BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Despite the Electoral Commission (EC) accrediting 65 non-governmental organizations to undertake the task of civic educating the masses on local polls, the civil society says civic education can only roll out after the electoral body releases the calendar of events.
In the press statement made available to The Daily Times, Pan African Civic Education Network (Pacenet) says since EC has not released the electoral calendar, it could be counterproductive for the NGOs to start educating voters on the polls.
Pacenet executive director Steve Duwa argues that in the absence of such information, it could difficult for the accredited NGOs to design messages and that donors would not easily fund them without a clear calendar of events.
“There is no electoral calendar at the moment and nobody knows…apart from MEC itself, when the local polls will take place. For which election are people to be prepared?” asks Duwa.
He also states that the NGOs would find it hard to source funding for the voter and civic education because an electoral calendar acts as a backing to their project proposals [to their donors].
“Our experience in elections and donors in Malawi is that no donor can release funds for electoral activities in the absence of an electoral calendar including the actual polling date.
“Currently, there are no structured messages from EC on these elections, which should also form part of the messages accredited NGOs are to give out to the public,” Duwa explains.
In an interview yesterday, EC spokesperson Richard Mveriwa could neither fault the civil society for their decision on voter and civic education nor provide the date when the calendar will be made available to the accredited NGOs.
But Mveriwa explained that EC will have to consult the president on when to release the calendar.
“We are currently busy working on the calendar and soon our stakeholders [donors and political parties] will have a chance to see it before release,” he said.
Earlier, EC had set November 23 this year as a date when local polls would be held. But the polls were postponed to an indefinite date without explanations.
END
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
OG Plastics penetrates int’l market
 |
| Jagot: We're very excited with development |
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
OG Plastic Industries, one of the local manufacturers of plastic products, has finally realized its dream of exporting its products to other countries after finding markets in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia, Managing Director Abdul Wahab Jagot confirmed on Wednesday.
Jagot described the development as a big achievement for Malawi, which has long been considered a predominantly importing country. He also stated that Malawi’s economy will greatly benefit a lot from its foreign markets.
OG Plastic Industries was established in 2008 with a vision to be the market leader in manufacturing and exportation of polypropylene and polythene bags in Malawi, according to the company’s boss.
“We’re quite excited with this...This is a big achievement for Malawi as we strive to move from predominantly importing to exporting nation,” said Jagot.
He attributed the success to the company’s emphasis on quality.
“On our part, this is a plus since we've been in the industry for a short period of time, as compared to others who have been in the industry for over two decades. Our success and achievement has greatly encouraged us and it is our hope that we should attain our vision in the short term,” he added.
Jagot explained that the exports were crucial as they help in generating foreign exchange for the country and thus contribute to the growth of the economy.
Asked about future plans, the OG Plastic Industries boss said from August this year, the company will diversify its range of products to include the production of many household products such as basins, buckets, plates, mugs and jugs.
“The idea is to provide durable and newly designed plastic ware products for the comfort of our customers in their homes,” disclosed Jagot.
He thanked local customers and staff members for their support, saying this could not be achieved without their input.
END
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Teen marriages are fuelling poverty--Kanyumba
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
“We’ll remain committed towards empowering young people to achieve their dreams,” Sinetre assured.
END
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| Signing visitors' book: Kanyumba |
Minister of Youth Development and Sports Lucius Kanyumba on Friday appealed to parents in Balaka to stop marrying off their daughters at tender ages and, instead, let the adolescents concentrate on education.
Speaking after paying a visit to a Balaka-based Nkhadze Alive Youth Organization (Nayorg) on Friday, Kanyumba lectured the parents that marry off their daughters in exchange for fortunes that teen marriages cannot solve the socioeconomic challenges, but increase the poverty levels.
“Give children a chance to learn…they have a right to education. Don’t force them into marriages because that won’t solve your socioeconomic problems. Early marriages will just exacerbate the poverty situation of the families,” said the minister.
Kanyumba stated that studies have shown that a majority of teen marriages suffer from complications and often the relationships to not last long.
“It’s teenage mothers that are at greater risk of socioeconomic disadvantage throughout their lives than those who delay childbearing. As parents, you need to know that adolescent pregnancies are associated with higher rates of morbidity and mortality for both the mother and infant,” he said.
 |
| Presenting Likuni Phala to the needy child: Kanyumba |
But the minister hailed Nayorg for its youth programmes saying they are inspiring young people to concentrate on education.
Nayorg executive director Charles Sinetre said his organization was committed towards empowering the youths with skills for HIV and early marriage prevention.
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 pauses 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 and, 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
“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 pauses 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 and, 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
Staggering and struggling for 50:50 campaign
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Alice Deliwe-Ngoma is a Malawi Congress Party (MCP) aspiring parliamentary candidate for Mzimba Luwerezi.
She is among 217 other female aspiring politicians that have presented nomination papers to the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) expressing their interest and willingness to battle it out in a game that has for some time been regarded as a “no-go zone for ladies”.
But Deliwe-Ngoma attests that she has an uphill task to convince people she wants to serve that she can deliver. She knows how difficult it is to convince Malawians who have all along been made to believe that women are capable of nothing, but cooking and making a home.
“It is very hard,” she confirms, “but I am determined to prove that women can perform miracles if given a chance.”
Deliwe-Ngoma makes this brave statement in a society that is synonymous with rampant cases of gender-based violence; a society where men use everything at their disposal to suppress women aspirations.
In her speech during the commemoration of this year’s International Women’s Day, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) country representative, Esperance Fundira, said gender-based violence in this country is still persisting despite the many efforts government and its development partners have stepped up to raise ladies’ profiles to match friends of the opposite sex.
Men have dominated almost every sector of life apart from preparing food at home and washing clothes and looking after the children at home.
It is, therefore, not surprising that some men have sarcastically referred to married women as “goal-keepers” for the mere fact that they had been relying on their husbands, parents or guardians for everything including simple basic needs.
All this has been happening despite the fact that Malawi is a signatory to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), global platform for action and the Beijing Declaration; and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, just to mention a few.
At the regional level, Malawi is a signatory to the African Charter on Human Rights, the Solemn Declaration on Gender equality, and the protocol to the African charter on people and human rights on the Rights of women in Africa.
However, the question one would ask is: despite all these commitments government has made, are we in the right direction to the achievement of 50-50 campaign for women representation in decision-making positions? What exactly is this campaign about?
UNFPA’s Fundira says 50-50 campaign programme is not just about numbers, but making a difference in all levels of decision-making. It is about making a difference in repositioning gender equality issues in politics and national development agenda.
She believes that all these cases of domestic violence are a result of lack of empowerment and would have been history by now if women were empowered.
“If these girls and women were empowered enough to challenge any forms of gender-based violence, definitely they would never suffer the devastating and humiliating condition of fistula, unwanted pregnancies and HIV and Aids,” she says.
Fundira further states that women in decision-making positions like parliamentarians have the potential of fostering socio-economic development since “it is common knowledge that a woman has a loving heart”.
“Already the sitting female MPs have demonstrated that women can make a difference in the country’s social and economic development,” agrees Weston Msowoya, project manager of the Malawi Human Rights Youth Network (MHRYN) who is based in Lilongwe.
Msowoya concurs with Fundira that gender-based violence is one of the major challenges facing the campaign for 50-50 women representation in decision-making positions.
“We, first of all, have to champion for zero tolerance to violence against women and girls in schools, public places, homes, workplaces, worship centres and all our communities. It is time for men and women, boys and girls to work together to end these shameful violations of human rights,” he says.
However, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) executive director Undule Mwakasungula observes that there is need for concerted efforts to support and enhance the skills of the current crop of aspiring female parliamentarians ahead of the coming elections if Malawi wants to realize its dream of achieving the 50-50 campaign programme.
Mwakasungula discloses that experience from the previous general elections had shown that lack of confidence and campaign skills were two of the major obstacles to women’s entry into parliament and other decision-making structures.
In view of these facts, the CHRR boss said his NGO decided to come up with a capacity building trainings to enhance the skills and confidence of aspiring female MPs as the country is preparing to have general elections slated for May 19 this year.
It is not the civil society organizations that that shown their keenness to support women in their struggle to match men in decision-making positions.
Senior Chief Mabulabo of Mzimba has joined the bandwagon of the campaigners of the 50-50 women representation. Mabulabo declares that he will champion for the rights of women in his area including supporting women in politics.
Speaking at Emfeni LEA School ground during this year’s International Women’s Day where, among other things, he appealed to his subjects to desist from abusing the rights of women, girls and children saying the practice is detrimental to human and psychological health of the victims.
“Time has come my fellow Malawians that we should give women a chance to run the affairs of the society,” said the traditional leader.
“Gone are the days when women were confined to household chores like cooking, fetching firewood and water. Time is gone for discriminating women on the basis of sex; we were all the same in the eyes of God and we all have the capacity to change things if given a chance,” stressed Mabulabo.
The chief explained that he summoned his subjects to join government in commemorating the women’s day to show his commitment towards the achieve 50-50 women representation in decision-making positions.
“Malawi is today commemorating this year’s International Women’s Day and I thought it would be important that we, too, should take part. As a guard of traditions, I want to tell you that this day is very important to us all, not only women, to renew our commitment to the fight against gender based violence,” said Mabulabo.
On politics, the traditional leader asked people to support women in politics to enhance good governance and achieve gender equality. He, however, warned his subjects against voting into power people who cannot articulate issues saying that would dilute the whole idea of choosing responsible leaders.
“If I say we have to support women; I do not mean to say just vote for anyone as long as it is a woman, no. Let us vote for women who can help bring development in our area. Let us give people a vote on merit,” he said.
Minister of Gender, Women and Child Development, Anna Kachikho, said when she officially launched a Resource Handbook on Gender Mainstreaming of Human Resource Management at Capital Hotel that government was committed towards empowering women as evidenced by the initiatives being taken in social, economical and political spheres geared towards addressing imbalances that have all along existed.
Kachikho said the societal stereotypes that breed discrimination of one group of people from others is a major that retards development of the world economy.
“The world economy could have been so miles better off had it been that the problems of discrimination and bias against one sex group were inexistence,” she emphasizes.
And during the International Women’s Day under theme: End Violence: Support women in politics, Kachikho said: “We have made the theme to relate with the 50:50 campaign, which is currently underway. Women have been experiencing violence in many forms on of which are political in nature.”
“We, therefore, would like to set an environment where women are not subject to violence politically but instead they should be supported for the development of his nation,” she appealed.
But Kachikho has one thing to clarify to the general public if people have to take her seriously for her ministry is said to be discriminating the same women they are championing their rights and empowerment for.
