Some prison guards need reformation

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Guards and inmates at Maula Prison

Mrs. Dorothy Dyton was arrested August 25 this year at Bunda roadblock in Lilongwe for being found in possession of 14kg of Indian hemp, locally known as chamba. She made her maiden [court] appearance at Lilongwe First Grade Magistrate on August 29 where she admitted the drug was hers. She told magistrate Esther Elia Phiri that she had no choice but to indulge in the illegal business of selling the hemp because of the pressing family responsibilities she had.

Dyton said she was looking after six orphans and a blind mother. Besides that, she was a widow. She did not mince words when worship Phiri wanted to know what she intended to do with the drug. Humbly and honestly she answered: “ndimafuna ndikagulitse kuti ndithandizikire. Panyumba pali umphawi waukulu zedi! (I wanted to sell to earn money with which I could provide for my dependants. My family is going through excruciating poverty).”

On her own plea of guilty, the learned magistrate found her guilty and subsequently convicted her on the same [being found in possession of chamba]. Magistrate Esther Elia Phiri set the following day (August 30), as the day court would give its sentence. I went as early as two hours earlier than the stated time in the court. I wanted to hear for myself the sentence the widow would receive for committing a serious crime so that I would blow a whistle to warn others with similar intentions.

As a layman, I thought the widow had bargained enough in her well-presented mitigation. In her mitigation, Dyton asked the court for mercy stressing it was her daunting responsibility of caring for more than she could manage herself a loafer. The woman does not do any formal work (employed work). All she does is farming without fotereza (as they call it in rural areas). You do not expect her to meet her obligations under such living conditions.

I was wrong to suggest or think that court would be lenient on her on the fact that she was a widow with seven empty stomachs waiting for her to fill including that of herself. Her Worship Phiri said it clear that poverty is no reason enough for one to indulge in illegal business. The magistrate argued that if the courts could exercise lenience basing on such facts, there be no sanity in our societies, as many people would be justified to commit similar offences out of poverty. In such situations, the magistrate noted, courts would find it difficult to discharge its duties because almost everybody claims to be poor in one way or the other.

“Being found in possession of chamba let alone trading therein is a serious offence as provided for in the penal code. The maximum penalty for the offence is death or life imprisonment depending on the amount of the hemp recovered and the circumstances,” read the magistrate as people sat quietly looking at the widow who was about to hang.

“However, considering the fact that this is your fist offence as submitted by the state, the court will exercise some leniency on you,” she said before she pronounced her sentence.

“I, therefore, order you to pay a fine of K20, 000 or in default serve 24 months imprisonment with hard labor. The sentence is with effect from the day of arrest [August 25],”the sentence was proclaimed attracting murmurs from the people attending the proceedings. The murmurs were not a sign of protest against the penalty, but rather, fear for the widow’s dependants. “Who will provide for her kids now that she is jailed?” some people asked each other outside court. If the woman had money, she would have paid and go back home to continue struggling for her larger-than-she-can-manage family. Unfortunately, the lady had no coin on her that could disentangle her from the hook. So like a lamb she was laid to her new home—Maula Prison—where she will be for well two years. As for the children and the blind granny, only God knows who will provide for them.

According to A Handbook For Courts on the Treatment of Offenders (The Sentence of the Court) Chapter3, page7, says and I quote: “criminal courts play a key role in the criminal justice system. The objectives of the system, writes the author, are to prevent, detect and punish crimes, and other agencies --- such as police, the prison service and the probation service (Community Service)—are involved in seeking to achieve them. There are three ways, generally, in which they might be expected to do so: by deterring potential offenders through fear of punishment; by influencing offenders who have been appropriately sentenced not to offend again; and by putting out of circulation, through custody, those who are a particular nuisance or a particular danger.”

I am interested in the two objectives, i.e., influencing offenders who have been appropriately sentenced not to offend again; and by putting out of circulation, through custody, those who are a particular nuisance or a particular danger.” I would like to believe that Mrs. Dorothy Dyton was a nuisance/ danger to our society, which is already, infested with moral decay hence the court giving her a custodial sentence having failed to pay the fine. Otherwise, suspended sentence or community service would have done.

The idea, I suppose, was to put her out of society to prevent further moral decay through [circulation of] chamba. You will all agree with me that the herb does not help a smoker/ user in anyway apart from degrading his/her mental capabilities. That is why the court chose to hand down two-year jail term (and not two-day jail term) imprisonment with hard labor. According to the court, Dyton was appropriately sentenced so that she should not to offend again after the service. Mrs. Dyton will, for two years, be far from her illegal business. As she comes back she will have forgotten it. That is what an innocent man out there would think.

But this will not be the case for her. It will be up to her to continue trading in the drug or not while serving her jail-term at Maula. At this institution, the herb is selling like hot cakes. Your questions would be: “Who smuggles chamba into those protected areas?”

Kondwani Mbunge told the reporter in an exclusive interview that the drug is brought into the wires courtesy of prison guards. He explained in detail that the guards usually come at night with opaque plastic bags containing the herbs for sale to anyone interested in the business. (Name) who has just been released from the institution, said the drug is brought in prison in large quantities more than that which had made Mrs. Dyton a prisoner at the institution.

“They come at night carrying black plastic bags containing chamba. Anyone is free to order for resale to fellow inmates,” said the just-released slave.

Two officials at the institution (Mr. Chima—09297008 and Mr. Moyo) confirmed the presence of the illicit drug in an interview on condition of strict anonymity. The duo said it was true some warders are trading in the herb, which is described as painkiller for inmates on hard labor.

“Most prisoners smoke to lessen their pain of staying in the wires for years without their loved ones. Actually, some call it mthetsa-nkhawa,” he said.

But is it healthy for people employed to inculcate good character into our wayward sons and daughters in prison to supply the illegal drug to the very people the society/court found nuisance? I am told chamba is illegal in our country because it influences the smoker/user to behave like a wild animal (to lose senses). Should we expect our children to come back with good manners from the jail under conditions where intoxicants are supplied to lessen pain or worries?

If Mrs. Dorothy Dyton is in prison today, she is there simply because she wanted to make a living out of this illegal herb. Is it justified that prison guards should be making bucks out of the same illegal business and get away with it? I feel these warders trading in chamba, too, need reformation. If Dyton is in prison for being found in possession of Indian hemp, can’t these, too, join her for doing the same? Or should we assume they are immune from court proceedings?

Home Affairs Minister Honorable Earnest Malenga said like anybody else out there, warders are not immune from court proceedings. In a telephone interview from his office Malenga said if such practice is happening among prison guards, four steps have to be applied. The culprits have to be arrested, charged, tried before the court of law and get sentenced.

“Chamba is not allowed everywhere in the country and prison in not an exception. It is criminal to possess or sell the drug. That is why every new inmate, under normal procedure, has to be thoroughly searched so that nothing illegal should find its way in,” Malenga said.

“If they are caught, they have to be treated like any other citizen of this country. He should be arrested, charged, tried and sentenced like any citizen,” he added.

He asked responsible citizens to report warders trading in chamba to police so that they should be prosecuted like any citizen.

Prison’s spokesperson Tobias Noah concurred with the minister that chamba is illegal in prisons as it is outside. He, however, defended that it was unlikely for his charges to indulge in the trade.

Noah also asked anyone with information about certain warders selling chamba to inmates to let him know so that an appropriate action should be taken.

“Report such kind of people to us so that an appropriate action should be taken. Such people are denting the good image of Prisons’ Department,” he said.

But the minister said he doubted the thinking capacity of such people (warders) because “as people entrusted with responsibility to teach others good behavior, they were not supposed to be in the forefront making blunders.”

“A prison warder with sound mind cannot do that. Such kind of people are a disgrace,” he noted.

END

Domestic child labour worsens in Mulanje

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Domestic child labour, poverty and early marriages are contributing to the rising number for girls dropping out of school in Mulanje, a local non-governmental organization operating in the district said Saturday.

Project officer of Link Community Development (LCD) Ogah Nanthambwe said in an interview that despite government intervention to end child labour in all tea estates, which were deemed the most culpable, the problem seems to be far from being over.

Nanthambwe explained that parents with girl-children have now replaced child labour in estates with baby sitting, which has seen over 90 percent of girls dropping out of school before reaching Standard 6.

“Mulanje is a child labour-free zone, thanks to government intervention. But there is a new form of child labour being perpetrated by children’s own parents, which is babysitting,” Nanthambwe explained.

“We have some schools where you would find only three girls in a class because some have dropped out. This is very worrying, especially at a time when government is trying to promote girls education,” he said.

He disclosed that almost all parents working in tea estates entrust the responsibility of tending to babies to a girl child, which result into perpetual absence leading to actual dropping out.

“Even on market day, parents leave their small babies with their daughters. Many girls have left school because of this problem,” he said.

On poverty and early marriages, Nanthambwe disclosed that some parents tend to force their under-aged daughters into marriage as one way of solving their [families’] financial problems.

