr. Lazarus Chakwera's declaration of State of Disaster in 23 districts of the country due to effects of EI Nino weather phenomenon.

"So far, resources (cash and in-kind) amounting to over MK190 billion have been mobilized," Khamula expressed.

According to Khamula, DoDMA will further the collaborative efforts with the department's stakeholders in mobilizing the remainder.

By Wongani Mkandawire.

Nkhotakota, August 20, Mana: Beneficiaries of the Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme (CSEPWP) in Nkhotakota district, have expressed happiness with the new implementation plan of the programme stating it will accelerate personal development.

Speaking to Malawi News Agency on Monday, Weluzani Jolamu, of Malembo Village in the area of Traditional Authority Mphonde said, the new continuous working of 120 working days will guarantee frequent payment disbursement every 30 days to beneficiaries thereby accelerating their personal development over the long working period.

Jolamu said that in the previous cycles, beneficiaries were working 24 days and getting paid and then waiting for another 30 days before working, while now, they will work for 120 days continuously and be paid every 30 days of that working period creating a consistent source of income for personal development.  

Jolamu added that besides the direct cash financial benefit, the works will also benefit their environment as this will enable people to do more work on forest restoration and land conservation which in turn can benefit their farmlands by increasing agricultural output.

Muyotamu Bakali of Kwenda village concurred with Jolamu that CSEPWP has directly impacted their households and is excited with the new implementation as this will mean more benefits for them and their environment.

Bakali commended the programme saying many people are now able to buy fertilizer and realising bumper harvests as a result of soil conservation activities, and better housing resulting from funds earned from the programme.

Lands and Resources Officer for Nkhotakota Arthur Chiwayula said his office is prepared to work hand in hand with the communities to make sure the implementation of the new working cycle is successful and shows fruitful results for the betterment of the communities.

Nkhotakota district has over 17,000 beneficiaries in the World Bank-funded programme that is being implemented by the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC).

By Alex Kachingwe

Blantyre, August 20, Mana: Blantyre District Health Office (DHO) has vowed to take full responsibility and work very closely with management of Chilomoni Health Centre in ensuring that there is safe maternity delivery services during the period the facility’s maternity wing undergoes renovations.

Last week Friday, Blantyre DHO entered into an agreement with Mitsidi Health Centre through signing a Memorandum of Understanding to allow maternal cases from Chilomoni Health Centre to access maternity delivery services at the former.

Following the development and to ensure safe motherhood, District Health Promotion Officer, Chrissy Banda told Malawi News Agency (Mana) that all maternal mothers from Chilomoni, Chirimba, Mbayani, Pensulo and nearest townships who rely on Chilomoni Health Centre for maternity services, should not be stressed on how they can access the services at Mitsidi Health Centre.

Banda said Blantyre DHO will provide all the necessary resources like; own staff to work in provision of maternity services, transportation services, medication, equipment required for deliveries and contribution to cover overhead costs at Mitsidi.

She added that all maternity delivery services to be provided at Mitsidi Health Centre will not be different from the services maternal mothers used to get at Chilomoni Health Centre.

Facility In-charge at Chilomoni Health Centre, Trinity Kaliwamba concurred with Banda, saying it is only the maternity delivery service which is being transferred to Mitsidi Health Centre, but all other necessary services meant for expectant mothers like medical checkups (scale checkup) will be accessed at the facility.

Kaliwamba added that the facility (Chilomoni Health Centre) receives and treat an average of 20 maternal cases per week.

The renovation of the maternity wing with funds from AMECA Trust has come to increase accommodation space from maternal cases who seek maternity delivery services at Chilomoni Health Centre.

By Elia Chibwe

Lilongwe, August 20, mana: Chewa Heritage Foundation (CHEFO) has disclosed that people should take Kulamba ceremony as their opportunity for learning history and preserving their culture.

In an interview with Malawi News Agency, Secretary General for CHEFO, Dr. Numeri Chalumpha Gerisomo, highlighted the need for participating in the coming occasion of Kulamba ceremony as it plays a great role for cultural preservation and unity among Chewa people.