The ministry recently issued a press statement stating that it will not support female aspirants standing on independent tickets. This is a drawback to the fight for equal opportunity to politics.
It is for this reason that the MCP’s Alice Deliwe Ngoma feels CHRR and other non-governmental organizations should continue lobbying political leaders and other agencies, such as the media, to create a more conducive environment for women participation in decision-making to become reality.
Ngoma complains that media houses only concentrate on candidates contesting in urban areas while neglecting those living in rural areas.
She, therefore, appealed to the media to open up and reach out to all candidates across the country to ensure that all voters are accorded opportunity to elect deserving people into positions of authority. She emphasized that media has a key role in providing eligible voters with relevant information about their candidates.
CHRR is running a series of campaigns aimed at promoting the role of women in decision-making with funding from Danish Church Aid.
Under the project, the organization is targeting female aspirants from the districts of Karonga, Rumphi and Mzimba in the north while in the centre Kasungu, Lilongwe, Dedza, Ntchisi, Ntcheu and Salima districts to build capacity for the women aspiring candidates so that they may be able to face men during campaign podia.
End
Alice Deliwe-Ngoma is a Malawi Congress Party (MCP) aspiring parliamentary candidate for Mzimba Luwerezi.
She is among 217 other female aspiring politicians that have presented nomination papers to the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) expressing their interest and willingness to battle it out in a game that has for some time been regarded as a “no-go zone for ladies”.
But Deliwe-Ngoma attests that she has an uphill task to convince people she wants to serve that she can deliver. She knows how difficult it is to convince Malawians who have all along been made to believe that women are capable of nothing, but cooking and making a home.
“It is very hard,” she confirms, “but I am determined to prove that women can perform miracles if given a chance.”
Deliwe-Ngoma makes this brave statement in a society that is synonymous with rampant cases of gender-based violence; a society where men use everything at their disposal to suppress women aspirations.
In her speech during the commemoration of this year’s International Women’s Day, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) country representative, Esperance Fundira, said gender-based violence in this country is still persisting despite the many efforts government and its development partners have stepped up to raise ladies’ profiles to match friends of the opposite sex.
Men have dominated almost every sector of life apart from preparing food at home and washing clothes and looking after the children at home.
It is, therefore, not surprising that some men have sarcastically referred to married women as “goal-keepers” for the mere fact that they had been relying on their husbands, parents or guardians for everything including simple basic needs.
All this has been happening despite the fact that Malawi is a signatory to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), global platform for action and the Beijing Declaration; and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, just to mention a few.
At the regional level, Malawi is a signatory to the African Charter on Human Rights, the Solemn Declaration on Gender equality, and the protocol to the African charter on people and human rights on the Rights of women in Africa.
However, the question one would ask is: despite all these commitments government has made, are we in the right direction to the achievement of 50-50 campaign for women representation in decision-making positions? What exactly is this campaign about?
UNFPA’s Fundira says 50-50 campaign programme is not just about numbers, but making a difference in all levels of decision-making. It is about making a difference in repositioning gender equality issues in politics and national development agenda.
She believes that all these cases of domestic violence are a result of lack of empowerment and would have been history by now if women were empowered.
“If these girls and women were empowered enough to challenge any forms of gender-based violence, definitely they would never suffer the devastating and humiliating condition of fistula, unwanted pregnancies and HIV and Aids,” she says.
Fundira further states that women in decision-making positions like parliamentarians have the potential of fostering socio-economic development since “it is common knowledge that a woman has a loving heart”.
“Already the sitting female MPs have demonstrated that women can make a difference in the country’s social and economic development,” agrees Weston Msowoya, project manager of the Malawi Human Rights Youth Network (MHRYN) who is based in Lilongwe.
Msowoya concurs with Fundira that gender-based violence is one of the major challenges facing the campaign for 50-50 women representation in decision-making positions.
“We, first of all, have to champion for zero tolerance to violence against women and girls in schools, public places, homes, workplaces, worship centres and all our communities. It is time for men and women, boys and girls to work together to end these shameful violations of human rights,” he says.
However, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) executive director Undule Mwakasungula observes that there is need for concerted efforts to support and enhance the skills of the current crop of aspiring female parliamentarians ahead of the coming elections if Malawi wants to realize its dream of achieving the 50-50 campaign programme.
Mwakasungula discloses that experience from the previous general elections had shown that lack of confidence and campaign skills were two of the major obstacles to women’s entry into parliament and other decision-making structures.
In view of these facts, the CHRR boss said his NGO decided to come up with a capacity building trainings to enhance the skills and confidence of aspiring female MPs as the country is preparing to have general elections slated for May 19 this year.
It is not the civil society organizations that that shown their keenness to support women in their struggle to match men in decision-making positions.
Senior Chief Mabulabo of Mzimba has joined the bandwagon of the campaigners of the 50-50 women representation. Mabulabo declares that he will champion for the rights of women in his area including supporting women in politics.
Speaking at Emfeni LEA School ground during this year’s International Women’s Day where, among other things, he appealed to his subjects to desist from abusing the rights of women, girls and children saying the practice is detrimental to human and psychological health of the victims.
“Time has come my fellow Malawians that we should give women a chance to run the affairs of the society,” said the traditional leader.
“Gone are the days when women were confined to household chores like cooking, fetching firewood and water. Time is gone for discriminating women on the basis of sex; we were all the same in the eyes of God and we all have the capacity to change things if given a chance,” stressed Mabulabo.
The chief explained that he summoned his subjects to join government in commemorating the women’s day to show his commitment towards the achieve 50-50 women representation in decision-making positions.
“Malawi is today commemorating this year’s International Women’s Day and I thought it would be important that we, too, should take part. As a guard of traditions, I want to tell you that this day is very important to us all, not only women, to renew our commitment to the fight against gender based violence,” said Mabulabo.
On politics, the traditional leader asked people to support women in politics to enhance good governance and achieve gender equality. He, however, warned his subjects against voting into power people who cannot articulate issues saying that would dilute the whole idea of choosing responsible leaders.
“If I say we have to support women; I do not mean to say just vote for anyone as long as it is a woman, no. Let us vote for women who can help bring development in our area. Let us give people a vote on merit,” he said.
Minister of Gender, Women and Child Development, Anna Kachikho, said when she officially launched a Resource Handbook on Gender Mainstreaming of Human Resource Management at Capital Hotel that government was committed towards empowering women as evidenced by the initiatives being taken in social, economical and political spheres geared towards addressing imbalances that have all along existed.
Kachikho said the societal stereotypes that breed discrimination of one group of people from others is a major that retards development of the world economy.
“The world economy could have been so miles better off had it been that the problems of discrimination and bias against one sex group were inexistence,” she emphasizes.
And during the International Women’s Day under theme: End Violence: Support women in politics, Kachikho said: “We have made the theme to relate with the 50:50 campaign, which is currently underway. Women have been experiencing violence in many forms on of which are political in nature.”
“We, therefore, would like to set an environment where women are not subject to violence politically but instead they should be supported for the development of his nation,” she appealed.
But Kachikho has one thing to clarify to the general public if people have to take her seriously for her ministry is said to be discriminating the same women they are championing their rights and empowerment for.
The ministry recently issued a press statement stating that it will not support female aspirants standing on independent tickets. This is a drawback to the fight for equal opportunity to politics.
It is for this reason that the MCP’s Alice Deliwe Ngoma feels CHRR and other non-governmental organizations should continue lobbying political leaders and other agencies, such as the media, to create a more conducive environment for women participation in decision-making to become reality.
Ngoma complains that media houses only concentrate on candidates contesting in urban areas while neglecting those living in rural areas.
She, therefore, appealed to the media to open up and reach out to all candidates across the country to ensure that all voters are accorded opportunity to elect deserving people into positions of authority. She emphasized that media has a key role in providing eligible voters with relevant information about their candidates.
CHRR is running a series of campaigns aimed at promoting the role of women in decision-making with funding from Danish Church Aid.
Under the project, the organization is targeting female aspirants from the districts of Karonga, Rumphi and Mzimba in the north while in the centre Kasungu, Lilongwe, Dedza, Ntchisi, Ntcheu and Salima districts to build capacity for the women aspiring candidates so that they may be able to face men during campaign podia.
End
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Women struggling to claim back safe motherhood
BY FRAZER POTANI a correspondent
Imagine you are not a celebrity but find yourself on national television!
This happened to Kawale resident Judith Shaba in Lilongwe City.
Shaba was some weeks ago beamed on Malawi Television (TVM) complaining that her baby died allegedly due to a health worker’s negligence at Kawale Health Centre during labour.
Even Judith’s husband, Bester, was seen on same TVM threatening to take legal action against the alleged health worker involved.
One may understand the couple’s anger and shock if he/she goes to Kawale Health Centre.
The same health centre where their baby died has visible writings on its walls encouraging more interaction between a mother and her baby through breast feeding.
The health centre therefore, is the last place to let pregnant woman lose her baby to advance its campaign of strengthening bonds between mothers and babies.
A random interview with residents seeking treatment from Kawale Health Centre revealed they get ill-treated by health workers.
A Kawale resident on condition of anonymity said he went to Kawale Health Centre to seek treatment after an attack by thugs on his way back from work late September hence lost money, mobile phone and vital portable materials and reported the matter to the police.
“But I returned without getting treatment instead went to a private clinic because the way a health worker talked to me it was as if the thugs attacked me out of my own wish,” he said adding that since then he does not go to seek treatment from the health centre.
Another Kawale resident also former nurse now a successful business woman running a restaurant and a tailoring shop in Lilongwe also said went to Kawale Health Centre with a relative.
“She was attacked by cerebral malaria but we left without her getting treatment because I was shocked by what one health worker did,” she said.
The former nurse disclosed that she witnessed a health worker at Kawale collecting health passports from patients who were standing on a queue to assist them.
“But after one patient on queue complained that health workers were slow while she was in pain, the health worker got angry, shouted at them and threw the health passports at the crowd,” she said adding that the crowd had to scramble for their passports in the process.
“My sick relative’s health passport was torn into pieces in the process,” she said adding that she no longer also goes to Kawale Health Centre for treatment.
“But as a former health worker I think the starting point to solve the problem is for government to construct more health centres in Lilongwe City and deploy adequate staff, drugs and equipment,” she said.
She disclosed that Kawale Health Centre is overwhelmed by many patients requiring treatment because they flock from Areas 22, 23, 24, Chilinde, Kaliyeka, Mchesi and many more townships.
“How do you expect a health centre to provide adequate, quality health service to the needy including treat patients with compassion when its staff is overwhelmed by many clients against inadequate staff, drugs and equipment?” she queried.