In his remarks at the prize presentation of Zonal Sanitation and Hygiene trophy at Chambe TDC, District Education Manager (DEM) Gossam Mafuta appealed to teachers and parents to encourage their children to go to school.

“Education is key to any meaningful development. Please, give your sons and daughters ample time to attend classes; don’t all children to work while their friends are in school,” said Mafuta.

END

DEM warns teachers against laziness

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Mulanje District Education Manager (DEM) Gossam Mafuta said Saturday that dedicated teachers are instrumental in achieving quality education in the country.

Mafuta was speaking at Chambe Teacher Development Centre (TDC) in the area of Traditional Authority Mkanda in the district during the prize presentation of Zonal Sanitation and Hygiene trophy.

“Dedicated and well-prepared teachers are an inspiration to pupils,” said Mafuta.

He explained that a research in the teaching profession has shown teachers who don’t prepare don’t impress learners leading to pupils losing interest in the subject.

“A teacher who did not prepare does not impress and, in most cases, digresses in his lessons as a way of creating joyful mood among learners. Such teachers cannot contribute effectively to the development of education in Malawi ,” he underscored.

On the sanitation and hygiene trophy, Mafuta explained that the initiative was in line with government policies for improving education in the country saying education remains key to any meaningful development of any society.

Among others, the competition was introduced to encourage teacher/learner punctuality, teacher preparations besides improving sanitation and hygiene in schools and was supported by Link Community Development (LCD), one of the local organizations in Mulanje.

All the 14 schools in Chambe Zone participated in the competition in which Sukayakwe Junior Primary School emerged a winner.

END

Govt fails to pay teachers

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Thousands of teachers from Central West Education Division (CWED) have complained that government throught the Ministry of Education is ill-treating them by failing to pay their leave grants for two years now.

But public relations officer at the ministry Lindiwe Chide disowned the teachers' problem in an interview on Friday saying “issues of leave grants are handled by divisional offices”.

Our sources claimed they have not been receiving their leave grants since 2009 and that there is no indication that the ministry was willing to pay them. According to the source, each teacher is owed not less than K8,500.

The situation has been aggrevated by government's latest ban on part-time lessons where teachers could make some monies for supplementing their monthly salaries.

This development has forced other members of the teaching profession to go into ursury (katapila) in order to buy some their basic requirements, sources said last week.

“When we forward our grievances to the ministry, we don't get any answer,” they said.

They further complained that there are some officials in the ministry who are suppressing the freedom of teachers by intimidating them with dismissalls if they dare continue pressing for their dues.

“This is abuse and ill-treatment. Why should we be subjected to such life when we're professionals? Please, let the nation know the kind of suffering we're going through, please!” said a female who equally refused to be named.

She said at one time the ministry said it could not manage to pay them at once because the teachers were “too many”. As such, a decision was reached that they would get their money in phases.

“But this didn't materialize as well. And we don't know whether we're going to ever get our money,” she said.

But Education PRO Lindiwe Chide while denying responsibility said she does not remember the ministry owing any teacher leave grants for such a long period of time.

“I don't think that is true. Have you ever heard of government ill-treating its people? They're just exaggerating the issue,” she said.

Asked if it was true that the ministry had suggested to pay them in phases, Chide said she would have to consult divisional officers on the issue.

“But I sometimes wonder why it is always teachers who complain of all the public servants. And why do they rush to the media when there are some problems?” she inquired further saying “rushing to the media is one of the major causes of their suffering”.

“We've an open door policy. Everyone is free to come even to see the PS (principal secretary), yet they don't want to come. Instead they rush to the media,” Chide said.

But five of the CWED teachers said they have never heard of the open door policy the PRO was talking about. They claimed that no one can express their grievances on such kind of issues like leave grants without risking your job.

“Why are they asking for names of ringleaders when they've an open door policy?” they asked.
END

Govt fails to hire 428 teachers

...More vacancies exist in Education--Chide
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR


Over 428 teachers have claimed that government “government shows no interest in hiring them” six months after they graduated from Domasi College of Education.

This is despite the fact that our education system suffers a serious shortage of teachers in almost all the public schools and that trained were meant to fill the vacancies.

Our sources told Maranatha Mzungu on condition of anonymity that since they graduated from the college last year, government does not seem ready to employ them and that they are now tired of waiting.

“We're tired of waiting; government should tell us the truth. If they're not interested in us, they should come out in the open so that we can find other means of survival instead of keeping us jobless all this time,” said the disappointed teachers in telephone interviews.

“What's more interesting is that it is the same government that complains that teachers are not enough in its public schools. Are they really serious?” they wondered.

The disgruntled teachers further alleged that the Ministry of Education in inviting applications from suitably qualified teachers to fill the vacancies that exist in the ministry “when they are failing to release the results of the interviews they conducted last year”.

“Some of us did interviews for PT2 last year, but nobody has heard the results. So where is the essence of advertising for PT3 vacancies when they can't release PT2 results?” they asked.

Ministry of Education publicist Lindiwe Chide confirmed having trained the 428 teachers for deployment in national secondary schools, but dismissed teachers' claims that the ministry has dumped them.

Chide stated that her ministry had already issued posting instructions, but that she was not aware of the actual date when the postings will be effected.

“It is wrong to say we're not giving them jobs. Actually, posting instructions are already out and have already been posted to the divisions. They've to check there for posting instructions,” she said.

But the teachers countered Chide's explanations saying what she was saying was not what was on the ground.

“Which division is she talking about. She is a liar. Please sir, voice this out for us. Tatopa ndikukhomereredwa (We're tired of being downtrodden!),” they complained.

Chide explained on Friday that the ministry's desire to train and recruit more teachers to counter the teacher-deficit currently being experienced in the public schools.

She could, however, not say the number of teachers the ministry was in need of to meet the demand.

“Obviously, we need more teachers since our target is that by 2013 the ratio should decrease from 90:1 to 60:1 in primary schools and 55:1 to 40:1 in secondary schools,”Chide explained.

Currently, the Ministry of Education has 40,034 teachers for primary schools and 4,259 qualified teachers for secondary schools.

This is by far too little if Malawi is really serious to reach the 2013 goals on pupil-teacher ratios.

END

Villagers, too, need ICT services

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Godfrey Zamaheya, 26, is running a community-based organization (CBO) in his village in Mwanza. His donors demand that he should be sending them reports on how the CBO is progressing.

But this is not easy for Zamaheya who lives in the rural area where Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services are but a mere dream.

As such, he will need to travel to urban areas where he can access internet services. Or worse still, Zamaheya has to migrate to town where he can easily correspond with his benefactors.

Why ICT services?

In the present century, the advancements in information and communication technologies (ICTs) are changing the various components of human life.

The changes in the ICTs have brought a positive impact in the process of public service delivery and socio-economic structure of communities.

ICT applications in the recent past have demonstrated their positive impact in minimizing the processing costs, increase transparency and support economic development by income generating ventures, increase in agricultural production, and improvements in health and education sectors, all of which promote the overall quality of life of rural people.

ICT for development (ICT4D) is another emerging area of development agenda in Malawi, and its relevance to economic and social development is well-acknowledged although adoption of ICT-based development initiatives is slow in compared to some other developing countries.

ICT4D has become a common phrase in the development world, and till now telecentre is the only focus initiative of ICT4D in the country and many developing countries.

ICT in rural areas

The role of ICT in development can not be disputed and rural areas need to be at par with urban areas if development is to spread at the same pace.

Yahya Ibrahim Harande of the Department of Library and Information Science at Bayero University in Nigeria says access to information and advice is a key resource for local people in maintaining active and independent lives.

Harande believes that access to information is also critical to letting people know their entitlements to welfare benefits and sources of support to overcome social exclusion.

“Information is the lifeblood of any society and vital to the activities of both the government and private sectors,” he says.

The development of countries globally cannot be achieved without the development of the rural community.

This is because 75 to 80 percent of the people in developing countries live in the rural areas need positive, relevant and prompts attention in their daily activities.

No serious, active, conscious, sensitive, and organized government would want to neglect rural communities.

Lack of development has a positive correlation with the neglect of rural areas. Rural neglects brings negative consequences such as exodus of rural dwellers to urban areas, with resulting problems of unemployment, crimes, prostitution, child labour, insecurity, money laundering, bribery, poverty, proliferation of shanty living areas, spread of diseases, and over-stretching of the facilities and infrastructures in the urban areas.

Any nation that neglects the development and empowerment of the rural communities should not expect meaningful development, argues Harande.

Therefore, extension of ICTs to rural areas will promote development and stem rural-urban migration in search of job opportunities, concurs Deputy Minister of Information and Civic Education Kingsley Namakhwa.

Namakhwa believes that even the tendency to migrate to urban areas may be a thing of the past if people are able to access information right in their rural settings.

“In case of marketing, traders will be able to access information about buyers so it is of paramount importance that services like internet are extended to the rural communities,” he thinks.

The deputy minister is very optimistic that extending internet services to rural areas would create employment opportunities for many young people and address some of the development needs of the area.

