Items filtered by date: May 2025

By Robert Nayeja

Dar es Salaam, June 25, Mana: Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Sosten Gwengwe says, African Human Capital Heads of state summit taking place in Tanzania will accelerate economic opportunities among the youth in Malawi.

Gwendwe made the remarks on Monday in Dar ES Salaam Tanzania, where the continental Summit is taking place.

The Malawi leader, President Dr Lazarus MacCarthy Chakwera is expected to attend the summit which will be held from 25th to 26th July, 2023 at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre

He said World Bank being one of the big partners in development has organized the summit to look at issues of Human Capital development and how it can assist in the development of people in Africa including Malawi.

“This Summit will foster technical discussion and also provide a platform where, experiences will be shared on human capital. As a nation we will benefit a lot as we will be able to explore how best we should reach out to the young generation with economic opportunities,” said Gwengwe

Gwengwe added that the two-day summit will bring a bottom-up demand to human capital prioritization and investments in African countries by discussing challenges and bottlenecks to human capital accumulation along with identification of priorities and drivers of growth.

Gwengwe said the President has been invited to speak on demographic dividend, with a consideration that Malawi has a young population which needs special attention in order to hasten creation of economic opportunities such as jobs and skills development.

The Africa Human Capital Heads of State Summit comes in response to engagements with government focal points on the need to draw attention to the role of human capital in economic growth.

 The (JNICC) summit will be held under the theme, “linking investments in human capital to economic growth and harnessing the demographic dividend, by addressing learning poverty and the skills gap for youth and women.

Learning poverty is the share of children unable to read and understand a simple text by the age of 10, estimated to be 89% in Africa.

The Department of Buildings in the Ministry of Transport and Public Works is optimistic that construction works of the Clinic will be completed by next Month.

Meanwhile the contractor is doing finishing works on the access road and carpark.

According to the project manager Davies Mbewe the department of building is expected to handover a complete furnished clinic comprising of two holding rooms, General store, Linen stores, Drug stores, Sluice, two Examination rooms, Dispensary, Laboratory and Specimen stores, Registration and records room, In-Charge Office, Staffroom and Kitchenette and Public Change rooms.

When completed the clinic will help civil servants working at capital hill and the vicinity to easily access health services during working hours.

Kasungu, June 2, Mana: Commissioner for Central East Police Region, Rhoda Manjolo, has asked police officers in the region to be dedicated and disciplined and forge a cordial relationship amongst themselves in the course of executing their duties.

Manjolo was speaking Thursday during the launch of a K7.5 million Central East Police Region Commissioner’s trophy at Kasungu Stadium.

She said discipline, physical fitness and dedication are crucial traits in a police officer alongside strengthened work relationship. 

Said Manjolo: “This trophy was initiated by our Inspector General Merlyn Yollam to ensure that as police officers we are always physically fit, united and disciplined at all times.

“It is my hope that this sporting competition will promote discipline, unity and physical fitness which are important elements in our work as police.”

The commissioner also courted prospective partners to support the initiative through donation of sporting furniture like balls, boots, among others

Regional Operations Officer for the region Mike Sitolo said the launched trophy will motivate police officers and help them cool off when off duty.

“We are thankful to the Commissioner for this trophy as it will promote good health in us and at the same time keep us busy,” he said.

Among the sports disciplines to be competed in the trophy are football, netball, volleyball and tag of war. Two district finalists will compete at national level at a date yet to be set.

During the launch which was spiced by a march from the regional police headquarters and supported by First Capital Bank, Central East regional football club played against Dowa Police in a match that ended one all draw.

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Karonga, June 4 Mana: Chitipa United Football Club made history on Saturday following their 1-0 TNM Super League victory against  the defending champions,FCB Nyasa Big Bullets in a match which was played at Karonga Stadium.

This is the first time for Chitipa to beat Bullets in  TNM Super League and the first defeat of the season for the defending champions who are leading on the log table with 17 points from eight games.