Unless health workers in public health institutions countrywide are however, friendly to pregnant women, government’s campaign to discourage deliveries elsewhere will not yield results.
Hawa Muhammadi, 42, a mother of nine from Chowe Area in Mangochi for example said she was ill-treated by a female nurse in a public hospital.
“During my fifth pregnancy a female nurse talked to me abusively before slapping me on the face for failing to follow her instructions due to severe pain,” she said.
Hawa disclosed her experience when, in a snap survey in Mangochi, the Blantyre based Centre for Reproductive Health Department (CRHD) took journalists on a media tour to that district.
Principal Secretary (PS) for Health Chris Kang’ombe said one problem contributing to some health workers’ bad attitude towards patients in public hospitals was pressure of work due to staff shortage.
He said government has laid strategies to recruit more health workers and will do everything to improve mothers’ and babies’ health.
Kang’ombe welcomed bad attitude health workers’ exposure however, also called journalists to motivate health workers doing their job professionally by highlighting them in the media.
White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRASM) – Malawi Chairperson Darlington Harawa disclosed that Malawi’s maternal statistics were gloomy.
“Maternal Mortality is at 807 per 100,000 live births. In simple mathematics this translates close to 16 women dying every day due to maternal health related complications,” he said.
Vice President Joyce Banda said during labour pregnant women go between thin line between life and death and even experienced it herself.
“I am told I collapsed because I lost blood and it was Dr. Chiphangwi who was called to save my life,” Banda told a crowd during Campaign for Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA) launch in Mchinji.
“I then asked myself the question: What would have happened if there is no doctor?” queried Banda.
The Washington based Population Reference Bureau (PRB) says a mother’s death in poor developing countries like Malawi increases death risk for her under five children by 50 percent.
However, Ministry of Health’s Senior Reproductive Health Officer, Prisca Masepuka said Malawian women can still claim back their safe motherhood joy if everyone in the community including men support pregnant women during and after delivery.
(Ends)
Imagine you are not a celebrity but find yourself on national television!
This happened to Kawale resident Judith Shaba in Lilongwe City.
Shaba was some weeks ago beamed on Malawi Television (TVM) complaining that her baby died allegedly due to a health worker’s negligence at Kawale Health Centre during labour.
Even Judith’s husband, Bester, was seen on same TVM threatening to take legal action against the alleged health worker involved.
One may understand the couple’s anger and shock if he/she goes to Kawale Health Centre.
The same health centre where their baby died has visible writings on its walls encouraging more interaction between a mother and her baby through breast feeding.
The health centre therefore, is the last place to let pregnant woman lose her baby to advance its campaign of strengthening bonds between mothers and babies.
A random interview with residents seeking treatment from Kawale Health Centre revealed they get ill-treated by health workers.
A Kawale resident on condition of anonymity said he went to Kawale Health Centre to seek treatment after an attack by thugs on his way back from work late September hence lost money, mobile phone and vital portable materials and reported the matter to the police.
“But I returned without getting treatment instead went to a private clinic because the way a health worker talked to me it was as if the thugs attacked me out of my own wish,” he said adding that since then he does not go to seek treatment from the health centre.
Another Kawale resident also former nurse now a successful business woman running a restaurant and a tailoring shop in Lilongwe also said went to Kawale Health Centre with a relative.
“She was attacked by cerebral malaria but we left without her getting treatment because I was shocked by what one health worker did,” she said.
The former nurse disclosed that she witnessed a health worker at Kawale collecting health passports from patients who were standing on a queue to assist them.
“But after one patient on queue complained that health workers were slow while she was in pain, the health worker got angry, shouted at them and threw the health passports at the crowd,” she said adding that the crowd had to scramble for their passports in the process.
“My sick relative’s health passport was torn into pieces in the process,” she said adding that she no longer also goes to Kawale Health Centre for treatment.
“But as a former health worker I think the starting point to solve the problem is for government to construct more health centres in Lilongwe City and deploy adequate staff, drugs and equipment,” she said.
She disclosed that Kawale Health Centre is overwhelmed by many patients requiring treatment because they flock from Areas 22, 23, 24, Chilinde, Kaliyeka, Mchesi and many more townships.
“How do you expect a health centre to provide adequate, quality health service to the needy including treat patients with compassion when its staff is overwhelmed by many clients against inadequate staff, drugs and equipment?” she queried.
Unless health workers in public health institutions countrywide are however, friendly to pregnant women, government’s campaign to discourage deliveries elsewhere will not yield results.
Hawa Muhammadi, 42, a mother of nine from Chowe Area in Mangochi for example said she was ill-treated by a female nurse in a public hospital.
“During my fifth pregnancy a female nurse talked to me abusively before slapping me on the face for failing to follow her instructions due to severe pain,” she said.
Hawa disclosed her experience when, in a snap survey in Mangochi, the Blantyre based Centre for Reproductive Health Department (CRHD) took journalists on a media tour to that district.
Principal Secretary (PS) for Health Chris Kang’ombe said one problem contributing to some health workers’ bad attitude towards patients in public hospitals was pressure of work due to staff shortage.
He said government has laid strategies to recruit more health workers and will do everything to improve mothers’ and babies’ health.
Kang’ombe welcomed bad attitude health workers’ exposure however, also called journalists to motivate health workers doing their job professionally by highlighting them in the media.
White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRASM) – Malawi Chairperson Darlington Harawa disclosed that Malawi’s maternal statistics were gloomy.
“Maternal Mortality is at 807 per 100,000 live births. In simple mathematics this translates close to 16 women dying every day due to maternal health related complications,” he said.
Vice President Joyce Banda said during labour pregnant women go between thin line between life and death and even experienced it herself.
“I am told I collapsed because I lost blood and it was Dr. Chiphangwi who was called to save my life,” Banda told a crowd during Campaign for Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA) launch in Mchinji.
“I then asked myself the question: What would have happened if there is no doctor?” queried Banda.
The Washington based Population Reference Bureau (PRB) says a mother’s death in poor developing countries like Malawi increases death risk for her under five children by 50 percent.
However, Ministry of Health’s Senior Reproductive Health Officer, Prisca Masepuka said Malawian women can still claim back their safe motherhood joy if everyone in the community including men support pregnant women during and after delivery.
(Ends)
Business Guest
 |
| OG Plastics Managing Director: Abdul Wahab Jagot. |
Q. Can you give me a brief background of your company?
OG Plastic Industries was established in 2008 with a vision to be the market leader in manufacturing and exportation of polypropylene and polythene bags in Malawi. We want to achieve our vision through the combined use of highly skilled and committed workforce, advanced technology, and efficient customer service.
Q. How big is your workforce?
Currently, we’ve 260 people working in our factory. We envisage that this workforce will greatly increase as we expand production capacity.
Q. How can you describe the plastic industry?
The industry is viable especially when i have enough expirience of market and production also in the wake that we are able to export someof our products to other countries in the region and earn foreign exchange for the country. On our part, we've been in the industry for this short period of time, as compared to others who have been in the industry for over two decades. Our success and achievement has greatly encouraged us and it is our hope that we should attain our vision in the short term.
Q. How is the plastic industry contributing to the economy of this country?
As alluded to earlier, we regard the industry as contributing greatly on foreign exchange savings since agriculturalists don't need to import bags from abroad since they can buy them locally at a cheaper price. In the past when Malawi didn't have an industry such as this, country used to lose a lot of money (forex) when importing bags from the region. By the same token, our exports to Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia help to generate foreign exchange for the country. We're also contributing to the economy of this country through Value Added Tax (VAT). In addition, we feel that we are making a great contribution towards poverty reduction through employment.
Q. What are the challenges?
Our major challenge in the short term is that we cannot expand machine capacity and increase productivity levels due to lack of adequate technical expertise. This will be addressed in the long term by our in-house human resource development initiatives coupled with training outside the country.
The other challenge is that transportation of our raw materials through Beira and Nacala encounters some delays and this poses disruptions to our production. This is why we applaud government for initiating the Nsanje Port.
Since we are relatively new, our third challenge is to create awareness of our existence and our quality products on the market. We are addressing this through aggressive market campaigns and advertising.
Q. Where do you get the raw materials?
Our raw materials come from South Africa, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, India and United States of America.
Q. What are you next plans?
From August 2010, we intend to diversify our range of products to include the production of many household products such as basins, buckets, plates, mugs and jugs. The idea is to provide durable and newly designed plasticware products for the comfort of our custmers in their homes.
Q. Can you sum up?
I would like to thank our customers for buying our products and also i am thankful to my prodction team. I would like to assure our valuable customers of our desire to give them the best plastic products possible. I think we’ve achieved a lot in product quality so that by November 2010, our company will have ISO 9001: 2008 certificate. This means that our products will be recognized at an international level.
Coping with Aids in limited-resource settings
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Although HIV and Aids has spared no one, poor people are the most vulnerable.
AIDS has caused households to dissolve as parents die and children are sent to relatives for care and upbringing. The disease also strips families of their assets and income earners, further impoverishing the poor.
In most cases, older people are heavily affected as they're forced to care for their sick children and are often left to look after orphaned grandchildren.
Grandparents left caring for the sick face the burden of providing financial, emotional and psychological support at a time when they would be expecting to receive such support as their energy levels drop with older age.
Further, HIV and Aids contribute to food insecurity as agricultural work is neglected or abandoned due to household illness.
HIV/Aids diminishes agricultural output and it is thought that by 2020, Malawi’s agricultural workforce will be 14% smaller than it would have been without the disease.
“Our fields are idle because there is nobody to cultivate them. We don't have machinery for farming, thus if we are sick, or caring for sick family members, we have no time to spend working in the fields," said a Blantyre-based widow, Ellen Kandikole.
Blantyre District Coordinator for Save the Children Panji Kajani said the most unfortunate response to a death in poorer households is removing the children (especially girls) from school.
“Often school uniforms and fees become unaffordable for such families and the child's labour and income-generating potential are required in the household,” said Kajani.
How Aids affects children
As parents and family members fall sick, children take responsibility to earn an income, produce food, and care for family members. It is harder for these children to access adequate nutrition, basic healthcare, housing and clothing.
In such a situation, children may be forced to abandon their education. Girls may turn to prostitution to earn a living.
How the pandemic impacts on economy
Aids affects the economy by reducing the labour supply through increased mortality and illness. Amongst those who are able to work, productivity is likely to decline as a result of HIV-related illness.
Government income also declines, as tax revenues fall and governments are pressured to increase their spending to deal with the expanding HIV epidemic.