He notes: “Besides accessing information, when you establish Internet Cafes, jobs are created in servicing, repair and maintenance of the technology.”

Eliza Mkomwa, Chairperson for Mikolongwe CBO at Goliati in Thyolo said all his siblings had moved to the commercial capital, Blantyre, because they couldn’t find competitive schools for their children, and their businesses were collapsing.

“People were spreading rumours here that things have changed. If your child studies in a school without a computer, it is a waste of time because they won’t get jobs when they finish. The young ones always board trucks and go to town to look for jobs but I am too old to do that,” he said.

Interventions to address the disparity

Although Malawi government has been very instrumental in setting up telecentres in rural areas such as Goliyati in Thyolo and Nsanje, many parts of the country are yet to benefit from this movement.

There are no internet or call centres in most parts of the country because of lack of electricity or persistent blackouts, among other reasons.

“I have a computer in my office but it is useless because of lack of electricity. Other NGOs have computer services in their office run on a generator but they are not open to the public,” says a businessman at Nsanje, but refuses to be identified.

ICT services are needed in schools for students to get computer knowledge and dissemination of information.

Group Village Headman Mangazi from T/A Chimaliro is a such a happy man having been the first to benefit from the government's initiative to open ICT service centres in the rural areas.

In an interview on Monday, Mangazi explained that Goliati is a busy growth centre and ICT services are vital for entrepreneurs to find markets for their products.

“We have a busy growth centre and ICT services are vital. In the past, people used to travel to Blantyre, Luchenza or Thyolo to have their certificates and other documentsphotocopied. It was costly,” he observed.

“But we've been very lucky that in its pilot programme, government decided to put up a telecentre here and people can access all ICT services with ease,” says Mangazi who is also chairing the committee that is running the affairs of Goliati Telecentre.

The centre offers services such as photocopy, telephone, internet, email, secretarial services, fax, scanning, computer training, laminating, binding and library.

Impact on the rural masses

Since Goliati telecentre was opened, seven young people from the surrounding areas have been recruited to work in different positions. Namakhwa says these are some of the people who could otherwise be jobless.

And what is interesting is that some of the workers at the centre fall in the category of vulnerable groups.

Febe Kambirima, 30, of Chirombo Village is a widow who had no hope after her husband's death. She is not all that educated either.

“I couldn't imagine raising my twin-children all by myself jobless as I was. But since I got employment at this place, I'm no longer worried,” Kambirima said.

“My financial problems have been reduced drastically and I can now provide for my kids without relying on someone else,” she added.

A female entrepreneur, Mary Banda, proposes the establishment of satellite towns where services can be extended and leave the rest of the area for agricultural activities.

“People are living in scattered villages, so it might be hard to reach every one but we can have demarcated areas where we can put infrastructure in an organized manner,” Banda notes.

Namakhwa assures that Malawi will have a booming information and communication technology services after successfully piloting ICT telecentres in some districts of the country. Women are running these telecentres as a way of involving them in ICT activities while Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) is providing regulation.

"We would like to involve more rural women and the youth in the ICT services so that they too should have knowledge in the services," he says.

The telecentres fall under a government initiative called Universal Access Policy, which aims at addressing access to telecommunication issues in rural and under-served communities. MACRA Communications Manager, Zadziko Alex Mankhambo said on Friday that the establishment of multipurpose telecentres in rural areas will go a long way in assisting the rural mass to have access to the services.

The services that the telecentres provide include, internet services, photo studio, video services, ID processing, computer lessons, fax, phone services, lamination, photocopying and others.

"Government through MACRA established these telecentres which started operating in January last year to address problems of telecommunication services to the rural people which has proven to be a huge success," Mankhambo said.

The districts identified for the location of the main telecentres with material assistance from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) were Karonga in the north, Kasungu in the central and Mwanza in southern Malawi.

END

Creating financial independence for PLWHA

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Poverty is such a major and growing threat for HIV-positive breadwinners who are unable to work due to ill-health or fear that their status will become known in their workplace.

The situation is worsened when wives are compelled to stay at home to look after sick family members. As household incomes drop, the family's ability to satisfy basic needs such as food and nutrition as well as schooling for their children is diminished.

In addition, the pursuit of health care and treatment is often sacrificed in such situations. To mitigate the effects of the diseases, people living with HIV/AIDS need to engage in income generating activities (IGA) that would enable or enhance their families’ earnings.

With funding from Intessa San Paolo through Project Malawi a pilot project has been launched whose aim is to train people infected or affected with the virus in business and financial management in Balaka.

Intessa San Paolo is an Italian bank and has granted 15m Euros (over K3billion) CISP, Drug Resource Enhancement against Aids and Malnutrition (Dream) Programme, Save the Children and Malawi Girl Guide Association (MAGGA) and Department of HIV/Aids and Nutrition in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), with which the NGOs are expected to use in implementing the project in partnership.

The focus of the project is to help individuals interested in entrepreneurship to acquire skills on how they can run and manage their businesses and finances so that they become financially independent within settings that they are comfortable in, taking into consideration their family commitments.

Beneficiaries are often encouraged to do their small-scale businesses within home settings where they can easily attend to their family needs.

McRay Mtambitsa of Traditional Authority Nsamala in Balaka attended the training and he is one of the PLHWA that have successfully managed his business and finances.

Mtambitsa has not only improved his household incomes; he has also created jobs for three people who are currently working in his carpentry shop at Balaka market.

As the HIV/AIDS epidemic is having a debilitating impact on rural households and their livelihoods in many sub-Saharan Africa , it is only prudent to empower PLWHA with skills to manage their monies so that the impact of the disease is lessened, said Dream Programme Project Manager Francisco Zuze.

Recent data on HIV/AIDS prevalence in southern Africa show HIV rates that surpass 20% in six countries in the sub-region. While HIV prevalence is higher in urban areas, as the epidemic matures it also penetrates rural areas, rendering large proportions of the most productive age groups either ill or dead.

“HIV/AIDS is therefore having a damaging impact on smallholder agriculture, which is the mainstay of economy in Southern Africa . Problems are evident in areas such as food security; depletion of labour; loss of inter-generational knowledge and skills; and loss of income, and land inheritance rights for women and youth,” said Zuze.

“We, therefore, need to empower PLWHA with business and financial management skills so that they should not be at the most disadvantage and enable them become financially independent,” he added.

The fight against HIV/AIDS needs to be multi-sectoral, involving a combination of prevention, treatment and care and mitigation.

Mitigation – reducing or offsetting the impact of the disease-is increasingly important, as illness and mortality take a greater toll.

Households, communities, government and development partners are implementing a variety of interventions to mitigate the impact of the epidemic on smallholder agricultural production.

CISP findings indicate that HIV/AIDS impacts negatively on smallholder agriculture, food security and rural livelihoods through labour and capital shortages, loss of knowledge and skills, loss of farm implements, loss of access to production assets such as land, and loss of formal and informal institutional support.

The overall effects of HIV/AIDS impacts are reduced smallholder agricultural production, reduced income, and reduction in household assets, causing reduced access of households to food, health and education.

CISP HIV/Aids expert Yusuf Kadwala said in Balaka that in rural poor and semi-urban households, AIDS causes severe labour and economic constraints that disrupt agricultural activities, aggravate food insecurity, and undermine the prospects of rural development.

Kadwala explained that under the partnership, Dream Programme provides medical and nutritional support to PLWHA while CISP provides training in financial and business management.

“Dream Programme refers anyone interested in entrepreneurship to us for training. And we do refer all the children in need of psychosocial support to Save the Children and MAGGA and the initiative has really reduced the impact of the disease and suffering on families infected and/or affected,” he said.

When visited on December 20, 2009, Mtambitsa said he had greatly benefited from the training.

“I started with a very small capital, but today my business has expanded. I have three workers who I pay without any hurdles,” he explained.

However, Mtambitsa complained that lack of mechanized equipment is the major challenge facing his business enterprise.

“Many organizations are coming with their orders, but the manual equipment that I am currently using cannot help me finish the work in scheduled time,” he explained.

END

Chief bemoans own community's poverty

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Group Village Headman Pasani of Blantyre complained last weekend that his area is the least developed in the district.

Pasani has since made an appeal to government and its development partners to consider bringing development projects to his area.

Speaking when officials from the Italian charity organization, International Committee for the Development of People (CISP), visited Tayamba Candle Making and Thandizo One Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) in his area, the chief wondered why his area lacks development when it is close to Blantyre City.

“Of all the communities in Blantyre, it is my area that lags behind in terms of development. We don't have piped water, no access to electricity and other basic necessities,” Pasani complained.

“It is as if we're not living in town,” he added.

Apparently, CISP is facilitating the introduction of income generating activities (IGAs) and VSLAs in the districts of Balaka, Blantyre and Lilongwe with an aim of promoting the saving culture and encouraging rural masses to do small scale businesses so that they can remain economically active.

Pasani commended CISP for facilitating the introduction of IGAs and VSLAs saying they have partially addressed the socio-economic challenges among women and the vulnerable groups.

