50% male STI patients are HIV-positive in Blantyre

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Secretary for Health Yussuf Hassan has disclosed that over 50 percent of male sexually transmitted infections (STIs) patients receiving treatment at Blantyre’s Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) are HIV positive.

Hassan made the revelation in Lilongwe during the week when he opened a six-day private sector STI training workshop, which was organized by Malawi Business Coalition against Aids (MBCA).

The women are not spared the scourge either as the PS revealed that a high prevalence of STIs is found in most population groups even among those considered to be at low risk for STIs such as women.

“While antenatal women are considered to be at the low-risk end of the spectrum, STI patients are at high risk for HIV infection,” Hassan said.  

“There are two reasons for this high rate of HIV in STI patients. First, HIV is also sexually transmitted disease and is, therefore, transmitted the same was as STIs. Those with multiple partners and don’t use condoms correctly and constitently are likely to contract HIV, another STI or both...,” he add.

The PS further said STI patients are more likely to be infected with HIV because “STIs are independent risk factors for HIV transmission”.

“The risk of sexual transmission of HIV is increased by five to 10 times in the presence of an STI. While this increased risk is highest in the presence of ulcerative disease such as syphilis, chancroid, herpes, non-ulcerative diseases such as gonorrhoea, Chlamydia and trichomonas infections are also known to increase the risk of acquiring or transmitting HIV during sexual contact,” he explained.

Despite the horrifying revelation, Hassan commended MBCA for playing a critical role in the fight against sexually transmitted infections (STI), HIV and Aids in the country.

He noted that MBCA has done a lot in mobilizing resources for treatment and care of patients suffering from STI, HIV and Aids, saying government alone “cannot meet all the demands, and we appreciate the extra effort you take in mobilizing the resources to improve service provision.”

END

Indiscipline killing local entrepreneurship

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Local entrepreneurs have been advised to change their attitude and managerial styles if they are to survive the stiff competition from foreign investors on the market.

In an interview with Business Times on the sidelines of a farewell party Business Computer Services (BCS) organized for its retiring receiptionist in Blantyre, managing director James Chimwaza noted that lack of discipline among local businesspersons is contributing significantly to the fall of local companies.

Chimwaza observed that most of the local entrepreneurs running families companies have the tendency to treat outside workers as passengers whose services are less valuable to the firm.

“This is the biggest challenge. For example, I’m the director for BCS, which is a limited company and it would be very wrong for me to handle cheque books when accountants are there to do the job. However, this is the case in many local companies and that’s indiscipline am talking about,” he said.

“This discourages non-family workers from showing their full potential. This has led to the death of many local firms. But we all need to be there to harness all the resources for optimum effectiveness. This is the only vehicle to the growth of local firms,” Chimwaza added.

He also cited poor management, lack of planning, and under-capitalisation as some of the challenges currently rocking local entrepreneurs.

On the farewell get-together, Chimwaza said his firm had organized the party to celebrate the retirement of one of their longest-serving employees, Jean Muphuwa, who had worked with BCS for since its inception in 1986.

The company has given her a full computer set and printer as a retirement package among other items.

Muphuwa expressed gratitude for the gift and said she will open a communication at a place yet to be identified where she will be offering secretarial services as a survival mechanism for her.


“I’m retiring a happy person. I wanted to create space for new blood to find employment,” said Muphuwa who is advanced age. She had also worked for Portland Cement for 18 years before joining the computer firm.

END

Manad accuses govt of lacking seriousness on disabilities

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Malawi National Association for the Deaf (Manad) has decried the inadequate funding government allocates to arms and departments dealing with issues of people with disabilities.

The association further expressed concern over the delay by government to enact Disability Bill into law, saying the development aggravates challenges and discrimination people with disabilities face in the country.

Manad chairperson Juliana Mwase raised the concerns at a press conference it held in Blantyre in preparation for this year’s International Deaf Week.

The main activities are taking place in Lilongwe from today (Monday) to Sunday and Minister of Persons with Disabilities and the Elderly, Reen Kachere, has been tipped to grace the closing of the occasion as guest of honour.

And in her speech at the conference, Mwase observed that it will remain a dream for Malawi to achieve an inclusive society in the absence of the bill.

Mwase said the bill was very crucial in achieving in protecting freedoms and rights of people with disabilities, especially in achieving inclusive education.