Chitipa who are fresh from another huge 1-0 victory against Bullets’s archrival Mukuru Mighty Wanderers, went into the game with the odds against them as they had never beaten Bullets in the previous six super league encounters before Saturday’s win.

 Chitipa only managed to salvage a point from a 2-2 draw with Bullets in the 2019 season.

On top of that Chitipa United have only two players with super league experience as the rest are from the lower league.

The lone goal of the match came in the 53rd minute from Rajab Nyirenda’s high free kick near the corner kick spot, which Bullets’ goalie, Richard Chimbamba failed to clear. To some extent, it looked like an own goal through the Bullets defender's header.

The goal was enough to disorient the defending champions completely who never recovered.

Played in front of a full-to-capacity stadium under fine weather, from the on set it was hard to tell who the defending champions were, save for the uniform colours and the faces. Chitipa United FC dominated making more goal attempts than Bullets. The first half ended in a 0-0 draw.

In the second half, the defending champions started with playing quick football but the tactic got resistance from Chitipa United FC defense. Led by Chris Lwemba who was named man of the match for the third time in a row, the trio including Blessings Joseph and Peter Mughogho proved impossible to penetrate.

Bullets tried in extra time to push for a draw with Macfarene Ngwira, who was introduced in the second half replacing Patrick Mwaungulu, making dangerous passes and crosses up front but his effort was not good enough to register anything on the score sheet. Under pressure, Chitipa United FC goalie, George Chikooka and Stain Patrick were served with yellow cards in the dying minutes of the game for displaying perceptible delaying tactics and rough play respectively.

Coach for Bullets, Callisto Pasuwa admitted that Chitipa United’s zeal was no match for his team.

“We could see the zeal from our counterparts trying as much as they could to get to the ball. Our opponents planned well and did well in terms of approach. We will go back and re-assess ourselves,” Pasuwa said.

However, he said all is not lost as the team have 21 more games ahead of them. Chitipa United Coach, Mac Donald Ntetemera on the other hand said all he is doing is to instill the spirit of hard work in his charges adding that each fixture has its game plan. “I am a teacher and not a coach. I am teaching the players to play modern football as you can see. Expect more surprises. I can't say what my target is for now,” said Ntetemera. Karonga Stadium is  today hosting another thriller as Karonga United FC takes on Mighty Mukuru Wanderers Chitipa are now on position four on the log table with four points behind Bullets which is leading on the table.

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Phalombe, June 4, Mana: Habitat for humanity has donated shelter materials to 430 Cyclone Freddy survivors’ households from Traditional Authority Jenala in Phalombe district to help them construct temporary houses.

The materials donated include timber, robes, hammers, panga knives, hoes, blankets, shovels, nails, tents among others amounting to K160 million.

Speaking in an interview on Saturday  during the donation, the organization’s Country Director Anock Kapila said shelter was the worst affected sector during cyclone Freddy and the donation is one way of fulfilling the organization's vision of providing decent house to everyone.

He explained: " We are going to teach them how to construct temporary houses using the materials provided and also how to construct better houses when they have resources to reconstruct their houses."

Speaking earlier, Director of Planning and Development for Phalombe Kelvin Harawa thanked the organisation for the timely assistance saying this will go a long to assist survivors whose houses were destroyed.

He added that in the meantime, Phalombe Council is appealing to  well-wishers to continue supporting the district for resilience in all sectors of education, health, agriculture, housing among others.

“Crops were washed away during Cyclone Freddy and this affected nutrition status of the affected population. Further, school enrollment has also been affected,” he added.

Harawa then asked the beneficiaries to use the materials received for intended purpose saying once found selling, the law will take its course.

He said, "whether you are going to sell in Limbe, we are going to trace you with assistance from police."

One of the beneficiaries Enifa Basikolo thanked the organisation for the assistance saying she has been staying with relatives in a kitchen together with her three children since Cyclone Freddy started and the materials will help her to relocate. 