CISP IGA/VSLA expert Maclean Mtokota said his organisation is implementing various development 29 VSLAs in Blantyre alone and that Pasani is one of the villages that have benefited.

“We aim at instilling saving culture amongst the community members and encourage people to do small scale businesses so that they can remain economically active,” said Mtokota.

CISP acts as a guarantor for well-organized associations which want to access loans from money-lending institutions. So far 10 groups have been linked to Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM) for loan processes, according to the IGA/VSLA expert.

Pasani Village is in the area of Traditional Authority Kapeni in Blantyre.

END

Village Headman, people differ on looming hunger

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
People in the area of Group Village Headman Namasalima in Mulanje said last week they are likely to face a serious shortage of food this year because of the dry spell their area experienced.

They have since appealed to government and other well-wishers for relief food.

But GVH Namasalima has disputed the claim saying his villagers were lazy people who “are used to handouts”.

Speaking on the sidelines of the awareness campaign on the operations of the courts at Namasalima's headquarters last week, Focus Thomas reported that some families from the area have already started going without food as their crops wilted away due to the drought.

“As I'm talking to you now, I've no food in my house. I've to do some pieceworks for me to buy; otherwise there is nothing in my field that I'll yield,” complained Thomas.

Another villager, Jessie Francis, said although she had good crops this year, the effects of the dry spell were too devastating for the crops to stand.

Francis explained that she was expecting to have a bumber harvest this year after benefiting from the farm input subsidy programme.

“All my maize has wilted away. Currently, I'm surviving on the flour I buy from the market on daily basis (popularly known as walk-man),” she complained.

But in a separate interview, GVH Namasalima said it was not true that his area will experience food deficit resulting from dry spell.

He said there was no need to raise a false alarm because it would just end up tarnishing the image of the “good government that helped them with subsidized farm inputs”.

“Don't mind those lazy people. The problem is that in those years people here used to survive on handouts instead of working form themselves. Now they can't work to produce enough for themselves hence these calls for assistance,” said Namasalima.

When asked if their food crisis was a result of laziness as the Namasalima alleged, Thomas and Francis criticized their chief for being economical with truth while his subjects were suffering.

“Come to my field if you want to believe what I'm saying. It's unfortunate that he's taken pleasure in the suffering of his people,” said Francis.

END

Empowering Women with Literacy

by Limbani Eliya Nsapato
The motion of empowering women with literacy contained in this article is related to the 2010 theme of the UNESCO-coordinated International Literacy Day, which annually falls on 8 September. The chosen theme for commemorating the Day is “The Power of Women’s Literacy”. The theme calls on policy makers and implementers to give due attention to literacy for women as it is important for their and society’s empowerment.

I support this theme because I strongly believe that without educating our women, Malawi’s Vision 2020 cannot be fully realised. Nor can the vision of the African Union or the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

I share in the urgency of the call to action behind the theme because I do think our country is not doing enough to implement policies and strategies that will ensure that by 2020 all the women in my village and yours will have been empowered with literacy and development as a whole.

My recent home travel story can help illustrate this position.

In June this year, I had the privilege of travelling by road from Lilongwe to my home village in Phalira, T/A Nchilamwera in Thyolo. The picture of women and girls I saw as I passed through rural districts of Dedza, Ntcheu, Balaka, Zomba, Chiradzulu, Blantyre and Thyolo was not a good one. I saw that women especially were struggling.

The women were less empowered to improve their lives and that of their families. I could see very few women looking healthy, dressed in decent clothes and nursing well nourished babies. I could see even fewer women going to or coming from office or work stations, or wearing fashionable hair make up, possibly with money in their handbags.

The majority of women I saw were sitting on the veranda of their grass thatched houses, walking on the road aimlessly, carrying firewood or water buckets on their head, often with crying babies on their backs, or cooking food using charcoal or firewood.

Along trading centres, and markets like at Bembeke, Chimbiya, Lizulu, Tsangano, Machinga, and Balaka Turn off, I saw women carrying and selling less profitable goods like sweet potatoes, fried maize, vegetables, bananas or pineapples and avocado pears. Some sold second hand clothes, dry fish, or “kanyenya” especially at Lizulu, Balaka and Mangochi turn off.

In Thyolo I saw few women plucking tea leaves with woven baskets on their backs on tea estates at Bvumbwe, Thyolo, Conforzi, Satemwa, and Nchima. When I reached my home village I understood that very few women rarely took part in development activities or committees or had their own property like land or houses. I listened to stories of women who were shamelessly beaten up by their husbands, of women who often slept on empty stomachs, and of many single young women who struggled to fend for their siblings. A number of women were bedridden and could not access basic medication.

The majority of women I met or saw during this homeland visit did not have any joy written on their faces. Although their sad experiences could vary, the common denominator was the source of their anguish.

Most of them were either not literate or if literate their education was so low that they had inadequate skills to develop their potential and make life more meaningful to them, their children or their families.

These unprivileged women are the ones that constitute the national and global statistics of illiterate or unskilled women who stand to be condemned to poverty unless something is done for them.

Malawi education policy review reports show that up to 4.6 million of the country’s 13 million population are illiterate and out of these more than 60% are women and girls. Females make up more than half the current number of out of school children of 600,000. The school dropout rate is higher for girls than boys.

Global UNESCO statistics reveal that some 759 million adults lack minimum literacy skills and while one in every five adults is not literate two-thirds of them are women. Out of the global figure of 72.1 million children out-of-school over 60% are girls.

Indeed in almost every African country the literacy rates of women and girls are lower than those of men and boys. Gender disparities have become parts and parcel of our statistics, and in most cases disfavoring women and girls.

The significance of the theme for the international literacy day 2010 cannot go unnoticed. Illiteracy dis-empowers people especially women and girls. But literacy has the power to transform people’s life especially that of women, in many ways, socially, economically, and politically. Moreover, empowering women translates to empowering a whole society.

Our country has some living examples of empowered women. On the political scene examples include Vice President Hon Joyce Banda, or ever-green lady members of parliament like Hon Anna Kachikho and Hon Patricia Kaliati. On the development scene empowered women include Justice Anastazia Msosa, Chair of Electoral Commission, Ms Seodi White from Women and Law Society, and Mrs. Martha Kwataine from the Health Equity civil society network.

Examples could also be told of women bankers, business women, lawyers, doctors, educators, pastors, and those in other professionals. All these have a denominator called education in their DNA.

At this point a couple of questions cross my mind. Why is it that we have so many women who are illiterate and do not fall in the category of the empowered women above? How can the women I saw on the road from Lilongwe to Thyolo be rescued from the bondage of ignorance and poverty?

Going through diverse literature on the matter, I think of at least three key issues that need addressing.

The first issue is that there needs to be a change of attitude on education for women and girls. Deep-rooted into the hearts of many of our communities and cultures is the belief that education of girls and women is not a necessity.

There are still many people who think, after all, women and girls will always be married, so why bother educate them? Others also think that women are not important to the development of society. I believe all these are misconceptions that need to be corrected.

There needs to be an increased awareness on the rights and potentiality of women in society especially on their primary rights to education and development. Awareness campaigns organised by civil society organisations, traditional leaders and government agencies or departments can help transform the negative attitude of society towards female education.

The second issue is that our nation needs to move from rhetoric to coherent action especially with regard to implementing policies on education for girls and women. The country has adopted international and local policies and strategies that aim at empowering women but little is done.

Little is done because there is often inadequate money to finance those literacy programmes and projects that have direct impact on women.

The government departments that address literacy programmes in Ministry of Women and Children annually receive less than 1 percent of total expenditures in education against the recommended minimum of 3 percent. The ministry of education which implements formal programmes for girls and boys receives less than 6 percent of the GDP or less than 20 percent of the national budget. The ministry of youth that tackles vocational and reproductive programmes for young people is always underfunded.

Moreover, there is inadequate accountability of funds for such programmes. As a result there are inadequate facilities, teaching and learning resources, infrastructure and personnel to fully implement programmes that address the needs of women and girls.

Little is done also because the challenges above are augmented by an imperfect monitoring and evaluation framework leading to failure to systematically review progress and efficiently act on shortfalls on the literacy programmes.

The third issue is that the country’s literacy programmes do lack supportive programmes in order for women and girls to develop themselves after acquiring basic literacy skills of reading and writing.

For instance, programmes that facilitate women’s entrepreneurial activities or use of science and technology are very limited.

Above all, participatory and gender sensitive approaches and methodologies are not always applied during routine planning, budgeting or implementation and review of local or rural development projects. As a result women and girls often remain on the peripheral due to the patriarchal nature of our societies.

There is therefore need to integrate entrepreneurial, participatory and pro-gender equity methods in literacy and development projects, and ensures that more women have access to ICT, science and technology.

Women should also have increased access to entrepreneurial or investment opportunities so that they can develop their businesses from small scale to large scale levels. Decision making policies and processes should also lean towards allowing more women to participate at highest levels of our society.