“Inclusive education demands that all barriers affecting its realization be removed and an enabling environment be created where all deaf students can learn and participate effectively within mainstream school systems. [Manad] believes that inclusive education can be achieved if there are adequate supports and services for the deaf students, professional development for all teachers involved and special educators. Sufficient funding is needed so that schools that will be able to develop programmes for students based on students’ needs,” she said.

On the delay to constitutionalize the Disability Bill into law, Mwase said people with disabilities continue to endure discrimination and stigma because there is no law that backs them up.

“We believe that the law will play an important role in the protection of the rights of people with disabilities in the society. We, therefore, plead with government to expedite the process of enacting this bill into law,” Mwase said.

Echoing Mwase’s concerns, Federation for Disability Organizations in Malawi (Fedoma) executive director Mussa Chiwaula observed that “Malawi only been good at talking on inclusive education without setting up tangible structures to support the call [for inclusive education]”.

He cited lack of specialist teachers in the country’s schools as one of the major challenges affecting the education of people with hearing and sight impairments.

Currently, Catholic-owned Montfort Teachers’ Training College remains the only college offering Special Needs Education, but at a lower rate of 90 students per year.

This figure is said to be very small comparing to the population of learning who have hearing and sight impairments in the country.

“As Fedoma, we’re worried that we do a lot of talking, but nothing really is happening on the ground. We want an incluse society; the delay in passing the bill further penalizes people with disabilities,” said Chiwaula.

END

Govt. taken to task over Special Needs Institute

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Link for Education Governance (LEG) has challenged government to explain where it has put K15 million the National Assembly allocated to the Ministry of Education for the construction of the Institute of Special Needs Education (ISNE) in 2006/2007 budget.

LEG policy and advocacy director Andrew Ussi disclosed in an interview yesterday (April 2009) that the construction of the Special Needs Institute was allocated K195 million in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy for a period of 5 years from 2006 to 2011.

Ussi explained that plans to construct the institute were one of the targets of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategies (MGDS) which is being implemented from 2006 to 2011, but expressed fears that the institute will not be in place by 2011. Despite being in the MGDS the Institute was not allocated funds in 2008/2009 budget and LEG fears Government will not allocate it funds in 2009/2010 financial year.

“This is worrisome because it means that we will reach 2011 without any structure on special needs education. Our fear is that if this institute does not take off now, it will not be there. We will have beaten the MGDS deadline. Mind you, MGDS life span is from 2006-2011,” explained Ussi.

“But what is surprising is that all that was required for the construction of this structure was there; money was allocated, two sites were identified in Area 25, but nothing has taken place. What is more surprising is that government does not explain where this money [K15 million] Parliament approved in the 2006/7 financial year went,” he said.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe said he did not have knowledge about the project meant to construct an institute for special needs education and the money that Ussi claims Ministry of Education was allocated for the cause.

“I have no idea on that project. I don’t even know if there was some budgetary allocation to that effect,” said Gondwe in a telephone interview.

But in a separate interview, Deputy Director of Special Needs Education in the Ministry of Education, David Njaidi, concurred with Ussi that his department was allocated the sum of K15 million in the 2006/7 financial year to start the construction of the institute.

“Yes, I can confirm that our department was given K15 million of the K195 million five year Institute of Special Needs Education plan,” said Njaidi. He, however, could not remember the exact dates when his department got the funding.

Asked what the department did with the money, Njaidi just said “we were given very little money. We used the all the K15 million for designs only and it ended.”

But what Njaidi said is in sharp contrast with Ussi’s sentiments who indicated that there has been no development on the identified land.

“Where is this structure they [Njaidi] are talking about? I am standing by my statement that there is no development on both earmarked plots. How was the money used? Can the whole K15 million be used for designing only? And if the Finance minister says he is not aware about the project then why did he say on Television Malawi in December 2008 that funds are available only that it was just an omission in the budget documents when LEG revealed that there are no funds for the Special Needs Institute in the 2008/2009 budget?” wondered Ussi.

He also alleged that government has not shown commitment to construction of the institute despite parliament allocating funds for the project.

Asked what difference the institute would make to the education sector, Ussi said education as a catalyst for socio-economic development needs to be all inclusive.

“We are mindful of the fact that our fellow impaired pupils and students have been sidelined for a long time in the education sector yet they are contributing a lot to the country’s social economic development. Education is a catalyst for socio-economic development, industrial growth and an instrument for empowering the poor, the weak and the voiceless. We need political will for this project to materialize,” stressed Ussi.