"This function provides information to Chewa people about their history and culture. For the youths, Kulamba ceremony provides an opportunity for them to learn and participate in their cultural heritage.

"Kulamba ceremony also promotes unity among the Chewa chiefs and their subjects," Gerisomo said.

He said the ceremony also allows the Chewa chiefs from the three countries to give reports to His Majesty about the welfare of his people and other economic issues.

Deputy Director at Department of Monuments and Museums, Yohane Nyirenda accorded with Geresomo, saying the occasion plays a pivotal role in cultural continuity.

"One of the main Chewa rituals is the Kulamba ceremony, which incorporates a number of customs such as dances, songs, and ceremonies. The Chewa people make sure that their cultural legacy is preserved and handed down through the generations by consistently carrying out these rituals," Nyirenda said.

He also reiterated the importance of having the occasion as a tool for promoting unity, cultural identity, and transmission of knowledge and values.

He added that government aims to promote inter-faith, inter-political and inter-cultural co-existence to sustain peace and unity.

"The Umodzi Day seeks to sustain peace through promotion of inter-faith, inter-political and inter-cultural co-existence. The celebrations bring all Malawians together regardless of their political, religious and cultural affiliations," he said.

According to Gerisomo the Chewa people of Malawi led by their chiefs are ready and prepared to attend and participate in the Kulamba ceremony which will be held on 24 August this year in Zambia and the event will cost MK25 million.

He said different types of dances and displays have been lined up to be showcased during the ceremony.

By Wanangwa Tembo and Collings Kalivute

Kasungu, August 19, Mana: Owing to several factors, chief among them agriculture expansion and tobacco farming, Kasungu’s forests have been heavily cleared leaving the erstwhile thick landscapes bare and degraded.

Rapid deforestation is the major culprit to the environmental degradation as it triggers catastrophic impacts on wildlife, biodiversity, ecosystems and weather patterns.

In a country where 80 percent of the population are farmers, land degradation is a serious threat as it lowers crop production, exposing the majority to hunger and extreme poverty.

Malawi has lost over half of its forests in the past 40 years rendering nearly 80 percent of total land area vulnerable to experience degradation and Kasungu is one of the most affected districts.

Environmental District Officer, Herbert Bolokonya says Kasungu is not far from the national trends of land degradation and deforestation.

“Specifically, an analysis of soil erosion in selected Extension and Planning Areas indicates soil erosion rates ranging from 1.07 to 10.0 tonnes per hectare per year.

“Forests are also experiencing high deforestation rate estimated at 2.8 percent representing an annual average loss of 250,000 hectares of forest cover. As the statistics say, land degradation and soil erosion is on the negative trend and is supposed to be corrected,” Bolokonya says.

Land degradation is therefore a significant hindrance to the country’s overall economic development and achievement of the 2030 sustainable development targets. 

The World Bank Group, 2019 Malawi Country Environmental Analysis attributes the massive clearing of forests and the resultant land degradation to population growth.

It says: “Population growth places huge demand on natural systems with more land being converted to agriculture and more forests being harvested for the wood fuel supply.

“Climate change magnifies these impacts by putting greater strain on land and forests due to increased incidents of natural disasters and extreme weather events.”

Among others, the Bank cites weak land tenure security, unsustainable land management practices, shortage of funding for environmental management and weak institutions at lower levels of governance as proximate drivers of environmental degradation.

Globally, studies show that at least 20 to 40 percent of world’s total land experienced degradation thus affecting nearly half of the global population. 

In Kasungu, forests have been cleared largely due to agriculture expansion and tobacco farming activities. The district has the largest number of estates in the country and is one of the leading tobacco producers.

In 2015, Malawi joined forces with other African countries under African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative where it pledged to restore at least 4.5 million hectares of its degraded land by 2030.

This time, more non-state actors, including the Jesuit Centre for Ecology and Development (JCED), have joined the government with efforts to restore degraded landscapes through reforestation initiatives.

JCED, a social and sustainable development work of the Society of Jesus of the Southern Africa Province, engages in resilience building, adaptation and climate justice advocacy targeting those most affected and vulnerable in rural and marginalised communities.