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Thyolo, June 2, Mana: Member of Parliament for Thyolo Central, Dr. Ben Phiri on Thursday donated a set of jerseys to Thyolo Police Station football team to help the team compete favorably in the ongoing Eastern Commissioners Trophy.

In an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana), Phiri said the donation was one way of encouraging the police officers to participate in sporting activities because this will help to promote their physical fitness. 

Phiri said promoting sporting activities among the security officers will help to keep their bodies in shape; hence, will work effectively in fighting against crime in the district.

Thyolo Police Station Officer In-Charge, Isaac Norman applauded the legislator for the donation; saying sporting activities among the officers will promote and strengthen relationship between communities and police officers because the two parties will have the opportunity to interact socially.

“This valuable contribution will undoubtedly enhance unity amongst police officers and the communities in different formations and it will also enhance the sharing of crime information,” he said.

He appealed to other well-wishers in the country to emulate the example by Phiri, noting it is the responsibility of citizen to fight against crime in the country. 

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Lilongwe June 2, Mana: The World Bank has approved US$265 million (approximately K265 billion) to scale up agriculture commercialisation and improve the Food Systems Resilience Program (FSRP) for Eastern and Southern Africa financing countries including Comoros, Kenya, Somalia, Madagascar, Tanzania and Malawi.

The program will scale up many of the successful interventions and approaches of Malawi’s Agricultural Commercialisation Project (AGCOM) as a means of enhancing national and regional food systems as well as support to the authorities to implement resilience enhancing policy reforms.

The FSRP for Eastern and Southern Africa has already committed close to US$1.7 billion in the first three phases of its program saying countries such as Comoros, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Somalia and Tanzania are being joined by the African Union Commission (AUC) with more countries expected to join.

In a statement released by World Bank in Lilongwe on Friday, World Bank Country Manager for Malawi, Hugh Riddel says AGCOM is delivering on Malawi 2063 core goal of agricultural transformation saying Malawi has an opportunity to scale this intervention nationally and collaborate and learn how to tackle food systems resilience with other participating countries in the region.

“Developing viable and sustainable value chains is key to national food security as well as boosting foreign exchange for the country’s broader economic needs,” he says.

Minister of Agriculture, Sam Dalitso Kawale said agriculture is the main stay of Malawi’s economy and any investments made, including strengthening food security, and with lessons learnt from AGCOM, Malawi is expected to scale up some interventions within the new project which will likely have a great impact on the overall economy.

Minister of Finance, Sosten Gwengwe said the new phase of the project gives Malawians confidence that they have the capacity and ability to deliver results that have potential to transform the lives.

Gwengwe assured World Bank that Malawi will continue to undertake actions and policy reforms so that it sustain the economic transformation efforts saying the major investment that the World Bank is making in agriculture transformation is for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) development, and export promotion and facilitation.

The World Bank project in Malawi will also prioritise building climate-resilient infrastructure that is designed and built in a way that anticipates, prepares for, and adapts to changing climate conditions since Malawi currently depends largely on rain-fed agriculture.

The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) established in 1960 helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives.

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Lilongwe, June 2, Mana: Some government officials including those from  city councils are participating in the workshop dubbed ‘Strong cities meeting’ which is underway in South Africa.

The meeting aims at analysing the role of cities in East and Southern Africa (ESA) in preventing and responding to hate- and extremist-motivated violence as part of wider city-led efforts to promote public safety, build resilience and enhance social cohesion.

The workshop is being hosted by the Strong Cities Network in partnership with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).

Leading the Malawi delegation is the Deputy Minister of Local Government, Unity & Culture, Owen Chomanika as well as Malawi Local Government Association (Malga) Executive Director, Hadrod Zeru Mkandawire.

In an interview with the local media in South Africa, Chomanika said his ministry wishes to build strong cities in the country.