LEG is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that was founded in January 2006 in Malawi to respond to current challenges affecting the education sector at basic, secondary, technical and vocational education and higher education levels that threaten efforts to achieve the 2015 Education for All (EFA) Goals and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

End

Venturing into business without capital

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Money-lending institutions will usually put up mouth-watering adverts in the media purporting to portray that they are the best, most affordable and accessible lenders in the society.

What is disheartening, though, is that they rarely live up to their preaching.

For Matthias Chikoko, money-lenders are becoming stingier with their money each passing day that it would sound miraculous when your application for a bank loan gets approval.

Chikoko, 35, now operations manager for Tumphale Security Guard Services in Blantyre, tried several times, but never got an approval because he did not have collateral.

Job scarcity continues to hound many people both in rural and urban areas. The problem is grinding more on young people who are just graduating from different colleges across the country. And lately, entrepreneurship has been found to be an alternative to the hopeless citizenry.

But collateral security remains one of the major setbacks to potential entrepreneurs to secure bank loans. Poor access to credit, such as bank loans, is one reason why development is slow to occur. Without start-up finance, it is difficult for people to set up businesses.

Besides entrepreneurship, agriculture, too, is another business potential and many farmers want to think of investing in inputs or equipment which could boost their farm productivity.

But banks have not made enough strides, if any at all, to provide financial services, such as loans, to poor people such as farmers. They cite a number of reasons among them lack of collateral, lack of physical infrastructure, such as banks or post offices, in remote areas as some of the reasons why they are failing to reach out to the people.

These plus many more restrictions found Chikoko short of qualifying for a loan, which would have helped him venture into business of some sort.

But this did not stop him from dreaming big. Chikoko hoped against hope and it seems his colour dream of owning a company is fast becoming a reality. 

Early last year, Chikoko teamed up with a friend to start a security service company, Tumphale Security Guard Services. They did not need financial resources to start the company.

The problem with security guarding business is that it depends on the security breakdown in a society and Chikoko does not dispute this fact.

But how did Chikoko and his partner succeed in realizing their dream of owning a company, one would be tempted to ask.

“After coming up with the idea start a security company, we went out  identifying possible clients before engaging men and women who would work as security guards. Luckily, we managed to convince five customers and immediately we engaged the guards,” he explained.

Currently, Malawi enjoys a certain degree of public security such that services of a security guard for a residential house become unnecessary, if not outright waste of resources, to many.  This is the major challenge facing the growth of security companies in the country.

However, Chikoko says it is a wrong assumption to think that security guards are unnecessary in a society where criminal acts are nonexistent.

“People should now look at services of a security guard as a priority in one’s day-to-day living. Even without criminals terrorizing your home, a security guard could be helpful in times of emergencies,” he states.

Chikoko says just like the Malawi Police Service, security companies are there to provide maximum security to the people as well as their property.

“Our aim is to contribute to the societal as well as national security. We work hand in hand with police in achieving this. I should state here that we’re helping government in reducing the number of unemployed citizens,” he said.

“We started with five, but as of today we’ve employed over 20 security guards who provide security services to companies, families and individuals in Blantyre. But we aim at growing big and establish regional offices in Lilongwe and Mzuzu as well,” Chikoko explained

Maybe money is not all that people need to venture into businesses. As Chikoko prides, his business brings enough for his family that no longer needs to be employed.

He is optimistic that, instead of him joining unemployed Malawians in scrambling for the few job vacancies existing in very few companies, his company is creating job opportunities to others thereby reducing the unemployment rates.

END

Machinjiri residents celebrate gay couple arrest

·       As family disowns Steven
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
The supposed family of Steven Monjeza and residents of Machinjiri Township in Blantyre are in a celebratory mood following the arrest of a gay couple on Monday.

Police in Blantyre arrested Tiwonge Chimbalanga [whose real name is Stoneck Kachepa] and Steven Monjeza [whose real name is Steven Soko] a day after the two held their engagement at Mankhoma Lodge.

The engagement has since attracted mixed reactions from the public.

An aunt to Steven, Zione Monjeza, disclosed in an interview from her home at Kameza that Steven’s real surname is Soko and that his father was from Molipa in Machinga.

She disclosed that the family was embarrassed and that it would not want to see Steven again because apart from being gay, which has brought the family into disrepute and shame; the nephew is a thief that has been giving Machinjiri residents sleepless nights.