International Committeee for the Development of People (CISP) in-come generating activities (IGA) expert Maclean Mtokota says in such a situation families that are infected and affected can raise their economic base by participating in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Mtokota explains that SMEs are an important source of employment, particularly for low-skilled workers, as well as women and young people.
“In such a situation, SMEs become the only sure way for earning an independent among people living with HIV and Aids. In some countries, SMEs have proved to be crucial in local development and income generation to mitigate the impact of HIV and Aids on poor households,” says the IGA expert.
How much should PLWHAs be assisted?
Although antiretroviral drugs have helped thousands of Malawians, hundreds of thousands of people still need the life-prolonging medication. However, the challenge to infected people is lack of financial resources for buying nutritious food on the market.
When he tested HIV positive over six years ago, George Bannet, 43, of Machinjili in Blantyre had no source of money let alone someone who could provide him care.
His wife had died two years earlier with unknown disease. Initially, Bannet, who was too sickly the time his wife passed away, dreaded going for HIV Testing and Counselling (HTC) fearing the prospects of testing HIV positive.
“I thought I'd become the object of taunt if I tested positive. I also feared for my children's future,” Bannet said.
But with assistance from Save the Children, Bannet managed to go for the test. He was immediately put on anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) because his CD4 had drastically declined to lower levels.
Today, he is enjoying good health and optimistic about the future: “I hope to continue working hard and assist fellow PLWHAs. Besides, I’m currently building the future for my children.”
Bannet is lucky because his children have already started receiving educational and psychological support from Save the Children Programme and Malawi Girl Guide Association (Magga).
Project Malawi Country Coordinator Claudio Tonin explains that in the past individualistic approach to the fight against HIV/Aids and its impact has not benefited the people they served.
Tonin says with funding from an Italian leading bank called Itensa San Paolo, Project Malawi devised an inclusive approach in order to arrest the spread of the virus while at the same time lessening the pain among the infected and affected persons.
“Infected people have to be supported in all areas of need. It is not enough to provide them with ARVs when they cannot access nutritious meals. There is need also to help their children who can't access education because of financial resources,” says he.
Thus under Project Malawi the initiative has fused together Save the Children, CISP, Community of Saint Egidio's Dream Program, Malawi Girl Guide Association (Magga) and the Department of Nutrition, HIV and Aids in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) so that people living with the virus can be assisted in all aspects of need.
Tonin explains: “These organisations have different approaches and goals that aim at complementing the other. Working under one umbrella makes the fight against Aids and its impact more complete and successful.”
Tonin says the primary goal of the project was to pilot strategies for strengthening each country’s capacity to scale up comprehensive HIV/Aids programs by providing care and treatment in an effective, affordable way.
Project Malawi believes these difficulties can strongly limit the patient’s adherence to the therapy and, therefore, make it less effective.
Thus in all Dream centres, people living with HIV and Aids can access quality medical and nutritional support at no cost.
“After providing them with nutritious meals, we refer our clients interested in businesses to CISP for training. For children that need school sponsorships, we refer them Save the Children,” he said.
This holistic approach to dealing with HIV and Aids pandemic and its impacts has lessened fears among PLWHAs and, therefore, increased adherence to the drugs.
Thus trauma and hardship that children affected by HIV and AIDS are forced to bear are reduced.
Principal Secretary for Nutrition, HIV and Aids, Dr. Mary Shawa states that the partnership was influential in the reduction of the prevalence rate.
“I don't think we could have realized this success if we worked individually,” said Shawa.
END
Although HIV and Aids has spared no one, poor people are the most vulnerable.
AIDS has caused households to dissolve as parents die and children are sent to relatives for care and upbringing. The disease also strips families of their assets and income earners, further impoverishing the poor.
In most cases, older people are heavily affected as they're forced to care for their sick children and are often left to look after orphaned grandchildren.
Grandparents left caring for the sick face the burden of providing financial, emotional and psychological support at a time when they would be expecting to receive such support as their energy levels drop with older age.
Further, HIV and Aids contribute to food insecurity as agricultural work is neglected or abandoned due to household illness.
HIV/Aids diminishes agricultural output and it is thought that by 2020, Malawi’s agricultural workforce will be 14% smaller than it would have been without the disease.
“Our fields are idle because there is nobody to cultivate them. We don't have machinery for farming, thus if we are sick, or caring for sick family members, we have no time to spend working in the fields," said a Blantyre-based widow, Ellen Kandikole.
Blantyre District Coordinator for Save the Children Panji Kajani said the most unfortunate response to a death in poorer households is removing the children (especially girls) from school.
“Often school uniforms and fees become unaffordable for such families and the child's labour and income-generating potential are required in the household,” said Kajani.
How Aids affects children
As parents and family members fall sick, children take responsibility to earn an income, produce food, and care for family members. It is harder for these children to access adequate nutrition, basic healthcare, housing and clothing.
In such a situation, children may be forced to abandon their education. Girls may turn to prostitution to earn a living.
How the pandemic impacts on economy
Aids affects the economy by reducing the labour supply through increased mortality and illness. Amongst those who are able to work, productivity is likely to decline as a result of HIV-related illness.
Government income also declines, as tax revenues fall and governments are pressured to increase their spending to deal with the expanding HIV epidemic.
International Committeee for the Development of People (CISP) in-come generating activities (IGA) expert Maclean Mtokota says in such a situation families that are infected and affected can raise their economic base by participating in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Mtokota explains that SMEs are an important source of employment, particularly for low-skilled workers, as well as women and young people.
“In such a situation, SMEs become the only sure way for earning an independent among people living with HIV and Aids. In some countries, SMEs have proved to be crucial in local development and income generation to mitigate the impact of HIV and Aids on poor households,” says the IGA expert.
How much should PLWHAs be assisted?
Although antiretroviral drugs have helped thousands of Malawians, hundreds of thousands of people still need the life-prolonging medication. However, the challenge to infected people is lack of financial resources for buying nutritious food on the market.
When he tested HIV positive over six years ago, George Bannet, 43, of Machinjili in Blantyre had no source of money let alone someone who could provide him care.
His wife had died two years earlier with unknown disease. Initially, Bannet, who was too sickly the time his wife passed away, dreaded going for HIV Testing and Counselling (HTC) fearing the prospects of testing HIV positive.
“I thought I'd become the object of taunt if I tested positive. I also feared for my children's future,” Bannet said.
But with assistance from Save the Children, Bannet managed to go for the test. He was immediately put on anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) because his CD4 had drastically declined to lower levels.
Today, he is enjoying good health and optimistic about the future: “I hope to continue working hard and assist fellow PLWHAs. Besides, I’m currently building the future for my children.”
Bannet is lucky because his children have already started receiving educational and psychological support from Save the Children Programme and Malawi Girl Guide Association (Magga).
Project Malawi Country Coordinator Claudio Tonin explains that in the past individualistic approach to the fight against HIV/Aids and its impact has not benefited the people they served.
Tonin says with funding from an Italian leading bank called Itensa San Paolo, Project Malawi devised an inclusive approach in order to arrest the spread of the virus while at the same time lessening the pain among the infected and affected persons.
“Infected people have to be supported in all areas of need. It is not enough to provide them with ARVs when they cannot access nutritious meals. There is need also to help their children who can't access education because of financial resources,” says he.
Thus under Project Malawi the initiative has fused together Save the Children, CISP, Community of Saint Egidio's Dream Program, Malawi Girl Guide Association (Magga) and the Department of Nutrition, HIV and Aids in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) so that people living with the virus can be assisted in all aspects of need.
Tonin explains: “These organisations have different approaches and goals that aim at complementing the other. Working under one umbrella makes the fight against Aids and its impact more complete and successful.”
Tonin says the primary goal of the project was to pilot strategies for strengthening each country’s capacity to scale up comprehensive HIV/Aids programs by providing care and treatment in an effective, affordable way.
Project Malawi believes these difficulties can strongly limit the patient’s adherence to the therapy and, therefore, make it less effective.
Thus in all Dream centres, people living with HIV and Aids can access quality medical and nutritional support at no cost.
“After providing them with nutritious meals, we refer our clients interested in businesses to CISP for training. For children that need school sponsorships, we refer them Save the Children,” he said.
This holistic approach to dealing with HIV and Aids pandemic and its impacts has lessened fears among PLWHAs and, therefore, increased adherence to the drugs.
Thus trauma and hardship that children affected by HIV and AIDS are forced to bear are reduced.
Principal Secretary for Nutrition, HIV and Aids, Dr. Mary Shawa states that the partnership was influential in the reduction of the prevalence rate.
“I don't think we could have realized this success if we worked individually,” said Shawa.
END
Safe motherhood fight is everyone's responsibility
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
“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”.
These are the words of Dr. Mario Bacchiocchi, executive director of Centre of Health Education and Health Appropriate Technologies (CESTAS), an Italian-Malawian non-governmental organization, which has joined government efforts in the promotion of safe motherhood, fighting drug and alcohol abuse, among other programmes.
Bacchiocchi notes that during his time in Africa, he has noted some NGOs, which have invested a lot of money in projects with less benefit to the lives of the intended beneficiaries. This represents how huge amounts of public resources are being wasted and mismanaged.
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. There are several factors that deter them from doing so.
Often they 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.
In some instances, lack of knowledge on the importance of such services also contributes to women’s failure to seek professional help during pregnancy.
Improvements in local health care play a central role in reducing African child mortality rates and preserving mothers' lives. But making these improvements will require bringing information and training to local communities, mothers, and healthcare providers across the country.
CESTAS boss believes this cannot be the case if the civil society joined government in mobilizing and implementing safe motherhood programmes.
In some countries like Nigeria, through traditional dances and songs, the civil society managed to attract women to their consultation areas, where they deliver messages on the importance of seeking antenatal care services during pregnancy.
In Bacchiocchi’s thinking, men can also meet with healthcare personnel, who could be conducting on-site routine checks, dispense drugs, provide reproductive health and family planning information, and make referrals to health centers as necessary.
Settings such as markets and community centres can also allow for outreach to all community members, including adolescents, mothers and fathers.
“There is a huge necessity to be focused on specific intervention and to be able to have the needed continuity and long-term action without jumping from one program to another just because of available funds or institutional opportunities,” says he.
“I never understand why other organizations are not partnering with government in the fight against maternal and neonatal deaths. I have often approached the donor community on this issue, but rarely do they seem interested to fund projects of such nature,” mourns Bacchiocchi.
With funding from UNICEF, CESTAS 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 Hospital in Dowa.
These courses have helped health workers in improving the delivery of essential maternal and neonatal care to their clients.