In concluding, it should be re-iterated that literacy is a basic right that women should access on their road to empowerment. In addition, there should be a conductive environment in our communities to ensure that women are able to exercise and maximise their literacy skills for development of themselves, their families and society at large. This could be a very important way to planting smiles on the faces of millions of illiterate and poor women in our communities.

END

Waiting for the presidential promise

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR,
With the passing of the 2009/10 national budget, George Malema, 27, of Malema village, Traditional Authority Kyungu in Karonga is upbeat; looking forward to a day when government will start disbursing loans in the Youth Enterprise Development Fund.

Prior to the May 19 general elections, President Bingu wa Mutharika promised that, if given another mandate to govern for the next five, his government would provide loans to the youth so that they can set up their own small and medium scale enterprises.

Among other things, Mutharika conceived this 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.

This came against a background that youth 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.

According to Mutharika, the focus of the fund is on building capacity, especially in artisan skills and entrepreneurship to ensure sustainability of the business ventures that would be set up by the youth through the fund.

The fund is also expected to provide youth with information on the existence of potential markets both locally and internationally and assist in accessing those markets.

“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 K3 billion Youth Enterprise Development Fund to the National Assembly.

It is against this background that since the passing of the 2009/10 national budget Malema, a school leaver currently doing nothing at home, has never missed daily newspapers and news bulletins on radios to have information on when the relevant department will call for applications for eligible beneficiaries of the Fund.
He is among many other young people across the country who solely depend on their frail and old parents for almost everything in life from a bath clothes to bath soap.

“Since I finished my secondary education, I have never been employed. I, therefore, look at this loan facility as a vehicle to take me to a promised land,” said Malema.

“I am growing up and very soon I will be getting married. I cannot keep on relying parents. Once I access this loan, I intend to venture into commercial farming though on small scale,” he added.

High unemployment rates and HIV/AIDS epidemic, young people, especially girls, are increasingly heading households. As a result, they miss out on gaining proper skills that qualify them to get a job or engage in businesses that would enable them meet basic requirements.
The two challenges have made many girls vulnerable. In some instances, girls have become victims of sexual abuse in their pursuit to provide for the families they are heading after the death of their parents.

Lucia Phiri, 23, comes from Mchinji but now resident in Lilongwe earning a living through an illegal business. Phiri is a mother to two whose fathers she cannot trace was forced into commercial sex work and bargirl at Area 36 after the death of her father.

A man who played a ‘Good Samaritan’ offered to support her with basic needs. Unfortunately, besides providing her with needs he also provided her with pregnancy, which he denied responsibility.

Phiri could not meet the needs of her twins. The only readily available solution to her predicament was commercial sex work, so she thought.

“This in not an easy job [sex work]. You need to entertain every man who comes your way even if you are tired. But you have to do it if you need money,” explained Lucia in an interview. But she revealed that some men do not honour their bills after the act.

In Karonga, however, life is different. Unlike in Lilongwe, commercial sex workers have started transacting on credit; men can now pay at the end of the month.

No wonder chiefs from the district fear there will be an increased number of orphans and vulnerable children.

Possibly, Mutharika had in his colour dream such vulnerable groups when he conceived Youth Enterprise Development Fund.

But Phiri does not believe authorities entrusted with responsibility to disburse the fund will consider her application. She is not ‘connected’.

“Ma loan a m’Malawi amayendera ma connection. Amapeza mwai ndi okhawo odziwika,” said Phiri.

“There have been loan facilities before whose target was poor people. But beneficiaries to such facilities seem to be only those with connections to the authorities or relations to the same,” she emphasized.

Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) executive director, Undule Mwakasungula, supported Phiri’s arguments, saying loan facilities in Malawi have proved to be campaign tools for the ruling parties.

Mwakasungula said unless government leaves the Fund to independent people, overzealous politicians are likely to abuse it for them to win the hearts of 2014 voters.

“I would suggest that government should come up with an independent committee comprising faith leaders, civil society organizations and development partners to administer the loan disbursement of the fund.

Otherwise it will be the same song where deserving beneficiaries are made to believe they will access the loan only to be told the programme had come to an end,” he said.

“This is a very important initiative for economically empowering the jobless youth. But there is need for government to exercise high level of transparency and accountability if the fund is to yield the desired results,” Mwakasungula added.
End

Con ESCOM officer arrested

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Police in Limbe yesterday arrested a local electrician, Steven Nkulichi, on suspicion that he was tapping and supplying electricity to people around Makhetha Township in Blantyre without authority from Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM).

Earlier in the week, The Sunday Times got a tip from the public insinuating that Nkulichi was running parallel ESCOM structures in the township where customers in need of short-cuts would acquire quick and affordable electricity services.

After illegally connecting the desperate power consumers, the suspect was then collecting K1,000 as monthly payments from each client.

“You will not need to go and pay your bills at ESCOM if I connect you. You will only be required to pay me K1,000 every month,” Nkulichi told The Sunday Times reporters who posed as potential clients on Friday.

And during interrogation yesterday, Nkulichi told the police who were accompanied by ESCOM’s Controller of Security Services, Precious Mpekansambo, he has so far supplied power to five houses.

But our informants disputed saying “he has been doing this business for quite long. People who have benefitted from his malpractice are more than what he is revealing.”

Nkulichi is yet to be charged.

ESCOM public relations officer, Kitty Chingota, could not value the amount of money the company has lost due to the malpractice because “we will have to investigate the damage”.

She, however, warned consumers against acquiring electricity services from non-ESCOM workers saying the practice is dangerous to the individual (beneficiary), society, the company and the nation as a whole.

“Illegal connections are very dangerous. They can cause serious damage and that’s the more reason people should not solicit services from unknown people,” said Chingota.

Meanwhile ESCOM has commended The Sunday Times for assisting in tracking down the culprit and appealed to the public to tip the power provider on people involved in the malpractice.

Nkulichi, 51, hails from Anderson Jumbe Village, T/A Likoswe in Chiradzulu district.

END

Helping women claim right to safe motherhood

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

They dance, jiggle and wriggle their waists as if their bodies have no bone at all. All this joy is not for nothing. These women are only expressing their gratitude for the funding a local NGO has received for championing their right to quality healthcare, especially reproductive health issues.

Quality reproductive health services are as crucial in Malawi as they are anywhere in the world. Health experts have, however, reported of shocking revelations in the country’s health system.

Visits to six fistula repair sites suggest that obstetric fistula is a large and growing problem, exacerbated by poverty and famine, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Statistics show that another problem facing mothers is the use of drugs and alcohol, including cigarette smoking, especially among teen mothers. No amount of any of these substances is safe for use in pregnancy. In fact, their use can complicate pregnancy even further increasing the likelihood of premature birth and other complications.

Experts have said before that premature birth and low birth weight create a wealth of their own problems, including brain damage, physical disabilities and more. The potentially lengthy hospital stay and increased risk of health problems for these babies leads to more stress on the teen mother.

However, the situation is slowly, but surely improving and women can afford a sigh of relief as government-backed Safe Motherhood Programme has established village committees on safe motherhood, organized transportation plans and provided training to traditional birth attendants so that they can recognize signs of obstructed labour and act efficiently to get a woman to a facility.

Government is trying its best by installing telephones and radios in some health centres to communicate with the referral hospital and request ambulance transport for women in distress.

Because of these efforts, reports UNFPA, over 90 per cent of pregnant women in Malawi are estimated to have had some type of prenatal care.

But Centre of Health Education and Health Appropriate Technologies (CESTAS Malawi), an Italian-Malawian non-governmental organization, believes government alone is not enough to deal with the problem. The organization thinks there is need for more NGOs to join government efforts in the promotion of safe motherhood, fighting drug and alcohol abuse.

CESTAS Malawi Country Coordinator Dr. Mario Bacchiocchi states that the fight can remain a lip service if NGOs concentrate their efforts in urban areas while leaving government alone to work in villages.

“While most of the local NGOs are operating in urban areas, their services are desperately needed in the rural areas where a larger population is illiterate. Women of the child-bearing ages need information on life-saving antenatal care. Women in the villages rarely seek professional help during pregnancy,” says Bacchiocchi.

Bacchiocchi explains that people in the rural settings lack the time to visit health centers. Access to professional healthcare is a nightmare for many people in the rural areas because of lack of health centres in such places. The situation sometimes forces determined women to spend almost all the day walking to the nearby health centre to seek professional antenatal care services.

And in its quest to support government efforts, CESTAS Malawi, with funding from UNICEF, has managed to introduce and maintain in-service training courses for midwives and health workers who work at Bwaila and Kamuzu Central Hospitals in Lilongwe and Dowa District Hospitals in Dowa.

These courses have helped health workers in improving the delivery of essential maternal and neonatal care to their clients based in urban as well as rural areas.