Monjeza explained that the arrest of Monjeza has brought more joy to Machinjiri residents than sorrow because Steven “is one of the criminals terrorising the township with theft of crop produce”.

“People can now be assured of harvesting their crops without interference. Steven has been a source of worry to residents around this area because of his criminal acts,” said Monjeza.

His uncle, N’chiteni Monjeza, said Steven has been a trouble-maker right from his childhood.

He explained that Steven have been in and out of police cells several times for various crimes.

“We are suspecting that he took after his father who was also a dangerous criminal. He eventually died in prison,” said N’chiteni.

Asked why they did not attend their nephew’s engagement ceremony, both the uncle and aunt said they could not allow to discredit themselves by gracing a gay marriage.

N’chiteni and Zione Monjeza confirmed that Steven wrote them letters inviting to attend his engagement ceremony, which was initially slated for December 16, but was shifted to 26 because Monjeza’s mother died on this day.

Apart from inviting them to grace the occasion, the groom asked N’chiteni to appoint marriage counsellors, which the Monjeza family did not do because some people had told them the bride was a man.

“When we turned his invitation down, Steven came drunk and shouted profanities at us names. He challenged that he would find some people to be his counsellors if we’re not willing to support.

“But we did not bow down because we had information that the bride was a man,” said N’chiteni Monjeza further explaining that prior to their big day, the bride and the groom, had been visiting Monjeza family where Soko introduced Kachepa as his prospective wife.

According to the Monjezas, the gay couple had been living together as husband and wife for the past six months and that the engagement was meant to regularize their marriage.

Steven, the groom, is said to have introduced Stoneck to his family, but family members failed to suspect ‘Tiwonge’s’ gender because he used to cover his head with a piece of cloth (chilundu) thereby preventing family members seeing his bald-head.

This is contrary to what the suspect told this reporter earlier. Steven said since he dated he never lived with Tiwonge let alone having his carnal knowledge.

“What surprised us was that the bride was looking exactly like a man; no breasts and bearded. Only thing left wondering though; the bride behaves like a woman and carries out all female duties,” they said.

When the Monjezas lost their mother [a grandmother to Steven] on December 16 last year, the couple went to attend the funeral where ‘Tiwonge’ helped women in preparing food. He even slept with women at night when it started raining.

“She has no match when it comes to cooking,” said Zione Monjeza a complement shared by ‘Tiwonge’s’ former employer, Mrs. Vaida Kalua.

The following day, the Steven’s ‘wife’ accompanied women to a mortuary to collect the dead body of the late granny.

The Monjezas said they feel embarrassed with what their nephew had done [declaring his interest to marry fellow man].

“People look at us as irresponsible and disorganized lot following this scandal. We are very embarrassed,” said N’chiteni.

But in an interview at Blantyre Police where the two are being kept while awaiting court trial, the groom claimed ‘Tiwonge’ cheated him into engagement by not telling him he was a man.

“He never told me he’s a fellow man. Actually, I have learnt that Tiwonge is not even his real name; ali ndi dzina lina ada awa,” he said.

Asked why he still went ahead with the engagement after realizing that he dated a man, Steven said he did not want to disappoint his sweetheart because “she had already bought everything for the ceremony including bridal wears”.

Relatives to the gay couple said their sons had no record of having fallen in love affair with a girl let alone being speculated about by rumourmongers. But Steven told this reporter that he ever fell in love with a girl who he dumped to marry Tiwonge.

END

Tiwonge's behaviour has always amazed us—Uncle

·   He’s been bewitched—Sister

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

The gay couple currently in police custody made history last Saturday when they held an engagement ceremony preceding the actual wedding of their ‘holy’ marriage.

The ceremony, which took place at Mankhoma Lodge in Blantyre, attracted a considerable number of patrons who could neither believe what was happening nor make out what Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steve Monjeza were up to.

According to Sections 153 and 156 of the penal code, homosexuality is illegal in Malawi and anyone convicted of the offence may be jailed for five or 14 years, respectively, with or without corporal punishment.

As such, Malawians could not understand where Chimbalanga, the bride, and Monjeza [the groom] got the courage to declare in public their orientation towards fellow men. Actually, other rumourmongers hinted that the two had
been sent to “test the waters”.

Some people went as far as insinuating that Tiwonge is hermaphrodite (a condition where a person has both sexual organs).

