Student drowns in Shire River

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Police and members of the public are searching for a 19 year-old student who drowned in Shire River on Friday as he was swimming with his friends near Zalewa Roadblock.

Southern Region police publicist Davie Chingwalu confirmed the development yesterday. Chingwalu identified the victim as Victor Mkwinda Chilongo, a Form Four student at Number One Private Secondary School in Ndirande, Blantyre.

“It seems Chilongo and his friends went to Zalewa to play a football match against another Number One Private School, which is located near the roadblock. But before the match started, the students went for a swim in Shire River the incident happened,” Chingwalu said.

As of yesterday, police had not yet found the student’s body and the police spokesperson indicated they [police] with assistance from members of the public were still searching.

“As of now, that is what I can say because we are still searching,” Chingwalu explained.

END

Constituents request MP address on development

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

People in Chiwembe Village, which is in Blantyre City South-East constituency, have asked their legislator, Jeffrey Ntelemuka, to address them on development issues.

At a Village Development Committee (VDC) meeting that took place last week, people complained that they are lacking information on how Constituency and Local Development Funds, are being used and that they would like the parliamentarian to address them on the same.

“People are becoming more and more aware of their right to development. It’s in this vein that many people want to know how two funds are being utilized to benefit them,” Village Headman Chiwembe told CommuNews after the meeting.

“Lately, they [people] have been asking me to ask our MP to address us on these issues. For example, people don’t understand why there are no development activities taking place in our area when government allocates each constituency funds for development projects,” he added.

The VDC chairperson Rex Nderezina claimed his committee had been trying to communicate with Ntelemuka, but failed because his phone could not be reached.

“Currently, we’re mobilizing resources for the construction of two bridges connecting Chiwembe to Limbe Market. Another bridge connects Chiwembe to Misesa Primary School. But we are failing to finalize the projects because the money people have contributed so far is not enough,” said Nderezina whose committee was collecting a K100 contribution from each household for the cause.

“If we had LDF available, we couldn’t have been going around people’s houses asking for contributions. That’s why we need our honourable MP to help us,” he added.

This CommuNews reporter equally failed to hear the legislator’s side of the story as his mobile phone was out of reach.

Meanwhile, people are planning to meet their MP once he is back from Lilongwe where he will be attending parliamentary meetings for four weeks.
END

WESM boosts Thyolo climate change fight

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Bonongwe presenting the materials to one of CBOs representative

Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi (Wesm) has assured communities in Thyolo of its support towards tree planting initiatives and the fight against negative effects of climate change.

Blantyre branch Wesm coordinator Ausward Bonongwe made the commitment mid last week when he donated tree seeds, watering cans, shovels and rakes to community-based organizations (CBOs) operating in the district with assistance from Pan African Civic Educators Network (Pacenet).

Bonongwe said it is imperative that people actively participate in this year’s national tree planting season by planting trees along river banks and any other plain areas as one of the mechanisms for averting effects climate change.

“Planting trees is one of the best ways to fight climate change, fight poverty, desertification and deforestation. Our organization is ready to offer support to any community, which intends to participate in these initiatives. We exist to help in building capacity for CBOs dealing in environmental issues,” he said.

But Bonongwe lamented that although people are suffering the effects of global warming, many regard the issue as an abstract.

“Very few people have taken a step aimed at reversing the situation. It is now time that everyone should a role in mitigating the effects of climate change by planting trees,” he said.

In his remarks, Assistant District Forestry Officer Victor Chiwalo said the district was going through the worst desertification ever due to over-population, which has led people in encroaching river banks and forests in search of farmland.

“More trees are cut when landless people are clearing land in the river banks and forests to make way for farming. Thyolo used to be a cool place when we had trees; but now we are experiencing very hot temperatures because we’ve left our land bare,” Chiwalo said.

He then thanked Wesm and Pacenet for the donation, saying it will go a long way in reducing the effects of climate change in the long run.

Bonongwe warned his organization will confiscate the materials in the event of abuse and misuse of the donations
END

Fired MRA workers petition Mutharika

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Some of the retrenched employees of the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) have written President Bingu wa Mutharika praying that he should reverse the tax collector’s decision to lay them off.

The fired employees, who are being represented by Alick Makwenda and Good Chakaka Nyirenda, claim they were “cruelly and unfairly treated by their employer on the implementation of the flawed restructuring exercise” hence the need for Mutharika to intervene.

The Presidential Spokesperson Dr. Hetherwick Ntaba could not be reached on his mobile phone yesterday when The Sunday Times wanted to verify and confirm if Mutharika had received the petition.

In their November 4, 2010 letter entitled”concerns over the conduct of the retrenchment exercise by the MRA”, the disgruntled workers have expressed displeasure over the whole restructuring process arguing management brought it as a deliberate ploy to punish and eliminate certain individuals who had issues with their seniors.

They further claim that there was no transparency in the manner the retrenchment was carried out, arguing it was strange MRA was firing workers at a time when the body was in desperate need of additional members of staff.

“We are now made to believe that the exercise was meant to punish certain individuals for committing no sin at all. Of course we acknowledge that some individuals have taken advantage of the situation to get rid of persons they did not like,” say the workers who are themselves “Concerned MRA Retrenched Employees”.

“We are very sure that you [Mutharika] would not condone such malicious and retrogressive motives.  Our firm belief is that you would not condone steps that derail your vision to create jobs and reduce unemployment. What has happened at MRA is inescapably the perpetuation of unemployment and poverty which runs counter to your cherished policies and vision to reduce unemployment and poverty.

“MRA ought to have told us that some employees would lose their jobs. This would have made us to plan for our future. We have not planned for our future because of the lack of information. We had very legitimate expectations that we would work until we reach the mandatory retirement age. We have also been shocked that some of our colleagues who faced the retrenchment have been reinstated to their previous positions. This buttresses our argument on lack of criteria,” they say.

They also complain that some of the severance allowances were very meager [K200,000.00 for sum of us] such that it was difficult for them to plan for the future. 

In their conclusion, the employees have requested Mutharika to appoint an independent team to inquire into the “highhandedness manner in which the restructuring exercise was carried out”, challenging that it is only through this way that the president and the whole nation will come to know about the reality on the ground.

The letter has also been copied to various stakeholders including Ministers of Finance and Labour, Ken Kandodo and Yunus Mussa, respectively, Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU), Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC), Malawi Watch and Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), among others.
END