In Kasungu, JCED has partnered with schools through a Green Schools initiative aimed at promoting environmental conservation.

Light Changatuwa, a Standard 7 learner at Kasungu LEA Primary School is among the 30 members under the school’s JCED supported conservation club engaged in landscape restoration through afforestation, sustainable agriculture and bee keeping.

She says under the club she has learnt and embraced the spirit of planting trees and taking care of the environment both at school and home.

“I have learnt a lot under this club as we focus much on planting trees at our school as well as our respective homes.

“We also learn how to take care of the trees so that they should survive," she says.

Changatuwa says there are a lot of trees that are planted in the country but the landscapes remain bare because most of those trees do not survive due to lack of care.

She says: “If we plant trees and fail to take care of them, the survival rate is lowered.

“Through our club, we learn how to take care of the trees so that they survive, otherwise all the effort invested in nursery preparation and the actual planting would be in vain.”

Joseph Kagwamtsabola, a teacher at the school, is the club’s patron and applauds the learners for dedicating their time to making the school campus and homes green.

He says through the Green School initiative, learners have also been taught modern and sustainable ways of farming alongside environmental conservation.

“This is a good initiative because at an early stage, learners are taught environmental conservation not just in theory but in practice.

“If these efforts are replicated in many schools nationwide, we can instruct a new mindset in the children which will help to bring back our forests and sustain them for the benefit of learners themselves and the generations to come,” he says.

Within four years of the project implementation, Kasungu LEA Primary has managed to grow a forest of its own.

“Before this initiative, all the land here was bare, but with the coming of JCED, we formulated a conservation club that has turned our school into a model when it comes to environmental conservation,” Kagwamtsabola says.

He stresses the need to intensify sensitisation on the importance of conservation arguing the adoption to landscape restoration has been generally slow in the communities.  

"Much as we are trying our level best to conserve the environment, some community members are letting us down as they come here and cut down trees when we are not around,” he says.

The initiative, a sub component of the larger Tasintha Mlimi project that seeks to build and strengthen the resilience capacity of vulnerable farmers to climate change, is also in practice in eight other schools in Sub-Traditional Authorities (STA) Ndume, Chisazima and Suza.

STA Chisazima, who is among the leaders that have embraced and supported landscape restoration activities within her jurisdiction with support from JCED, says the future is green.

“As a community, we are fully supporting the project such that on our part, we have managed to plant 7, 550 trees along Chitete stream which is fast silting and causing flash floods.”

She says the silting of the stream which is also the main source of water for the entire Kasungu municipality has been as a result of agricultural activities along its banks.

Equally, out of school youths in the area of STA Chisazima have also joined forces in nature conservation upon realizing through the initiative that the future rests on them.

Ephraim Phiri, 19, from the area says the youths recognise that environmental conservation is everyone’s responsibility hence their active participation in landscape restoration.

Officer for the project, Mathews Phwandaphwanda says the initiative follows key issues identified in Kasungu District Development Plan of 2017 to 2022.

“So this initiative is a response to such concerns as low productivity due to land degradation, unstable weather conditions and climate variability including erratic rainfall, strong winds, hail storms and dry spells.

“There is also massive deforestation due to tobacco farming, poor farming practices and increased demand for farm land,” says Phwandaphwanda.

He says JCED has been witnessing continued threat to food security and nutrition deficiencies, low income, extreme poverty, land degradation, and loss of biodiversity.

“The Green School initiative is one of the many conservation interventions that we are supporting in the district,” he says.

The deforested state of Kasungu indicates the loss of valuable natural resources and the degradation of the local ecosystem, a phenomenon that has significantly impacted on the landscape and the overall ecological balance.

Beyond mitigating climate change and preserving biodiversity, conservation efforts provide essential ecosystem services such as clean air, water, soil erosion control, and act as a natural buffer against natural disasters.

It also supports livelihoods, and enhance the overall quality of life for communities.

Thus, inclusive conservation approaches that take everybody, including pupils on board, could be the key to greening the landscapes again and achieve food security amidst unpredictable climatic patterns.