But  investigations by Maranatha Mzungu on Thursday revealed that the bride whose real name is Stoneck Kachepa and hails from Chimbalanga Village, Traditional Authority Thomas in Thyolo has a male sexual organ only.

In an exclusive interview, Village Headman Chimbalanga who is also an uncle said Stoneck was born a man, but with some female features such as voice and movements.

Chimbalanga explained that his nephew has been behaving like a woman right from his tender age.

“His behaviour has always amazed us. He never felt comfortable among fellow men and he used to wear wrappers (zitenje) as if he is a woman,” said the traditional leader.

Stoneck, a fourth born son in a family of six, lived with the uncle from childhood after the death of his both parents. Chimbalanga said he knew his nephew to be a village entertainer.

“He likes joking. But he does not want to be among men,” Chimbalanga added.

When he reached 14, Stoneck started menstruating as a woman, a development that surprised family members. This was soon after returning from circumcision.

People accused the chief of bewitching his nephew. This annoyed Chimbalanga who later threw Stoneck out of his family.

“Later, I was told Stoneck had gone to Blantyre where Mrs. Vaida Kalua employed him as a houseboy,” said Chimbalanga.

Stoneck’s grief-stricken blood sister, Mai Kamoto explained that their relation has been menstruating and he has been in that condition since then.

Although Kamoto has been sick for three weeks and was bedridden when Maranatha Mzungu crew visited her home Thursday, she spared some minutes to narrate the ‘horrors that their relation has gone through’.

“I just don’t know what is happening in our family. He is the only educated person in our family, but what can we expect from him now? Prison is not a place to live; that is graveyard,” said Kamoto as she broke into tears.

“Maybe it is a curse from God. How can a man be menstruating every month as if he is a woman. He has never proposed love to girls. He has always lived as a woman. Our brother is really bewitched,” she added.

Kamoto disclosed that Stoneck had been to a number of traditional doctors across the country, the last being a witchdoctor from Rumphi because the family believed he had been bewitched.

But one of the country’s gynaecologist and a lecturer at College Of Medicine Dr. Joyce Munthali said it is possible for a man to menstruate like a man and that the condition has nothing to do with witchcraft.

In a telephone interview on Friday, Dr. Munthali said such incidents occur when “female hormones are higher than the male ones”.

“It can happen, but it’s unusual,” said Dr. Munthali.

“What you need to know is that every man is a woman and vice versa. However, what matters is the levels of female or male hormones in a person,” she added.

But Dr. Munthali refused to be conclusive on what could be the cause of the condition in which Stoneck is stressing that that can only be done if the affected person sought medical help.

“I can only say that after checking his hormone levels. We’ve to do some tests to determine female hormones in him because he [Stoneck] could be functioning as a man, but high female hormones,” she said further advising such men to seek medical help and not traditional herbs.

Asked if such men can date and be able to bear children, Dr. Munthali explained that sexual urge for such people remains intact although sometimes they may experience some disorders.

But Dr. Lumbani Munthali of Karonga Prevention Study said ‘Tiwonge’s’ menstruation could be a symptom of cancer in urinary bladder, genital areas or trauma resulting from injury in his genital parts.

Both doctors recommended that the patient needs to seek medical attention to determine the cause of his problems.

Although Stoneck’s brother Jairos Kachepa looked equally concerned and could be seen wiping tears from his eyes during the whole interview time, he had no kind words for him relation.

“How could he spend K18,000 on engagement to a fellow man when we
desperately need such money to buy farm inputs? We are orphans and since he is the only educated in our family, we thought he could be a source of solace for us now,” said Kachepa in utter-disappointment.

While Kamoto expressed desire to visit Stoneck in prison, Kachepa and Chimbalanga said they would not do.

Kachepa said their brother was an embarrassment to the roayal family while the uncle excused himself saying “as a village headman, I am very busy attending to tree planting exercise and family disputes”.

END

Venturing into non-capital business

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Money-lending institutions will usually put up mouth-watering adverts in the media purporting to portray that they are the best, most affordable and accessible lenders in the society.

What is disheartening, though, is that they rarely live up to their preaching.

For Matthias Chikoko, money-lenders are becoming stingier with their money each passing day that it would sound miraculous when your application for a bank loan gets approval.

Chikoko, 35, now operations manager for Tumphale Security Guard Services in Blantyre, tried several times, but never got an approval because he did not have collateral.

Job scarcity continues to hound many people both in rural and urban areas. The problem is grinding more on young people who are just graduating from different colleges across the country. And lately, entrepreneurship has been found to be an alternative to the hopeless citizenry.