“CESTAS attaches greater importance to the training of health personnel for them to provide quality healthcare to the patients,” says Bacchiocchi.
“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 adds.
And with support from UNICEF CESTAS intends to extend its outreach and training activities to Community Rural Health Centres in selected Zones of Lilongwe District.
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.
END
“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”.
These are the words of Dr. Mario Bacchiocchi, executive director of Centre of Health Education and Health Appropriate Technologies (CESTAS), an Italian-Malawian non-governmental organization, which has joined government efforts in the promotion of safe motherhood, fighting drug and alcohol abuse, among other programmes.
Bacchiocchi notes that during his time in Africa, he has noted some NGOs, which have invested a lot of money in projects with less benefit to the lives of the intended beneficiaries. This represents how huge amounts of public resources are being wasted and mismanaged.
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. There are several factors that deter them from doing so.
Often they 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.
In some instances, lack of knowledge on the importance of such services also contributes to women’s failure to seek professional help during pregnancy.
Improvements in local health care play a central role in reducing African child mortality rates and preserving mothers' lives. But making these improvements will require bringing information and training to local communities, mothers, and healthcare providers across the country.
CESTAS boss believes this cannot be the case if the civil society joined government in mobilizing and implementing safe motherhood programmes.
In some countries like Nigeria, through traditional dances and songs, the civil society managed to attract women to their consultation areas, where they deliver messages on the importance of seeking antenatal care services during pregnancy.
In Bacchiocchi’s thinking, men can also meet with healthcare personnel, who could be conducting on-site routine checks, dispense drugs, provide reproductive health and family planning information, and make referrals to health centers as necessary.
Settings such as markets and community centres can also allow for outreach to all community members, including adolescents, mothers and fathers.
“There is a huge necessity to be focused on specific intervention and to be able to have the needed continuity and long-term action without jumping from one program to another just because of available funds or institutional opportunities,” says he.
“I never understand why other organizations are not partnering with government in the fight against maternal and neonatal deaths. I have often approached the donor community on this issue, but rarely do they seem interested to fund projects of such nature,” mourns Bacchiocchi.
With funding from UNICEF, CESTAS 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 Hospital in Dowa.
These courses have helped health workers in improving the delivery of essential maternal and neonatal care to their clients.
“CESTAS attaches greater importance to the training of health personnel for them to provide quality healthcare to the patients,” says Bacchiocchi.
“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 adds.
And with support from UNICEF CESTAS intends to extend its outreach and training activities to Community Rural Health Centres in selected Zones of Lilongwe District.
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.
END
Girl, 17, prefers prostitution than school, marriage
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
She was explicit in her statement. She would rather be a prostitute than somebody’s wife.
At only 17, Mercy Chande, from Ngasale Village in the area of Traditional Authority Nsamala in Balaka is already a “tried and tested” prostitute at the boma.
Some of Mercy’s clients are twice the age of her father, but none has been disappointed with her service, she told me.
“My friend, Mwatitha, introduced me into this trade when I was about 15. It’s risky, but I’ve to do it for money,” said Chande in an exclusive interview just outside Uncle Time Pub at Balaka.
“Sometimes I feel pity for myself. It’s not true that at my age I should be running around with men of my father’s age. But what can I do?” she asked.
Mercy does not harbour any ambition now; she has lost hope in life. Although she would like to do a business of some sort, but doesn’t know where to get money for capital.
“I know there’s Youth Enterprise Development Fund (Yedf), but I don’t qualify for it. I don’t have money for membership fee,” she explained.
Balaka is known to be the home of music, but is fast becoming the home of adolescent prostitutes. Just take a night walk at the boma and you will appreciate how far Malawi is in ridding our streets of night queens.
What is more worrying is the fact that the majority of these commercial sex workers are children of school-going age, but don’t attend school.
It is everybody’s ambition to get a decent employment soon after finishing education.
But school no longer pays dividends, Mercy contended, that she would rather continue with her nocturnal trade. In her confession, lack of employment was one of the driving forces behind her going into prostitution.
With funding from Unicef, Nkhadze Alive Youth Organization (Nayorg) is implementing a number of programmes in Balaka, Ntcheu, Machinga, Mangochi and Zomba whose aim is to help the youths to nurture their inborn talents into a source of employment.
Nayorg executive director Charles Sinetre said Sunday that the problem of unemployment has become so critical in Malawi and is forcing many young people to lose hope for the future.
Sinetre, however, advised the youths to develop a new approach to the problem by nurturing their inborn talents and turn them (talents) into self-employments.
He observed that using their own human resources, young people can manage to create self-employments in their localities.
“We’ve discovered that most of the visions and ambitions that young people harbour in their adolescence do not necessarily end into reality.
“So we’re saying instead of the youths playing football as a sport, why can’t they take it as their career at the same time?” said Sinetre.
“I’m a living witness to this fact; 90 percent of the country’s musicians have not gone for music school, but are able to impress their audience. So we’re saying; these inborn talents that young people have can be the best source of employment if well nurtured,” he added.
Mercy has heard about Nkhadze Alive Youth Organization (Nayorg) and the youth programmes it is implementing in Balaka. But she confessed that she has never thought of approaching the organization for assistance.
She feared that even if she may have a talent, Nayorg would not be interested to help her because she is illiterate.
But Sinetre stated that Mercy was one of the reasons for Nayorg’s existence.
“We exist to help such as her. Prostitution is not the best option; she should feel free to come and receive our assistance in whatever form,” he called.
END
She was explicit in her statement. She would rather be a prostitute than somebody’s wife.
At only 17, Mercy Chande, from Ngasale Village in the area of Traditional Authority Nsamala in Balaka is already a “tried and tested” prostitute at the boma.
Some of Mercy’s clients are twice the age of her father, but none has been disappointed with her service, she told me.
“My friend, Mwatitha, introduced me into this trade when I was about 15. It’s risky, but I’ve to do it for money,” said Chande in an exclusive interview just outside Uncle Time Pub at Balaka.
“Sometimes I feel pity for myself. It’s not true that at my age I should be running around with men of my father’s age. But what can I do?” she asked.
Mercy does not harbour any ambition now; she has lost hope in life. Although she would like to do a business of some sort, but doesn’t know where to get money for capital.
“I know there’s Youth Enterprise Development Fund (Yedf), but I don’t qualify for it. I don’t have money for membership fee,” she explained.
Balaka is known to be the home of music, but is fast becoming the home of adolescent prostitutes. Just take a night walk at the boma and you will appreciate how far Malawi is in ridding our streets of night queens.
What is more worrying is the fact that the majority of these commercial sex workers are children of school-going age, but don’t attend school.
It is everybody’s ambition to get a decent employment soon after finishing education.
But school no longer pays dividends, Mercy contended, that she would rather continue with her nocturnal trade. In her confession, lack of employment was one of the driving forces behind her going into prostitution.
With funding from Unicef, Nkhadze Alive Youth Organization (Nayorg) is implementing a number of programmes in Balaka, Ntcheu, Machinga, Mangochi and Zomba whose aim is to help the youths to nurture their inborn talents into a source of employment.
Nayorg executive director Charles Sinetre said Sunday that the problem of unemployment has become so critical in Malawi and is forcing many young people to lose hope for the future.
Sinetre, however, advised the youths to develop a new approach to the problem by nurturing their inborn talents and turn them (talents) into self-employments.
He observed that using their own human resources, young people can manage to create self-employments in their localities.
“We’ve discovered that most of the visions and ambitions that young people harbour in their adolescence do not necessarily end into reality.
“So we’re saying instead of the youths playing football as a sport, why can’t they take it as their career at the same time?” said Sinetre.
“I’m a living witness to this fact; 90 percent of the country’s musicians have not gone for music school, but are able to impress their audience. So we’re saying; these inborn talents that young people have can be the best source of employment if well nurtured,” he added.
Mercy has heard about Nkhadze Alive Youth Organization (Nayorg) and the youth programmes it is implementing in Balaka. But she confessed that she has never thought of approaching the organization for assistance.
She feared that even if she may have a talent, Nayorg would not be interested to help her because she is illiterate.
But Sinetre stated that Mercy was one of the reasons for Nayorg’s existence.
“We exist to help such as her. Prostitution is not the best option; she should feel free to come and receive our assistance in whatever form,” he called.
END
Friday, August 13, 2010
Balak teen mothers find sponsorship
 |
| Chithyola: We target teen mothers |
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Balaka teen mothers who thought their future is doomed forever have another chance opened for them to return to school next term with full sponsorship from Chinansi Foundation for Rural Development.
Chinansi executive director Simplex Chithyola said in an interview Saturday that his organization has sourced funding from a Canada-based Stephen Lewis Foundation for the cause.
Chithyola explained that some of the teen mothers have already been identified in Mpezeni, Pilitu, Sawali and Mthumba Villages all in the area of STA in the district. The targeted beneficiaries are of 12—25 years old who fall in the group of orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs)
“We want to encourage teen mothers to go back to school by paying their school fees. Most teen mothers think pregnancy means the end of their future, but this is not the case,” he said.
“We want them to know that there is still hope for better life even though,” added Chithyola.
Balaka is one of the districts in the country where the problem of teen prostitution is high resulting to a rise in the number of teen mothers because most of the teen prostitutes do not negotiate for safe sex for fear of losing the customers.
Chithyola attributed the problem to the cultures there, which he said are influencing young girls to marry or engage in premarital sex.
The Chinansi boss blamed the problem on lack of OVC-friendly policies in the country and has since indicated that his organization will start advocating for OVC-friendly policies and effective implementation of those policies.
“We believe in the philosophy of providing simple solutions that make big changes for a better life,” said Chithyola.
END
K6million for grannies caring for OVCs
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
The Foundation has sourced K6million from a Canadian Stephen Lewis Foundation for supporting grannies who are looking after orphans and vulnerable children.
Chithyola said the goal of Gogo Msamalira Ana project is to support the education and welfare of orphaned children and empower grandmothers to enable them to achieve their full potential in life and at the same time to lessen the burden that grannies face in caring for OVCs.
“We want to contribute towards improving the living standards of grandmothers and orphaned children and enhance their capacities in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” he said.
“Thus the project aims at empowering grandmothers through training in farming and business skills and sustain their economical and food independence,” Chithyola explained.
He disclosed that over 50 percent of the population of the selected villages are affected directly or indirectly with orphanhood.
The Foundation is expected to provide the grannies with the grandmothers with farm inputs (fertilizers and maize seeds), livestock and a K20, 000 capital for entrepreneurship, according to Chithyola.
The project will also benefit 40 orphans (20 secondary and 20 primary school pupils).