“CESTAS Malawi attaches greater importance to the training of health personnel for them to provide quality healthcare to the patients. We ensure there is on-going in-service training for all midwives and health operators at Bwaila, Dowa and KCH through different training curricula, which have been designed by the same target group in collaboration with the Reproductive Health Unit (RHU) and the Lilongwe and Dowa’s District Health Offices (DHOs),” he says.

And with support from UNICEF, CESTAS Malawi intends to extend its outreach and training activities to Community Rural Health Centers in selected Zones of Lilongwe and Dowa districts.

The organization will has also signed an agreement with the Nelson Mandela Foundation in South Africa that will see KCH, Bwaila and Dowa hospitals receiving a donation of motorcycle ambulances.

CESTAS Malawi boss thinks the bottomline is that organizations should reduce unnecessary expenditures and channel extra resources to health issues. Bacchiocchi notes with sadness that other organizations have in the past failed to invest their resources in maternal health services.

“Imagine a world without useless wastes of money and with a concrete development for all the communities of developing countries. Imagine a world where expatriates earn the same salary of locals, where health services are free to everyone, where funds from donor community and international funding agencies are really destined to the final beneficiaries and they will produce finally some results. We are living in a completely different world,” concludes Bacchiochi.

END

Withdraw street children or face more delinquencies--CESTAS Malawi

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

  Children need protection 

Centre of Health Education and Health Appropriate Technologies (CESTAS Malawi), an Italian-Malawian non-governmental organization, has warned of increased cases of delinquencies if parents and guardians of street kids do not withdraw their siblings off the streets.

CESTAS Malawi Country Coordinator, Dr. Mario Bacchiocchi was commenting on recent reports that police in Lilongwe had arrested four street children on suspicion that they set fire on Tsoka Market after picking a quarrel with businesspeople trading their wares in market.

The law enforcers had earlier nicked a teen prostitute on allegations that she stole from her client. She denied wrongdoing.

In an interview Friday, Bacchiocchi warned the situation could exacerbate if parents and guardians do not prevent their children from going onto the streets to beg.

While appreciating that many people are poverty-stricken in the country, Bacchiocchi deplored the tendency by some less privileged parents who lade their children with responsibility to fend for the family through begging.

“Begging is not a profession and cannot offer a solution to our social and economic challenges. Less privileged parents should find better means of survival than forcing children onto the streets with open arms,” he said adding that street life is dangers to children as it exposes the minors to abuse, neglect and exploitation.

“It's wrong to use innocent children as a bait to meet family needs. Children need to be given optimum protection from abuse and exploitation by providing necessary support and sending them to school,” Bacchiocchi added.

The CESTAS Malawi boss further askedto “Good Samaritans” to find better means of exercising their charity rather than giving alms on the street saying such a practice will only help in begetting "more problems than we intend to solve”.

“It’s better we channel our efforts towards orphanages or NGOs that support orphans and vulnerable children than practice street charity because it will not help in curbing problems that force children into that situation,” he advised.

Family breakdown, poverty, physical and sexual abuse, disinheritance or being disowned are some of the problems that force many children opt for street life, according to World Health Organization 1993.

END

Govt asked to open markets in villages

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

                   Namakhwa (in hat) handing over an iron sheet

People in Thyolo say rural markets could play a crucial role in the socioeconomic development of rural masses.

They have since asked government to open mini markets in rural areas to reduce distances people in search of market for their agricultural produce.

Speaking at Mikate Primary School on Monday, Group Village Headman Mikate, said small scale farmers are finding many challenges to find markets for their agricultural produce because there are no markets near in the rural areas.

Apparently, Member of Parliament for Thyolo Central, Kingsley Namakhwa, was handing over 48 iron sheets for the construction of Mikate Rural Market with fund from Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

“With rural markets, local farmers will kill two birds with a stone. They’ll no longer travel long distances to sell their produce thereby completely cutting costs on transportation to the markets,” said Mikate, who is under T/A Kapichi.

He added that that well-structured markets in the rural areas could also help local farmers to take farming as business.

“We are, therefore, asking government and its development partners to open more markets in the rural areas,” he said.

In his remarks, Namakhwa explained that government had deliberately introduced CDF in order to respond to the needs of the people at the grassroots.

“CDF was introduced to deal with simple development projects such as construction of mini markets in the rural areas. All you need to do is to come up with your development plans for the area and present them for consideration,” he advised.

END

Drug abuse, youth and crime

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
“On your own plea of guilty, this court finds you guilty and duly convicts you. Before I pass sentence, do you have anything in mitigation?” says First Grade Magistrate Esther Elia Phiri of Lilongwe registry as she straightens her head up to see the reaction of the convict, Anusa.

“Yes worship! I pray to this court to exercise lenience on me because this is my first time to commit a crime. I would also like to confess here that it was not my intention to commit this crime, but I was cheated by my friend who told me chamba gives academic ingenuity,” pleads an 18-year old Anusa while looking down in depression and regret.

“It was my friend, Zonizo, who handed me a cigarette of cannabis sativa to smoke while we were partying…and I did not know it was such a dangerous drug that could put me in such a difficult problem,” he adds

Anusa raises his head up to look at his parents who are sitting in the public gallery. He sees them shedding a tear or two as they try to shy away from his gaze. Though he is pleading for lenience, Anusa knows quite well that the crime he committed just last night, rape with violence, will still earn him separation from his parents and relatives through death penalty.

He is fully aware that if he is lucky enough he will be spared death, but still earn a considerable custodial sentences of not less than ten years for rape attracts a maximum of 14 years imprisonment with hard labour.

“Considering that you are young and that you have had no criminal record before as you and the state have submitted, this court will take these as your mitigating factors.

“This court is also mindful of your tender age and that you still have a future to make, and considering that maximum sentences are reserved for serious criminals, this court is compelled to exercise its lenience on you. I will also consider the factor that you showed remorse by pleading guilty to the charge and that you did not waste court’s time as your mitigating factors,” says magistrate Phiri.

She poses a bit, takes a bottle of water, drinks and puts the container down again.

“But this court feels obliged to pass a meaningful custodial sentence on the convict because cases of rape and women abuse are becoming rampant. This court does not find it necessary to exercise on the convict because he committed the crime under the influence of alcohol and drugs,” she states. She looks the public gallery to see the people’s reaction.

Phiri sees some faces expressing approval of what she is putting forward to Anusa, especially ladies who are most of the times victims of alcohol and drug abuse in families, schools and any other places of entertainment. The convicts’ parents are still tucked in shame while silently shedding tears of deep sorrow. They have to because they also know this is the beginning of a new life in their family.

They will no longer see him. They will not be able to send him to buy something at the grocery. He will be temporarily unavailable for some years. In short, this is the end of their son’s future, or do they just fear?

The magistrate takes a few minutes scribbling some notes on her file, which no one can access with naked eyes from afar. And the court remains quiet with Anusa still standing in the dock with his hands akimbo.

He is visualizing life in prison; life far from parental care at his age when he desperately needs them to pay his school fees. Anusa has heard stories before of people dying in prison due to lack of food resulting from congestion, a problem our country’s reformatories are best known for.

“I am doomed. My future is doomed. God forget the day I was born,” he curses within himself as he awaits his final destination from the magistrate.

After Phiri finishes writing whatever she was writing, she adjusts her sitting posture, drawing the chair closer to the desk. She clears her throat while facing the convict, parents sitting about five metres away the court clerk’s desk.

“This is your verdict,” she announces. “But before I do that, let me stress here that peer pressure is not an excuse for committing crimes and can never be a mitigating factor. Whether you committed a crime with or without help or influence, the court will pass the same sentence on you. It is up to you to choose who your good friend is.”

“I am, therefore, sentencing you to 12 years imprisonment with hard labour with effect from day of your arrest. This sentence shall serve as a warning to young people who think life is about abusing women after drinking or smoking unnecessarily,” concludes magistrate Phiri attracting the convicts’ loud cry.

“Nditengeni ine chonde mwana wanga msiyeni. Ndikagwire ukaidiwo ndineyo (Set him free. Take me instead, I will serve the sentence on his behalf),” says the mother in her grief-stricken tone. But on what crime can the court pass that sentence on her? Well, she can play Jesus, but courts do not believe in human saviours who can die for other people’s crimes.

Anusa was celebrating his selection to secondary school the previous day when his peers cheated him that beer offers maximum entertainment and celebration. So they went to a certain Mtonjane brewer where they guzzled more than enough that they even forgot their names and where they had come from.

“Takagwireni man kuti mtseguke m’maso. Izi zimachotsa manyazi mwene,” said his friend, Jungayunga, as he handed Anusa a locally-made cigarette of chamba.

The celebrant had no time to ask what the stuff was until the following day when he found himself standing before the magistrate answering questions from law-enforcers for forcing himself on a woman.

It was said that after taking one too much, Anusa decided to bed one or two girls as a way of bidding farewell to village girls as he was now going to secondary school that was far from his home.

One has to spend not less than K1000 to reach the destination. Unfortunately, his new destination was now Maula Prison where he would be for the coming 12 years.