But collateral security remains one of the major setbacks to potential entrepreneurs to secure bank loans. Poor access to credit, such as bank loans, is one reason why development is slow to occur. Without start-up finance, it is difficult for people to set up businesses.

Agriculture is fast becoming business and many farmers want to think of investing in inputs or equipment which could boost their farm productivity.

But banks have not made enough strides, if any at all, to provide financial services, such as loans, to poor people such as farmers. They cite a number of reasons among them lack of collateral, lack of physical infrastructure, such as banks or post offices, in remote areas as some of the reasons why they are failing to reach out to the people.

These plus many more restrictions found Chikoko short of qualifying for a loan, which would have helped him venture into business of some sort.

But this did not stop him from dreaming big. Chikoko hoped against hope and it seems his colour dream of owning a company is fast becoming a reality.  

Today, he co-owns Tumphale Security Guard Services located near Limbe Police Station in Blantyre. But the problem with security guarding business is that it depends on the security breakdown in a society.

Malawi enjoys a certain degree of public secure such that services of a security guard for a residential house become unnecessary, if not outright waste of resources, to many. But Chikoko thinks this is a wrong assumption.

“People should now look at services of a security guard as a priority in one’s day-to-day living. Even without criminals terrorizing your home, a security guard could be helpful in times of emergencies,” he states.

Chikoko says just like the Malawi Police Service, security companies are there to provide maximum security to the people as well as their property.

“Our aim is to contribute to the societal as well as national security. We work hand in hand with police in achieving this. I should state here that we’re helping government in reducing the number of unemployed citizens,” he said.

“We started with five, but as of today we’ve employed over 20 security guards who provide security services to companies, families and individuals in Blantyre. But we aim at growing big and establish regional offices in Lilongwe and Mzuzu as well,” Chikoko explained

Maybe money is not all that people need to venture into businesses. As Chikoko prides, his business brings enough for his family that no longer needs to be employed.

He is optimistic that, instead of him joining unemployed Malawians in scrambling for the few job vacancies existing in very few companies, his company is creating job opportunities to others thereby reducing the unemployment rates.

END

Chief tips ministry on cholera outbreak

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR



        I've never tasted clean water: GVH Samson



Group Village Headman Samson of T/A Thomas in Thyolo have pleaded with government to consider drilling boreholes in primary schools around the area to save pupils from cholera outbreaks during the imminent rainy season.

Taking advantage of the recent visit Deputy Minister of Irrigation and Water Development Grenenger Msulira-Banda undertook to Manthimba Irrigation Scheme, Samson tipped government of the cholera outbreaks in his area rainy season is drawing closer.

“Every year, this area registers cholera outbreaks owing to the fact that we draw water for domestic use from unprotected sources. We just hear our friends are drinking water from boreholes elsewhere. Why can’t we have one here?” asked the chief.

“I’ve never drunk water from a borehole and my body is acclimatized to unsafe water. But I’m pleading with you, sir, to consider drilling a borehole at Manthimba Primary School just to save our pupils from cholera because their bodies are still tender,” Samson added.

In his remarks, Msulira-Banda assured the villagers that his ministry would look into the issue.

“I’ll take up the issue with the minister and see how best we can help. It’s government wish that every Malawian should be drinking protected water,” he said.

The deputy minister then applauded the villagers for intensifying irrigation farming at Manthimba Irrigation Scheme.

Earlier, chairperson for the scheme Charles Mkwapatira told the deputy minister and officials from Blantyre Irrigation Services Division under which Manthimba falls that the scheme needs financial assistance for maintenance and redesigning of the canals.

Mkwapatira said as the membership of irrigation farmers is increasing, it was apparent that the schemes need to redesign so that they can accommodate more farmers.

END

Irrigation farmers to train in market skills

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR



Msulira-Banda making a speech after touring Manthimba in Thyolo



Ministry of Irrigation and Water Development Grenenger Msulira-Banda said Sunday that his ministry plans to start training irrigation farmers in business and marketing research skills to help crop producers find competitive markets for their products.

The development comes after irrigation farmers under Blantyre Irrigation Services Division (Bisd) had raised concern over poor prices for their produce, lack of transport to potential markets and high post-harvest losses to which they are often poorly equipped to identify potential solutions.