The OVCs being targeted are those whose ages range from 12—25. Out of the 40 benefitting children, 25 females while 15 will be male.
END
 |
| Chinansi director: Chithyola |
Twenty grandmothers from Mpezeni, Pilitu, Sawali and Mthumba Villages all in the area of STA in Balaka stand to benefit from the Gogo Msamalira Ana project being implemented by Chinansi Foundation for Rural Development.
The Foundation has sourced K6million from a Canadian Stephen Lewis Foundation for supporting grannies who are looking after orphans and vulnerable children.
Chithyola said the goal of Gogo Msamalira Ana project is to support the education and welfare of orphaned children and empower grandmothers to enable them to achieve their full potential in life and at the same time to lessen the burden that grannies face in caring for OVCs.
“We want to contribute towards improving the living standards of grandmothers and orphaned children and enhance their capacities in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” he said.
“Thus the project aims at empowering grandmothers through training in farming and business skills and sustain their economical and food independence,” Chithyola explained.
He disclosed that over 50 percent of the population of the selected villages are affected directly or indirectly with orphanhood.
The Foundation is expected to provide the grannies with the grandmothers with farm inputs (fertilizers and maize seeds), livestock and a K20, 000 capital for entrepreneurship, according to Chithyola.
The project will also benefit 40 orphans (20 secondary and 20 primary school pupils).
The OVCs being targeted are those whose ages range from 12—25. Out of the 40 benefitting children, 25 females while 15 will be male.
END
Business Guest
Foreign investors continue to dominate the local market as indigenous entrepreneurs struggle to make a breakthrough. Watipaso Mzungu Jnr had a chat with Lington Phekani, Chairman of Chitawira Shopping Centre, on why local companies are failing to grow.
Q: Can you tell me why many of the local companies fail to thrive?
Once they’ve acquired a little wealth, some entrepreneurs stop interacting with a certain section of the society saying they’re not necessary in the running of their business. This is bad because even a messenger at your company can finish you if you don’t know him well.
Q: Is that the only reason?
A: No! Another challenge with Malawian investors is they seem to be compromising their businesses on simple issues like sex. Many entrepreneurs have their businesses and companies closed for sacrificing their efforts with sex (promiscuity).
Q: And how have you managed to escape these temptations?
A: I don’t mix business with my social life. These are different and need to be treated as such. The other thing is that I attach greater importance to managerial issues. I ensure that I’m always there to run the business and not let someone run it on my behalf while I’m enjoying full health. I offer advice to my workers on what needs to be done. My workers are free to consult me and I freely mix with them. This helps us work well and hence the growth of our company.
Q: Your company has been there since Kamuzu Banda’s era and it continues growing. This is not easy in a country where even business is connected to politics. Do you have any political connections that help you survive the test of time?
A: As a citizen, my responsibility is just to vote. I’ve no political connections. I’m not demonizing businesspersons who are supporting politicians, but for me, I have nver been involved in politics. And I’ve never secured business using politics. The secret to my business is hard work. It’s not easy to reach where I’m, but I’m happy that I can now compete with some foreign investors because of my hard work.
Q: Is government doing enough to support the local entrepreneurs?
A: Not much! I can say government has been very hostile to the local investors who usually don’t have enough capital for their choice businesses. Tax on imports is mostly prohibitive to starters. For those who choose shortcuts, they’ve to corrupt Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) officials to import goods at a cheaper price.
Q: Have you ever corrupted one?
A: No! I’ve always resisted this because I know corruption can ruin my business. It’s very unfortunate that government is losing millions of Kwacha to corruption right at the tax-collecting body.
Q: How can government control corruption at MRA?
A: In South Africa, all departments and authorities tasked to collect government revenue are computerized and any payment made at such institutions is receipted. This is not the case here in Malawi. I wish government here done the same to fight corruption.
Q: Let us go back a bit, you said government is not doing much to promote local entrepreneurship. What exactly would you want government to do on this issue?
A: Government should consider reducing excise duty on imports local businesspersons make. This will help entrepreneurs make a significant profit on the imported goods and, therefore, grow in their businesses. The current trend where we pay exorbitant excise duties doesn’t provide a favourable environment for local businesspersons whose capital investment, in most cases, isn’t that much.
Q: How big is your company?
A: We’ve three outlets, three butcheries and a wholesale. All these outlets are based in Blantyre. We’ve also gone into transportation. We’re known as Chitawira Transport. We’ve bought a fleet of trucks, which will be plying the streets transporting people’s goods at affordable prices. We’re expanding within the parameters of my financial capacity. But I have plans to expand to other parts of the country in the future.
Q: What’s the size of your workforce?
A: I’ve got over 30 members of staff.
Q: What role does your wife play in this business?
A: My wife is managing the wholesale. I’m doing all I can to make sure there is no succession gap hence I want to involve everybody in my family into this business. Even my children take part in the running of this business.
Q: Is there anything you would like to tell me?
A: Yes! I want to thank Malawians and all my customers for offering me support by buying their daily needs from my shops. I don’t take this for granted.
END
Q: Can you tell me why many of the local companies fail to thrive?
 |
| Lington Phekani |
A: There are several factors, but the principal one is lack of management skills. Some people think to own a company is an ultimate goal one can achieve in life and thus they give themselves too much respect so much so that they don’t want to mix with common people.
Once they’ve acquired a little wealth, some entrepreneurs stop interacting with a certain section of the society saying they’re not necessary in the running of their business. This is bad because even a messenger at your company can finish you if you don’t know him well.
Q: Is that the only reason?
A: No! Another challenge with Malawian investors is they seem to be compromising their businesses on simple issues like sex. Many entrepreneurs have their businesses and companies closed for sacrificing their efforts with sex (promiscuity).
Q: And how have you managed to escape these temptations?
A: I don’t mix business with my social life. These are different and need to be treated as such. The other thing is that I attach greater importance to managerial issues. I ensure that I’m always there to run the business and not let someone run it on my behalf while I’m enjoying full health. I offer advice to my workers on what needs to be done. My workers are free to consult me and I freely mix with them. This helps us work well and hence the growth of our company.
Q: Your company has been there since Kamuzu Banda’s era and it continues growing. This is not easy in a country where even business is connected to politics. Do you have any political connections that help you survive the test of time?
A: As a citizen, my responsibility is just to vote. I’ve no political connections. I’m not demonizing businesspersons who are supporting politicians, but for me, I have nver been involved in politics. And I’ve never secured business using politics. The secret to my business is hard work. It’s not easy to reach where I’m, but I’m happy that I can now compete with some foreign investors because of my hard work.
Q: Is government doing enough to support the local entrepreneurs?
A: Not much! I can say government has been very hostile to the local investors who usually don’t have enough capital for their choice businesses. Tax on imports is mostly prohibitive to starters. For those who choose shortcuts, they’ve to corrupt Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) officials to import goods at a cheaper price.
Q: Have you ever corrupted one?
A: No! I’ve always resisted this because I know corruption can ruin my business. It’s very unfortunate that government is losing millions of Kwacha to corruption right at the tax-collecting body.
Q: How can government control corruption at MRA?
A: In South Africa, all departments and authorities tasked to collect government revenue are computerized and any payment made at such institutions is receipted. This is not the case here in Malawi. I wish government here done the same to fight corruption.
Q: Let us go back a bit, you said government is not doing much to promote local entrepreneurship. What exactly would you want government to do on this issue?
A: Government should consider reducing excise duty on imports local businesspersons make. This will help entrepreneurs make a significant profit on the imported goods and, therefore, grow in their businesses. The current trend where we pay exorbitant excise duties doesn’t provide a favourable environment for local businesspersons whose capital investment, in most cases, isn’t that much.
Q: How big is your company?
A: We’ve three outlets, three butcheries and a wholesale. All these outlets are based in Blantyre. We’ve also gone into transportation. We’re known as Chitawira Transport. We’ve bought a fleet of trucks, which will be plying the streets transporting people’s goods at affordable prices. We’re expanding within the parameters of my financial capacity. But I have plans to expand to other parts of the country in the future.
Q: What’s the size of your workforce?
A: I’ve got over 30 members of staff.
Q: What role does your wife play in this business?
A: My wife is managing the wholesale. I’m doing all I can to make sure there is no succession gap hence I want to involve everybody in my family into this business. Even my children take part in the running of this business.
Q: Is there anything you would like to tell me?
A: Yes! I want to thank Malawians and all my customers for offering me support by buying their daily needs from my shops. I don’t take this for granted.
END
Earning a decent living
by Watipaso Mzungu Jnr
“Sitikufuna chuma chomachidya uli cheuchue (We don’t want to indulge in clandestine means of earning a living!),” said Phinifolo whose sister Grantford married.
And this marked the birth of Talandiridwa Band in 2004. With their locally-made equipment, the two travel from place to place displaying ingenuity in plucking guitars and drums made from gallons and pots, respectively.
“On a good day, we make not less K2,000. And this is not a mean achievement; we’re able to feed our families with these proceeds,” chipped in Nguluwe.
The band boasts that it has composed more than 20 songs, which would have been selling on the market had it been that they sourced sponsorship to record them.
“We’d like to appeal to well-wishers to assist us. We’ll not disappoint them; our songs are pure and traditional,” said Phinifolo.
END
 |
| Talandiridwa performing at Limbe Market |
They want to earn a decent living and this is the more reason Louis Phinifolo and Grantford Nguluwe, in-laws, went into music.
Phinifolo comes from while Nguluwe is a descendant of Chief Mzukuzuku Jere in Mzimba. But the institution of marriage brought the two together to form a band after failing to secure a job.
“Sitikufuna chuma chomachidya uli cheuchue (We don’t want to indulge in clandestine means of earning a living!),” said Phinifolo whose sister Grantford married.
And this marked the birth of Talandiridwa Band in 2004. With their locally-made equipment, the two travel from place to place displaying ingenuity in plucking guitars and drums made from gallons and pots, respectively.
“On a good day, we make not less K2,000. And this is not a mean achievement; we’re able to feed our families with these proceeds,” chipped in Nguluwe.
The band boasts that it has composed more than 20 songs, which would have been selling on the market had it been that they sourced sponsorship to record them.
“We’d like to appeal to well-wishers to assist us. We’ll not disappoint them; our songs are pure and traditional,” said Phinifolo.
END
BISC disburses K32.7m to entrepreneurs
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Over 151 small and medium entrepreneurs from Blantyre have benefitted from the Project Malawi’s Business Information and Service Centre (Bisc) loan scheme, its coordinator Francis Saka said Tuesday.
Saka explained that the loans were meant to augment working capital (raw materials and stocks) and finance capital expenditure (purchase of equipment).