This is but one example of how alcohol and drug abuse can destroy somebody’s future in a short period of time. Abuse of alcohol and drugs have put many young men the world over in serious problems they would never imagine happening to them. Some have found themselves in mental hospitals after taking in too much of pills or smoking chamba wholesale.

Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Earnest Malenga recently told journalist in Lilongwe that Malawi was one of the countries faced with serious drug production, abuse and trafficking in the SADC region.

Malenga explained that about 75 to 80 percent of mental cases in Malawi were a result of alcohol and drug abuse, especially among young people.

“The Rapid Situation Assessment report on Drug Abuse and HIV/AIDS in Malawi conducted by the Centre for Social Research of the University of Malawi undertaken in 2004 revealed that there is massive abuse of drugs in the country,” said the minister when he was signing memorandum of understanding on behalf of government of Malawi with FORUT, an international development organization that is trying to fight alcohol and drug abuse in different countries across the globe.

“There are three main drugs of abuse in Malawi , namely alcohol, cannabis sativa (locally known as chamba) and tobacco,” said Malenga. He added that excessive use of drugs and alcohol has led to many families breaking up, pupils getting expelled from schools and drivers causing unnecessary accidents and high infection rate for sexually transmitted diseases and HIV and AIDS.

“The other problem with alcohol is that besides being dangerous to the individual drinker, it is also harmful to those around us such as women, children who bear the brunt of the aggression and violence caused by alcohol and drugs,” explained Malenga.

He blamed the problem on lack of active legislation on the use of alcohol and drugs citing drinking joints which remain open 24 hours because there was no law that guides bar owners on times of opening and closing. Malenga, however, reported that Malawi has now put in place a framework for combating the problem through the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Drug Control chaired by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security.

He warned that Malawi may risk degenerating into a society of drug addicts if use of alcohol and drugs is not properly managed.

On the MOU he signed on behalf of the government of Malawi, the minister said FORUT was committed to provide the country with technical assistance in the field of alcohol, specifically in areas of research and documentation, competence building, policy development, mobilization and awareness-raising, strengthening of law enforcement institutions and the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Drug Control and Eradication of Cannabis Sativa (chamba).

In his remarks, FORUT Secretary General Morten Lonstad said the programme to combat the abuse of alcohol and drugs in Malawi came after Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation had advised the organization to involve countries in Southern Africa .

“Our aim is to build networks of national and international NGOs where ideas, experiences and knowledge on prevention strategies and policy advocacy can be exposed and further developed,” said Lonstad.

He added: “The programme in Malawi aims at linking the ADD issue to other development issues, as the spreading of HIV and AIDS, gender-based violence and children at risk.”

Lonstad promised that his organization will continuously help Malawi with the required assistance in her fight against alcohol and drug abuse.

“There are vested interests such as the alcohol industry, but if we work together, civil society, faith-based organizations, government ministries, politicians, traditional leaders and all stakeholders, I am sure we should be able to map the way forward to prevent and control alcohol and drug abuse in Malawi so that at the end of the day we should reduce cases of violence and other delinquencies resulting from too much consumption of beer or drugs,” said Home Affairs and Internal Security Principal Secretary Martin Mononga echoing the FORUT Secretary General.

“And we expect to have reduced cases of misbehaviours resulting from alcohol and drug abuse thereby reducing criminal acts also,” said Mononga.

END

When drugs, alcohol take charge

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

Watipaso: The writer of the article

Muderanji was so ill, but Khumbo (both not real names) could not listen. He wanted to enjoy his conjugal rights.

In the Ngoni culture, where Khumbo was born and bred, a woman is suppposed to totally submit to her husband.

So where did Muderanji learn this strange behaviour?

“It's not that I'm denying you deliberately. Please, consider my ill-health,” she tried to reason with him.

“Shut up! Tell me. It's either I do it or you pack your belongings and leave this house,” he countered angrily.

But Khumbo used to be a very loving and caring husband until two years ago when he started drinking beer and using drugs.

Since then every night he comes home drunk, he urinates and vomits in the bed, and when she tells him to go outside he beats her.

Muderanji does not like to sleep with her husband when he is drunk, because he stinks, behaves badly, and she is afraid that he has been cheating on her with other women who may be HIV positive. If she refuses to have sex with him, he forces her.

The Zomba-based Centre for Social Research survey (2008) suggests that women are loyal to their husbands and do their best to be good wives and in that way discourage their husbands from drinking or smoking and being unfaithful, irrational and violent.

However, many drunken husbands have behaved otherwise.

The study on substance use in relation to gender based violence in Malawi by SINTEF Health Research, Norway and Centre for Social Research, University of Malawi in 2008 discovered that men who use substances (most commonly alcohol) are often unable to provide their families with the basic necessities, because they spend much of their income on alcohol.

As a result women and children go hungry, with tattered clothes, and children are sometimes unable to finish their education because of a lack of money.

Some women have started businesses of their own (selling charcoal, nuts, etc.), so that they could make their own money and not be dependent on their husbands.

While this seems to be a good and effective way of empowering women and encouraging men to look after their families, some men, in their drunken state, feel they are outdone. Eventually, they stop their wives to take part in any economic activities.

Others confiscate the very financial capital that a woman had and spend it on drinking thereby depriving a woman her right to participate in economic activities.

Women feel better about themselves and more secure knowing that they can look after themselves, and men may appreciate and respect women more if the women are not completely dependent on them for their own and their children’s survival.

Physical abuse

Drug Fight Malawi Executive Director Nelson Baziwelo Zakeyu says men often get aggressive and irrational when they drink alcohol or smoke chamba, and this leads to misbehaviour.

Zakeyu says many people have complained of drunken men fighting and arguing with other people in the community, but most often they go home to their wives and end up venting their anger on them. The results show that it is not uncommon for women who are married to men who drink and/or smoke to be beaten up or yelled at. Men’s use of alcohol puts their wives at risk of physical abuse.

“We also see from our study that there is a connection between the economic abuse and the physical abuse experienced by women,” said Zakeyu.

According to Zakeyu, some drunkards do not provide their wives with money for food (because they have spent it all on alcohol or drugs), and when they come home drunk or stoned and hungry, there is no food on the table, they get angry and beat their wives for not preparing food for them.

Sexual abuse

The most common abuse is what happens between a husband and a wife is when a drunken man gets home and feels he has the right to have sex with his wife, even if she is sick.

The wife, on the other hand, does not want to have sex with her drunken or stoned husband who behaves strangely or badly and smells.

She may also be afraid that he has been having sex with other women who may be HIV positive.

When she refuses sex he forces her. In some instances, women exacerbate the situation, especially they hold to a belief or culture that it is ‘his right’ although they do not like it themselves.

Many a man admit they often cheat on their wives when they are out drinking. There is a good chance that the bargirls are HIV positive, and that they catch the virus from them, and be in a position to infect their wives with the virus as well.

This kind of sexual abuse is the most common form of abuse women experience, according to Centre for Social Research study.

What should be done?

The above studies indicate that there is a strong connection between men’s use of substances and gender-based violence.

However, in an attempt to minimize the effect on women it is important not just to look at how to reduce men’s use of substances, but also to look at how to empower women.

Several studies from Malawi indicate that Malawian women have a lack of respect for themselves and other women, and that men also share this disrespect for women. Women need to be self-sufficient and be appreciated for the important contribution that they make to the family, to the community and to Malawian society as a whole.

But this could be a reality only if we empower women through education and jobs, enable them to be self sufficient and not dependent on their husbands for survival (to increase men’s respect for women and women’s respect for themselves).

There is also a need to increase efforts on sensitizing masses on sexual abuse, cheating, prostitution in relation to substance use, and how this relates to the spread of HIV and Aids in Malawi.

The government of Malawi has in the past few years focused increased attention on alcohol and drug abuse, through the establishment of an Inter-ministerial Committee on Drug Control (IMCDC), led by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security.

Thus Muderanji can only hope that Khumbo will change one day and reduce the amount of alcohol and drug consumption.

END

Agribusiness : Domesticating afforestation to fight climate change

  Roes Bell talking to journalists

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
“Kunali nkhalango zachilengedwe koma zonse zinatha kale….Amaalawi titani pokweza dziko lathu mwanzeru? Tidzale mitengo yambiri. Uko kumpoto ku Karonga, apo pakati Lilongwe, kuno kumwera ku Thyolo, tidzale mitengo yambiri….,” the song went.

These were members of Nkaombe Village Forestry Club in the area of Traditional Authority Bvumbwe in Thyolo during the Income Generating Public Works Programme (IGPWP) field day recently.

Apparently, people in the rural areas have realized the need to take a leading role in fighting the effects of climate change by planting more trees.

Every country, including Malawi, is grappling with the effects of climate change. Locally, parents do tell how weather has changed (not for better, but for worse). Change in climate has and continues to negatively affect the agricultural activities worldwide.

“We used to have rains by this time. This is not the case now. Every year, we’ve to grapple with erratic rains that result in low crop yield,” said Traditional Authority (T/A) Bvumbwe.