Speaking after touring Chileka, Chimwavi and Manthimba Irrigation Schemes, Msulira-Banda noted that “irrigation farmers badly need marketing skills, especially now that they are turning their energies towards economic empowerment after achieving food security at household level”.

“Elsewhere I go to visit irrigation schemes; farmers have complained that marketing of their products is their major problem. We can’t agree more since most farmers grow maize on their irrigation farms. Maize is no longer marketable nowadays since Malawi has achieved food security,” Banda explained.

“Now we think we need to train them in marketing skills, new techniques and new ways of obtaining information on crops that are on demand on the market. This will help them draw calendars depending on ‘supply and demand’ of each crop,” he added.

Charles Mkwapatira: asked ministry to intervene

Earlier, in his appeal to the deputy minister, chairperson for Manthimba Irrigation Scheme, Charles Mkwapatira expressed concern over poor prices their products fetch on the market.

Mkwapatira further alleged that businesspersons are duping them by buying their crops at prices below their (farmers) invested capital.

“It’s very unfortunate that we even fail to recover what we invest in irrigation farming. Businesspersons from town are just duping us here. I am pleading with you to intervene,” he asked.

His Chileka counterpart, Edward Chiphala, said despite making strides in ensuring food security at household level, most irrigation farmers are now suffering from financial crises.

But BISD Chief Irrigation Officer Anderson Mbozi urged the farmers to take such matters with his office so that a common ground for solving some of the challenges farmers are facing can be created.

END

Estate to distribute free tree seedlings

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Nchima Tea Estate in Thyolo said last week it will distribute free tree seedlings to communities surrounding the estate as one of the mechanisms for improving local forest reserves and mitigating effects of climate change.

The estate’s general manager, Dave Saywood, made the revelation at Namitete Primary School where he presented a donation of four bicycle ambulances to Group Village Headmen Matchuana, Nkolokosa, Phalira and Kabambe in T/A Nchilamwela’s area in the district.

Saywood said his company was concerned with the rate at which forests are being depleted without replacement. He feared forest and environmental degradation may have serious effects on the operations of the estate.

“We’ve a lot of tree seedlings, which we can give out to the communities surrounding our estate. We feel it is everybody’s responsibility to fight the effects of climate change,” he said.

“Anyone from communities surrounding our estate can come and get these free seedlings and plant in their uncultivated pieces of land. If we plant more trees, we will be able to reduce the impacts of climate change,” Saywood added.

Member of Parliament for the area, Kingsley Namakhwa, thanked the estate for the gesture and appealed to other companies operating in the district to emulate.

“This is a very welcome development and I would like to ask my constituents to utilize this opportunity. I also wish to appeal to other estates to take up social responsibility activities in areas of their operations to help in improving the living standards of the people,” said Namakhwa.

END

YEDF: another dashed hope?

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

A 23-year old Agness Thomas attended and successfully completed Project Management and Business Plan writing training sessions National Youth Council of Malawi (NYCOM) organized in readiness for the now faltering Youth Enterprise Development Fund (Yedf) loans.

What surprises, and even worrying Thomas, though, is that there is no sign when the loans will be given to the beneficiaries for them to start investing in their chosen businesses. So far, what the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, which is tasked to oversee fund, has been changing dates for the disbursement of the loans as if they are changing clothes.

“I wonder if these loans will ever be disbursed at all. Sometimes I feel YEDF is nothing, but another campaign tool conveniently introduced to woo the youth into voting for the ruling party,” she reasons.

In a country where unemployment rates rise at an unstoppable speed, the role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) cannot be overemphasized.

In an earlier interview this year, NYCOM executive director Aubrey Chibwana said Malawi had more than 4 million young people of employable age as of 2006 while only 18 percent managed to get jobs.

Chibwana was, however, quick to state that the figures could be more than that today as more and more young people are graduating from colleges without steady employment opportunities.

Experts and prospective employers give a litany of factors preventing them from engaging young people that have just finished their school. Lack of practical and technical skills (experience) is chief among them.

SMEs, therefore, offer the youths the much needed option for them to actively participate in the socioeconomic activities in their communities.

There are so many people in the country dreaming to start own [small] companies, which would also create job opportunities for others as time goes by. This dream, however, is always dashed by lack of capital.

Economists state that one needs enough capital to venture into entrepreneurs. And the capital must be sufficient to finance the start-up costs of the business, plus access to additional capital to fund further growth. 

“It’s the lack of capital that most frequently keeps me from becoming self-employed,” says George Banda, 27, of
Malema village, Traditional Authority Kyungu in Karonga.