“The loan is meant to assist the businesses take advantage of an opportunity in the market or have the business jump from stagnation due to lack of capital equipment or inadequate working capital,” he said.
According to Saka, the loans ranged from K20, 000 to K1, 500, 000 per entrepreneur and entrepreneurs in various trades such as welding and fabrication, carpentry, knitting, trading, cane furniture production, poultry and piggery received the loans.
“We’re currently processing first loans for Lilongwe and Balaka and soon distribution will start,” Saka disclosed.
Bisc is an urban and peri-urban non-profit making initiative by Project Malawi, which provides training to entrepreneurs and also assists the same in making decisions such as in investment, marketing and credit financing.
END
Over 151 small and medium entrepreneurs from Blantyre have benefitted from the Project Malawi’s Business Information and Service Centre (Bisc) loan scheme, its coordinator Francis Saka said Tuesday.
Saka explained that the loans were meant to augment working capital (raw materials and stocks) and finance capital expenditure (purchase of equipment).
“The loan is meant to assist the businesses take advantage of an opportunity in the market or have the business jump from stagnation due to lack of capital equipment or inadequate working capital,” he said.
According to Saka, the loans ranged from K20, 000 to K1, 500, 000 per entrepreneur and entrepreneurs in various trades such as welding and fabrication, carpentry, knitting, trading, cane furniture production, poultry and piggery received the loans.
“We’re currently processing first loans for Lilongwe and Balaka and soon distribution will start,” Saka disclosed.
Bisc is an urban and peri-urban non-profit making initiative by Project Malawi, which provides training to entrepreneurs and also assists the same in making decisions such as in investment, marketing and credit financing.
END
Feeding problem on the street
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Since time immemorial, there have been calls by government, non-governmental organizations and development partners to remove kids off the streets and find them a better place to live.
Street-kids or indeed beggars are the least people I want to see each time I go for shopping. Not that I am very stingy with my money, but I have two reasons why I hold such hatred towards street-beggars.
I don’t think begging can be the solution to our socioeconomic problems. Again, I always feel a street is not the best place where one can do his or her charity work.
In my thinking, the best way to approach these kids is to adopt one of them and raise them at home.
In July 2008, the Executive Director of Step Kids Awareness (STEKA) Godknows Maseko left Malawi for South Africa via Mozambique on a bicycle to raise awareness on the plight of street kids.
MultiChoice Malawi was one of the non-governmental organizations that sponsored his bicycle trip to the “rainbow nation”. Before riding off, this child rights activist told the media that the plight of street kids will not be over until people who claim to be Good Samaritans stop their practice.
According to him, the giving of alms to vulnerable children on the roads only exacerbates the situation on the ground. I could not agree more on this issue.
Many Malawians believe there is nothing wrong and that it is being considerate when you give a coin to a child on the street. But what people need to know is that the tendency that we call benevolence on the street has a very bad repercussion in the end.
For starters, I would like to remind Malawians that most of the young children gracing our roads are not there out of choice. It is problems plus problems that drive them on the street for survival.
Each and every human being desires to lead a life minus crises and hardships. But without invitation, crises will always come into our lives. The deadly HIV and AIDS pandemic has only added salt to a festering wound as it has increased the number of orphans in the country.
While appreciating that not all the children begging on our road pavements are parentless, the fact remains that the majority of them are victims of HIV and AIDS after losing their beloved parents to the killer.
Life on the street is not all that rosy that we can conclude that by assisting them with the little cash we give out while passing by will ease their suffering. The problem of street children needs more than our “street-benevolence”. It is more than the generosity we do portray on the roads to end the suffering of the child on the streets.
No one can appreciate the suffering children go through on the roads until he or she experiences it. When you see them on the street, do not assume that they are happy. They are there because their bellies need to be filled at a time when their houses are clean of any foodstuff. They would like to sleep under good beddings when their uncles grabbed the property left by parents.
Children on the streets also desire to lead a decent life, but fail to manage to achieve their desire because they lack human and material support. It is not the coin we give them that these kids need when they are on the street. Their appearance may speak louder than words: “Njala bwana, tithandizeni yaufa, bwana!”
They need clothes, shelter, food and protection. They need to go to school only if you can provide them motherly and fatherly care which they miss a lot after losing parents. Children on the street need education, too, in order to become what they would like to be when they grow up. They need more than the coins or banknotes you can give.
Unfortunately, many of us think street kids were born to be on the street and that we are their “daily street—providers”. By giving them the coins, we are assuring them of our continued support on condition that they should be on the street. And that is feeding or fertilizing the problem, not rooting it out. In this case, we are not solving the problem, but just nursing it.
But the problem, though, is that when these kids grow into adults with their street-life, they usually become notorious criminals in the society because we did not care at first. They will be faced with responsibility to provide for their own lives even when they have got no means and that will drive them into burglary, theft and robbery to get money.
It is sad that people are very fast at criticizing the police for lawlessness in the society when they do not want to deal with it alone while it is still in infancy. Sometimes I wonder when I hear people talk about being a human right activist yet they cannot see that children on the street have their rights, too, which need to be protected with or without their parents.
The problem I note is that many people choose to come in when the problem gets out of hand, which is a bad practice. We have a lot of children gracing our street begging for alms. The best way to assist is not to give those coins. The best way is to find means of how we can house them, provide for them all their needs so that they may go back to school.
Is it not surprising when people criticize the government for doing nothing on the problem of street kids? We have business tycoons in the country. But which one can tell the nation his contribution to the fight against the plight of street kids? I bet nobody can come forward.
Yet there are many Malawians playing generous people to orphans on the streets by throwing useless coins to the kids as we drive by. That is not helpful. Let us find a lasting solution to the problem. Otherwise, we should not criticize the police for lawlessness in our societies because we have chosen to nurture our future criminals. We have chosen to feed our own next assailants.
We shall always have the problem of children begging on the street until we stop being “street benefactors”.
END
Since time immemorial, there have been calls by government, non-governmental organizations and development partners to remove kids off the streets and find them a better place to live.
Street-kids or indeed beggars are the least people I want to see each time I go for shopping. Not that I am very stingy with my money, but I have two reasons why I hold such hatred towards street-beggars.
I don’t think begging can be the solution to our socioeconomic problems. Again, I always feel a street is not the best place where one can do his or her charity work.
In my thinking, the best way to approach these kids is to adopt one of them and raise them at home.
In July 2008, the Executive Director of Step Kids Awareness (STEKA) Godknows Maseko left Malawi for South Africa via Mozambique on a bicycle to raise awareness on the plight of street kids.
MultiChoice Malawi was one of the non-governmental organizations that sponsored his bicycle trip to the “rainbow nation”. Before riding off, this child rights activist told the media that the plight of street kids will not be over until people who claim to be Good Samaritans stop their practice.
According to him, the giving of alms to vulnerable children on the roads only exacerbates the situation on the ground. I could not agree more on this issue.
Many Malawians believe there is nothing wrong and that it is being considerate when you give a coin to a child on the street. But what people need to know is that the tendency that we call benevolence on the street has a very bad repercussion in the end.
For starters, I would like to remind Malawians that most of the young children gracing our roads are not there out of choice. It is problems plus problems that drive them on the street for survival.
Each and every human being desires to lead a life minus crises and hardships. But without invitation, crises will always come into our lives. The deadly HIV and AIDS pandemic has only added salt to a festering wound as it has increased the number of orphans in the country.
While appreciating that not all the children begging on our road pavements are parentless, the fact remains that the majority of them are victims of HIV and AIDS after losing their beloved parents to the killer.
Life on the street is not all that rosy that we can conclude that by assisting them with the little cash we give out while passing by will ease their suffering. The problem of street children needs more than our “street-benevolence”. It is more than the generosity we do portray on the roads to end the suffering of the child on the streets.
No one can appreciate the suffering children go through on the roads until he or she experiences it. When you see them on the street, do not assume that they are happy. They are there because their bellies need to be filled at a time when their houses are clean of any foodstuff. They would like to sleep under good beddings when their uncles grabbed the property left by parents.
Children on the streets also desire to lead a decent life, but fail to manage to achieve their desire because they lack human and material support. It is not the coin we give them that these kids need when they are on the street. Their appearance may speak louder than words: “Njala bwana, tithandizeni yaufa, bwana!”
They need clothes, shelter, food and protection. They need to go to school only if you can provide them motherly and fatherly care which they miss a lot after losing parents. Children on the street need education, too, in order to become what they would like to be when they grow up. They need more than the coins or banknotes you can give.
Unfortunately, many of us think street kids were born to be on the street and that we are their “daily street—providers”. By giving them the coins, we are assuring them of our continued support on condition that they should be on the street. And that is feeding or fertilizing the problem, not rooting it out. In this case, we are not solving the problem, but just nursing it.
But the problem, though, is that when these kids grow into adults with their street-life, they usually become notorious criminals in the society because we did not care at first. They will be faced with responsibility to provide for their own lives even when they have got no means and that will drive them into burglary, theft and robbery to get money.
It is sad that people are very fast at criticizing the police for lawlessness in the society when they do not want to deal with it alone while it is still in infancy. Sometimes I wonder when I hear people talk about being a human right activist yet they cannot see that children on the street have their rights, too, which need to be protected with or without their parents.
The problem I note is that many people choose to come in when the problem gets out of hand, which is a bad practice. We have a lot of children gracing our street begging for alms. The best way to assist is not to give those coins. The best way is to find means of how we can house them, provide for them all their needs so that they may go back to school.
Is it not surprising when people criticize the government for doing nothing on the problem of street kids? We have business tycoons in the country. But which one can tell the nation his contribution to the fight against the plight of street kids? I bet nobody can come forward.
Yet there are many Malawians playing generous people to orphans on the streets by throwing useless coins to the kids as we drive by. That is not helpful. Let us find a lasting solution to the problem. Otherwise, we should not criticize the police for lawlessness in our societies because we have chosen to nurture our future criminals. We have chosen to feed our own next assailants.
We shall always have the problem of children begging on the street until we stop being “street benefactors”.
END
Protestant Churches forming new organization
by Watipaso Mzungu Jnr
The world's two largest networks of Protestant churches in the reformed tradition have since Friday been meeting in Grand Rapids in the United States of America (USA) to form a new organization.
The Pros tenant family was divided between Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) whose secretariat in Grand Rapids, USA, and the Reformed Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) which has its secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.
REC is known for its emphasis on spiritual development and faithfulness to church 'Confessions' (statements which define points of faith) while WARC is known for its stances on issues such as racial and gender justice, environmental protection and a just and equitable world economic order.