Human activities such as burning of coal, oil, and natural gas, as well as deforestation and various agricultural and industrial practices, are altering the composition of the atmosphere and contributing to climate change. These human activities have led to increased atmospheric concentrations of a number of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and ozone in the lower part of the atmosphere.

The result is that people in the agricultural areas have failed to yield enough both for commercial and home use because of erratic rains.

However, instead of taking responsibility for their actions such as replanting of trees where they cut, people treated afforestation programmes as government’s responsibility. This was the more reason why people could not domesticate afforestation initiatives. But there is no denying that trees play a major component in rain formation process.

With this realization in mind, Income Generating Public Works Programme (IGPWP) sought financial assistance from the European Union (EU) to facilitate the formation of 1,600 forestry clubs countrywide.

IGPWP Forestry Manager Rose Bell said the aim of the programme is to replenish the natural forests while, at the same time, empowering rural masses with necessary skills that would eventually help them champion development initiatives in their localities.

According to Bell, in the programme’s initial package, each club receives materials for raising seedlings, provision of fruit tree and neem seedlings as well as polythene tubes and tree seed.

Bonuses are paid for the first two crops during nursery establishment between November and December. The clubs get other bonuses in March, April and September of the year of planting and finally in September of the year after planting.

It is this input package provided to the club valued at MK54, 320 that propelled Nkaombe Forestry Club to plant 14,121 trees. And with the performance-based bonuses totalling MK74,000, the members bought six sows to start a piggery project.

“Our plan is to distribute the piglets amongst ourselves so that every member personally benefits from the project,” said Rhoda Nkaombe, Secretary of the club. Thus people in Nkaombe can boast that they have successfully domesticated the tree-planting initiative into their village development committees (VDCs) without much hassle.

What is unique about this club, though, is that while it is men who usually dominate in development projects, women are the ones taking a leading role in Nkaombe afforestation programme.

Of the 60 members, only seven are men.

“We, as men, never thought this would benefit us. Actually, we considered it as women’s affair while we took our time drinking beer,” confessed Henry Kasamba, one of Traditional Authority (T/A) Bvumbwe’s counselors.

But Kasamba sounded apologetic when he said: “It’s sad that while we bear much responsibility for cutting down of trees in the society, we take a backstage in tree-planting projects.”

Nkaombe Village is a home to 4,729. On average, every person has planted about three treesMaybe it is befitting for women to take a leading role in the initiative for they are the ones who pay the worst price of deforestation. They are the ones who walk long distances to fetch firewood while men are exchanging calabash-full of chikokeyani at home.

Even Bell explained that village afforestation programmes could play a critical role in empowering women in different ways.

“For those in tobacco farming, village forests provide stakes used for drying their leaf. Once this project is fully domesticated, women won’t need to travel long distances to fetch firewood.

“Thus women will have enough to do other things that can help in developing their families. Our idea is to reach every village with this initiative so that every village has a forest of its own,” she said.

Besides, performance-based bonuses, which are paid into club accounts, have offered women a window of opportunity for them to invest in other income generation activities.

Bell stated that final decision on usage of funds lies with the clubs.

“Other clubs have gone into bee keeping, fruit tree propagation, production of fuelwood saving stoves, among others,” she disclosed.

Since inception, IGPWP Forestry Project has realized the planting of 37,500,000 countrywide. Total expenditure for the programm estimates is MK329.5 million while budget for current programme Mk141.8 million.

Out of the total budget, MK128,556,777 was paid out as performance-based bonuses to the 1600 clubs.

T/A Bvumbwe said afforestation programmes had come at the right time when his people are grappling with the effects of climate change such as persistent droughts.

Thyolo was one of the districts that were hit by droughts that resulted in poor crop yields in the last growing season.

“My role as a traditional leader now is to allocate more land for these people to plant more trees. I’ll allocate any uncultivated land to afforestation programme,” he said.

Bvumbwe thanked IGPWP for introducing village afforestation programme in his area saying it has helped in economically empowering women.

END

Nagging wives drive hubbies into beer

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Maupo Chisambi, 24, perched up on a tall stool in a local bar at New College Inn in Blantyre, grabbed a Chibuku Packet, pulled a long sip before recounting how he found himself enslaved to beer-drinking.

“Mine was a nagging wife that I could hardly sleep without taking a little beer,” Chisambi started although nobody asked him.

And he continued: “She’s too demanding! When our neighbours had meat, she, too, demanded that I buy meat. When I told her I didn’t have, she insulted and called me a pauper. I had no choice, but to dump her.”

Chisambi, then living at Bangwe, relocated to Chiwembe leaving behind his wife and two kids without a sure source of money. He could have been accused of violating his wife’s and children’s rights if he sent them away.

This is the more reason why Chisambi chose to relocate to another place than send the spouse to her parents.

“You know this Chewa proverb? Wakhungu akati ndikuswa ndiye waponda mwala (It’s only when the blind steps on a stone that he can threaten to throw at you),” he justified.

Chisambi’s interpretation of the situation was that the wife had found someone who offered more than what he could provide. Otherwise she couldn’t call him a pauper six years into their marriage.

Today, beer has become part of the disappointed husband’s life. He confessed that he cannot sleep without it because then he would be thinking about the family problems he had with his wife.

Chisambi could be just one in a pool of husbands whose marriages tumbled upside down because of the nagging behaviour of their wives.

Fr. Henry Saindi of the Catholic Church says his understanding of a nagging woman is “a woman who continually complains and always finds faults with her husband”.

“It is a woman who is shrewish or ill-natured,” Fr. Saindi adds.

But the priest clarifies saying this attitude cannot be attributed to wives only because there are men also who have same attitude. Like a nagging wives, some husbands, too, always seek to find a fault in whatever their wives do.

He cautions that nagging is an attitude which should not be condoned. It must be rejected by married couples.

“Nagging really can refuel marriage breakups. It’s a bad attitude towards the other be it husband or wife. Married people should always understand that they cannot find a perfect partner without any fault. Each person has his/her strengths and weaknesses. The capacity to understand and forgive the other person is the beginning of marriage happiness,” advises Fr. Saindi who is currently studying in Rome.

“Both have a role to play in order to shape the attitude of the other person. They must help each other to grow in good attitude,” he adds.

Fr. Saindi dismisses Chisambi’s thinking that excessive beer-drinking is a solution to family problems. Excessive beer drinking adds more problems and Maupo accepts this fact.

Why men bear responsibility for marriage breakups

Every person goes into marriage with the hopes of having a joyful and lasting relationship. Sadly though, many marriages have ended in divorce or incurable separations.

When such situations happen, men have, for years immemorial, earned themselves the reputation of being responsible for their marriage breakups. Women, on the other hand, are always regarded as victims and continue to enjoy sympathy from gender and human rights’ activists.

Cultural and traditional beliefs have also contributed to this line of thinking where husbands are looked at as a “beast” ready to do his spouse harm.

There are many factors that would usually lead to divorce or separation.

Money

In his contribution on askmen.com, a relationship correspondent Curt Smith says couples seem to always have endless discussions and conflicts over who should take charge of finances in the family. This coupled with miscommunication results in misunderstandings that usually end up breaking the family.

Incompatibilities

Failing to deal with and accept incompatibilities will naturally erode the marriage relationship. Couples must strive to change what they can and accept what they can’t.

Love and forgiveness, to this effect, is the key. There’s no denying that there are some people who enter into marriage unions without fully understanding what they entail. Many prospective brides and grooms are ignorant of the reality of marriage relationships.

Thus they don’t appreciate that no marriage will be free from problems and disagreements.

An American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder of Focus on the Family, Dr. James Dobson Jnr, once wrote: “There are two kinds of people in the world, the givers and the takers. A marriage between two givers can be a beautiful thing. Friction is the order of the day, however, for a giver and a take”.

Dobson Jnr observed that selfishness is, in most cases, the cause for the devastation of a marriage every time.

What to do with insubordinate, ruthlessn wives

In of his letters to the Corinthians, St. Paul said “God has established an order of authority, the principle of male headship, both in the church and the home” (1 Corinthians 11:3). This means that man is the head of the woman.

Some marriages have broken up because women refused to observe this status quo thus failing to submit themselves to husbands. Where a husband cannot compromise, the result is end of marriage.

But Fr. Saindi thinks marriage dissolution is not the best option. He advises married couples should cultivate a spirit of contact and dialogue amongst themselves as the first step before taking their problems to others.

“Not all problems can be solved by others. The couple holds the key to solving its problems. If this fails, then there are marriage counsellors who should act as pillars to building marriage relationships.

“The ladder continues up to the Church set up. At least the Catholic Church, I am not very sure about the other churches, arranges on special days to listen to pastoral problems including marriage problems,” says Fr. Saindi.

But will Maupo Chisambi go back to dialogue with his estranged wife?

“I’ll find another woman. Why should I worry much about her as if women for marriage have finished? You’ll be the same to call me stupid if I go back to her,” pondered Chisambi before picking up his Chibuku packet to take another sip.

END