The launching of the fund by President Bingu wa Mutharika early this year further raised Malema’s hope for a future. 

Among other things, Mutharika said he conceived the fund to address the challenges of youth unemployment by providing the youth with knowledge, essential skills, and opportunity to engage in entrepreneurships as a self-employment mechanism.

Everybody applauded the president for his wise decision to help the loafing youths whose participation in economic development initiatives continues to be impeded by a number of challenges which include limited access to post-primary and secondary vocational training, limited access to credit and inadequate employment opportunities, among others.

“By investing in our youth, we will afford them an opportunity to focus their energies into productive activities and thereby improving their living standards,” said Ken Kandodo Banda when he presented the then proposed K3billion Youth Enterprise Development Fund to the National Assembly.

 

Our legislators saw the difference the fund was likely to make our lazing youth thus they did not take time to approve the fund giving way to the president to launch it.

But Thomas and Banda are today wondering if whether the fund will ever change their lives noting the many excuses coming from the administrators of the loans when asked on what is delaying its disbursement.

In July this year, Youth Development and Sports Minister Dr. Lucius Kanyumba said assured the nation that everything was ready for Malawi Rural Development Fund (Mardef) to start disbursing loans to the youth entrepreneurs who had applied for loans.

A few weeks later, the nation was told to wait a little longer as the authorities were sorting some things before the exercise could roll out.

“These perpetual postponements keep us wondering and doubting the sincerity of the authorities regarding this fund. It’s not enough just to train us. On what are we going to use our Project Management and Business Plans?” they ask.

“Why can’t they tell us the truth about the loans? If it was a campaign tool, just tell us so we can try other means than keeping us waiting in vain. We’re hopeless,” added the youth, rather disappointedly.

For Chisomo Jimmy of Chiwembe Village in Blantyre, it is not the delay worrying him, but the declaration by Mutharika that preference to access the loans should be given to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters.

“I belong to no party apart from being a mere voter. I’m afraid some of us may not benefit from the loans based on party lines and this will be very unfortunate,” Jimmy states.

Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) director Undule Mwakasungula thinks Mutharika’s statement is not only discriminatory against non-DPP youths, but also in direct conflict with the basic tenets of multiparty democracy which allow citizen to belong to any party of their choice without threats of facing discrimination of any kind.

But Kanyumba believes there is no need for young people to break their oblongata with worries, saying government will implement the project come what may.

“There is no need for worrying and panicking. Government is set to fulfill all its promises,” he assures.

But maybe the youths are justified to cry for the funds now because the more months turn into years; the more likelihood for them to forget the skills they acquired during those “Project Management and Business Plan writing sessions”.

END

Tea Estate to construct school-blocks, bridges

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Nchima Tea Estate in Thyolo has pledged to construct six school blocks in the next three years to ease congestion and make the learning environment much more pleasant in schools surrounding the estate.

The estate will also construct two bridges before rainy seaon this year.

The estate’s general manager, Dave Saywood, made the commitment on Tuesday when he presented a donation of four bicycle ambulances to Group Village Headmen Matchuana, Nkolokosa, Phalira and Kabambe in T/A Nchilamwela’s area in the district.

Saywood said his company had arrived at the decision having appreciated the challenges and the prohibitive learning environments children are subjected to such as congestion, which is synonymous with many primary schools in the country.

“We’re going to construct two classrooms this year before the rains. Next year, we’ll contruct another two and the following year another two. Hopefully, that is going to improve the standards of the children’s education in our community,” said Saywood.

“In addition, MP for this area [Kingsley Namakhwa] has approached us on the possibility that we help in constructing two bridges that connect to Thyolo District Hospital to help villagers easily connect to referral hospitals in times of ailments. We’ve promised to give him feedback. The bridges will be operational before the start of the rains,” he added.

On the bicycle ambulances, Saywood said the donation was one of the activities lined up for their corporate social responsibilities to the communities surrounding the estate.

In his remarks, Kingsley Namakhwa said the bicycle ambulances will play a crucial role in the fight against child and maternal mortality in the area.

“People from this area live far from the district hospital…and we’re having problems to transport patients to the hospital. In the end, we ended up losing lives on the way. So these bicycles will help us in saving lives,” explained Namakhwa.

He appealed to other estates operating in the district to emulate what Nchima Tea Estate is doing in transforming the living standards of rural communities.

END