Former General Secretary of Nkhoma Synod of the CCAP Rev. Dr. Winston Kawale said in an email interview that the new organization, to be known as the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), signals a new level of relationship between two families of churches once divided from each other.
In Malawi, the CCAP Nkhoma Synod is a member of REC, and the CCAP General Assembly which comprises Blantyre, Nkhoma and Livingstonia Synods, is a member of WARC.
However, when the two organizations merge, the three CCAP Synods in Malawi will become members of WCRC.
"In these times of division and dissension in so many areas of our lives - including church life - it is highly significant that two global groups of churches based in 108 countries and representing 80 million people should be willing to come together in a higher level of union than ever before," said Richard van Houten, General Secretary of the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC).
In his remarks made available to The Sunday Times through Dr. Kawale, WARC's general secretary Dr. Setri Nyomi said, "The term 'communion' in the new organization's name points to a new form of working relationship. As a communion, we recognize our common baptism and our togetherness at the Lord's table - making us better witnesses and more effective in making a difference in the world."
The Uniting General Council programme indicates that the first meeting of the World Communion of Reformed Churches took take place on Friday, June 18. On Thursday, June 24 there will be the election of WCRC President and the executive committee members.
Meanwhile, Rev Dr Winston Kawale has been appointed to be a member of the Nominations Committee which will shortlist the nominated candidates for the general elections. He has been REC Vice President since 2005
END
The world's two largest networks of Protestant churches in the reformed tradition have since Friday been meeting in Grand Rapids in the United States of America (USA) to form a new organization.
The Pros tenant family was divided between Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) whose secretariat in Grand Rapids, USA, and the Reformed Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) which has its secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.
REC is known for its emphasis on spiritual development and faithfulness to church 'Confessions' (statements which define points of faith) while WARC is known for its stances on issues such as racial and gender justice, environmental protection and a just and equitable world economic order.
Former General Secretary of Nkhoma Synod of the CCAP Rev. Dr. Winston Kawale said in an email interview that the new organization, to be known as the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), signals a new level of relationship between two families of churches once divided from each other.
In Malawi, the CCAP Nkhoma Synod is a member of REC, and the CCAP General Assembly which comprises Blantyre, Nkhoma and Livingstonia Synods, is a member of WARC.
However, when the two organizations merge, the three CCAP Synods in Malawi will become members of WCRC.
"In these times of division and dissension in so many areas of our lives - including church life - it is highly significant that two global groups of churches based in 108 countries and representing 80 million people should be willing to come together in a higher level of union than ever before," said Richard van Houten, General Secretary of the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC).
In his remarks made available to The Sunday Times through Dr. Kawale, WARC's general secretary Dr. Setri Nyomi said, "The term 'communion' in the new organization's name points to a new form of working relationship. As a communion, we recognize our common baptism and our togetherness at the Lord's table - making us better witnesses and more effective in making a difference in the world."
The Uniting General Council programme indicates that the first meeting of the World Communion of Reformed Churches took take place on Friday, June 18. On Thursday, June 24 there will be the election of WCRC President and the executive committee members.
Meanwhile, Rev Dr Winston Kawale has been appointed to be a member of the Nominations Committee which will shortlist the nominated candidates for the general elections. He has been REC Vice President since 2005
END
Pope urges priests not to falter
by Watipaso Mzungu Jnr
Head of the Catholic Church Pope Benedict XVI has called upon his priests worldwide to lead a Christ-like life and not conform to the whims of the world.
The pontiff made the call at the Mass he concelebrated to mark the closing of the Year for Priests, which took place in Rome. The call comes amid sexual scandals involving Catholic priests worldwide.
But in his homily, Pope Benedict XVI said that priesthood is not a secular office and, therefore, its holders need to be exemplary in the society.
He urged priests to look upon all that happened as a summons to purification, as a task which they bring to the future and which makes them acknowledge and love all the more the great gift they received from God.
“We too insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again; and that in admitting men to priestly ministry and in their formation we will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation and make every effort to accompany priests along their journey, so that the Lord will protect them and watch over them in troubled situations and amid life’s dangers,” said the pontiff.
END
Head of the Catholic Church Pope Benedict XVI has called upon his priests worldwide to lead a Christ-like life and not conform to the whims of the world.
The pontiff made the call at the Mass he concelebrated to mark the closing of the Year for Priests, which took place in Rome. The call comes amid sexual scandals involving Catholic priests worldwide.
But in his homily, Pope Benedict XVI said that priesthood is not a secular office and, therefore, its holders need to be exemplary in the society.
He urged priests to look upon all that happened as a summons to purification, as a task which they bring to the future and which makes them acknowledge and love all the more the great gift they received from God.
“We too insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again; and that in admitting men to priestly ministry and in their formation we will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation and make every effort to accompany priests along their journey, so that the Lord will protect them and watch over them in troubled situations and amid life’s dangers,” said the pontiff.
END
CSCQBE joins int’l Education for All campaign
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Civil Society Coalition for Quality Basic Education (CSCQBE) recently joined other education coalitions from different countries in a solidarity march to press governments to allocate more resources to education sector.
The march took place in South African and coalitions and organizations from Zambia, United States, United Kingdom, Asia, Mozambique and the host South Africa attended.
The gathering was meant to press governments to improve the quality of education in the public sector.
Among others, delegates presented a memorandum on improving quality public education for all to the South African Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga.
And speaking on behalf of the local civil society, CSCQBE board chairperson Emily Banda observed that it is a big challenge for coalitions to convince governments to commit more resources the education sector.
“It is not easy to get government to commit more resources towards the education sector as the tricky part is that there will never be a politician who will never say NO! to Education. They all make promises but fulfilling them is a major challenge,” said Banda.
She, however, encouraged the coalitions to press on citing Malawi where the campaign has earned a lion share in the national budget.
“I must say there is political will in Malawi. Government has this year responded to our calls by allocating over 20 percent of the national budget towards education,” the CSCQGE board chair said.
Banda applauded President Bingu wa Mutharika who is also African Union Chairperson for leading by example by showing commitment to improve the standards of education.
Former Brazilian Coach Socrates and South African and Manchester United player Quinton Fortune were among the notable figures that attended the march.
END
Civil Society Coalition for Quality Basic Education (CSCQBE) recently joined other education coalitions from different countries in a solidarity march to press governments to allocate more resources to education sector.
The march took place in South African and coalitions and organizations from Zambia, United States, United Kingdom, Asia, Mozambique and the host South Africa attended.
The gathering was meant to press governments to improve the quality of education in the public sector.
Among others, delegates presented a memorandum on improving quality public education for all to the South African Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga.
And speaking on behalf of the local civil society, CSCQBE board chairperson Emily Banda observed that it is a big challenge for coalitions to convince governments to commit more resources the education sector.
“It is not easy to get government to commit more resources towards the education sector as the tricky part is that there will never be a politician who will never say NO! to Education. They all make promises but fulfilling them is a major challenge,” said Banda.
She, however, encouraged the coalitions to press on citing Malawi where the campaign has earned a lion share in the national budget.
“I must say there is political will in Malawi. Government has this year responded to our calls by allocating over 20 percent of the national budget towards education,” the CSCQGE board chair said.
Banda applauded President Bingu wa Mutharika who is also African Union Chairperson for leading by example by showing commitment to improve the standards of education.
Former Brazilian Coach Socrates and South African and Manchester United player Quinton Fortune were among the notable figures that attended the march.
END
Parents fundraise for LL Girls
BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Parents whose daughters are learning at Lilongwe Girls Secondary School have embarked on ambitious project to build two semi-detached teachers’ houses at the institution.
A member of the fundraising committee, Suzgika Mvalo, said the project aims at addressing the housing problem currently haunting the institution, and the entire education sector.
Out of the 40 teachers at Lilongwe Girls, as it is popularly referred to, only eight are operating from within the campus while the rest commute from as far as Area 25 and Gulliver.
“We’ve lined up a number of activities to raise funds for the project,” said Mvalo.
“We realize the need for teachers to operate from within the campus. Teachers who operate from far usually come to school exhausted and thus cannot concentrate,” he added.
The semi-detached structures will house four teachers and parents will require not less than K10 million for the project to materialize, according to Mvalo.
“So far, we’ve managed to raise K600,000; and we’re hopeful that people well-wishers will come to our aid. But we’re expected to start our fundraising activities in July this year,” he disclosed.
Lilongwe Girls Headteacher Anita Kaliwo commended the parents for coming up with the initiative, which she said will go a long way into easing the financial responsibilities teachers bear when travelling to work on daily basis.
In Lilongwe, every commuter from areas such as Gulliver, 25 and Chigwirizano needs not less than K2,500 in minibus fares per week.
“The two houses will play a significant contribution in reducing the financial burdens that teachers bear when operating from off the campus,” said Kaliwo.
Meanwhile, entrepreneurs Ufulu Leaders and Mulli Brothers have contributed K50,000 and K30,000, respectively. Politician Patricia Kaliati has donated K20,000 while Compubyte and Xerographics contributed a fax machine and printer, respectively.
END
Parents whose daughters are learning at Lilongwe Girls Secondary School have embarked on ambitious project to build two semi-detached teachers’ houses at the institution.
A member of the fundraising committee, Suzgika Mvalo, said the project aims at addressing the housing problem currently haunting the institution, and the entire education sector.
Out of the 40 teachers at Lilongwe Girls, as it is popularly referred to, only eight are operating from within the campus while the rest commute from as far as Area 25 and Gulliver.
“We’ve lined up a number of activities to raise funds for the project,” said Mvalo.
“We realize the need for teachers to operate from within the campus. Teachers who operate from far usually come to school exhausted and thus cannot concentrate,” he added.
The semi-detached structures will house four teachers and parents will require not less than K10 million for the project to materialize, according to Mvalo.
“So far, we’ve managed to raise K600,000; and we’re hopeful that people well-wishers will come to our aid. But we’re expected to start our fundraising activities in July this year,” he disclosed.
Lilongwe Girls Headteacher Anita Kaliwo commended the parents for coming up with the initiative, which she said will go a long way into easing the financial responsibilities teachers bear when travelling to work on daily basis.
In Lilongwe, every commuter from areas such as Gulliver, 25 and Chigwirizano needs not less than K2,500 in minibus fares per week.
“The two houses will play a significant contribution in reducing the financial burdens that teachers bear when operating from off the campus,” said Kaliwo.
Meanwhile, entrepreneurs Ufulu Leaders and Mulli Brothers have contributed K50,000 and K30,000, respectively. Politician Patricia Kaliati has donated K20,000 while Compubyte and Xerographics contributed a fax machine and printer, respectively.
END
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