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

“Unqualified” teachers, Ministry fight in court

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

About 120 “unqualified and excess teachers” contesting their redeployment from Community Day Secondary Schools to primary schools at the Hight Court risk forfeiting their October 2010 salaries for complying with a court order, which restrained the Ministry of Education from implementing its decision.

The teachers had on 3rd September, 2010, sought court relief restraining the Ministry of Education through South West Education Division (Swed) from demoting the said teachers and sending them to various primary schools in Blantyre Urban because their services at CDSSs were not needed.

The case was slated for Tuesday, October 19, but lawyer representing the ministry, Dr. Zolomphi, asked for an adjournment because his clients had not served him with the documents in time thereby extending the validity of the stay order.

But the division has allegedly defied the court. It has since “warned of serious consequences on teachers who will not comply with the division’s instructions including withholding of their October 2010 salaries”.

In the affidavit in support of the application, Henry Ntalika, Juff Ajibu, Shadreck M. Salima and 117 others are contesting the decision by their division [to redeploy them to primary schools] because division manageress had no legal authority to reduce them to primary school teachers.

The teachers further argue that the redeployment lacked merit because it was applied on teachers from Blantyre Urban alone. They also say the action by their boss was demeaning besides being tantamount to demotion.

“Our inability to attend institutions of higher learning was not of our own making, but capacity constraints as the institutions. The decision by the respondents, therefore, is irrational, unfair and manifestly unreliable. It was taken without due regard to our right to lawful and fair administrative justice and expectations,” says the affidavit in part.

The members of the teaching profession also argue that they were qualified having taught for several years (some have taught for over 17 years) and attended courses in various fields on curriculum and other areas under the sponsorship of Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), among others.

“We’re not aware of any appraisal or assessment or audit (skills) that were conducted to arrive at that decision. As far as our knowledge of the teaching service is concerned, a decision to deploy us cannot be made by the 1st respondent [division manageress], but the Teaching Service Commission on recommendation from appropriate authorities.

She, therefore, acted ultra vires [without legal authority],” the affidavit says.

In an email interview this week, Education publicist, Lindiwe Chide, maintained that the affected teachers are unqualified to handle secondary school pupils.

“These affected teachers are qualified to teach in primary schools, but were deployed to secondary school on administrative arrangement,” Chide said without qualifying her explanation.

Chide said the entry qualification for a CDSS teacher is a Diploma in Education, but the decision to redeploy the 120 CDSS teachers to primary came about following the increased number of qualified teachers the ministry has engaged lately.

“Now that the division has enough qualified teachers in secondary, it has decided to send back the teachers to their original posts. This is the current arrangement and will affect all divisions but will be done in divisional basis, subject to teacher availability in the division,” she explained.

On excess teachers, Chide stated that they are being sent outside the cities to alleviate the shortage of teachers’ problems in rural areas.

“Currently, we have excess teachers in urban centres while rural areas do not have enough. That is why these are being sent to rural areas,” she disclosed.

But Chide trashed the teachers’ assertions that the exercise had affected teachers from the commercial city alone saying the redeployment is a national exercise.

She was, however, noncommittal on the number of teachers likely to be affected by the exercise.

The court is yet to set the date for judicial review, but lawyers from Russel, Smitt and Associates who are representing teachers, are working on another application asking the court to imprision a Mr. C.G. Makhuza for contempt of court.

Officials at the division refused to comment as the matter is in court.

END