“It is the wish of the ministry that we should have strong cities and councils to be able to deal with extremism at that level. We are doing something but maybe not enough,” Chomanika said.

He further hailed the participation of Malawi at the strong cities conference saying that the meeting would enlighten officials from country’s councils and his ministry on how they would fulfill the dream of building up strong cities in the country.

Also commenting on the same Lilongwe City Council Chief Public Relations Officer who is also attending the meeting, Tamara Chafunya said that the meeting provides an opportunity for city-level and other relevant stakeholders in the East and Southern Africa region to engage with each other in order to better understand the hate- and extremist-related threats facing local communities in the region.

The workshop is being funded by the European Union as part of its STRIVE Cities initiative and is expected to close today.

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Nkhotakota, June 2, 2023 MANA. The National Initiative for Civic Education (NIC) has embarked on a mass awareness campaign on the national agenda 2063.

Speaking in Nkhotakota district during one of the campaigns, NICE District Civic Education Officer for Salima and Nkhotakota districts, Queen Mataya said the goal of this massive awareness campaign is to ensure that all Malawians are part of the process of attaining sustainable development by 2063.

Mataya said it is important that the local masses know the vision Malawi is working so that they are individually able to take part in bringing development in their areas and inorder to do so, there is need to use the Malawi 2063 first enabler of mindset change in order to achieve sustainable development.

During the exercise, NICE is targeting market days in the district to engage the people with mass media communication tools to educate and inform them about these ongoing national activities.

Media commentator in Nkhotakota, Innocent Chunga says communication at grassroots level is very important especially on important national development matters in a country.

He commended NICE for their inclusion of people in the districts on disseminating the awareness about Agenda 2063.

“For many people in the districts who attended the activity, they were hearing Agenda 2063, what it is and what it entails for the first time in their lives, this shows how important awareness is on this matter.” Said Chunga. 

The exercise which has been running in all districts since August 2022, is funded by the Malawi government through the National Planning Commission. This exercise started with sensitization of traditional leaders, religious leaders’ community structures such as Village Development Committee (VDC), area development committees (ADC), youth clubs, radio listening clubs and other community groupings and has now extended to the market days.

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Salima, June 2, Mana: Construction of an Amphitheatre at Gwirize cultural village in the area of Senior Chief Pemba in Salima district is expected to boost tourism through showcasing of different local dances and songs.

The structure which has been constructed with support from the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, through More Income and Employment in Rural Areas (MIERA) programme implemented by GIZ, was officially handed over on Wednesday.

Speaking during the handover ceremony in Salima, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, Unity, and Culture Dr Elizabeth Gomani Chindebvu, highlighted the significance of culture as not only an integral part of people's identity but also as a potential driver of tourism.

She emphasised that the cultural traditions displayed at Gwirize cultural village reflect the heritage of the area and provide a link to the past, which is essential for preserving a legacy for future generations.

"The government seeks to preserve and promote the diverse cultures of all ethnic groups in our country, fostering national pride, unity in diversity, and cultural tourism, people of this area are known by the Cultural traditions that they display at this cultural village and through that we awaken the past of our ancestors and every step we take ushers us into the past," said Chindebvu.

She also said that one of the major challenges that culture faces is lack of purpose-built infrastructure and the Amphitheatre will go a long way in promoting culture in the country.

Head of Development Cooperation in the Embassy of the Republic of Germany Knut Steffen Gummert expressed satisfaction with the collaborative efforts between Germany, the Ministry of Tourism, and the Gwirize community.

He emphasised that the Amphitheatre would not only attract more tourists but also generate income for the local population.

"This construction exemplifies the successful partnership between Germany, the Ministry of Tourism, and the people of Gwirize community. The Amphitheatre will not only bring in more tourists but also provide income opportunities for many people," said Gummert.

Gummert acknowledged the negative impact of the pandemic on the tourism sector, which led to a decline in international visitors and subsequent loss of jobs and income for many in the industry.

Chairperson for Gwirize cultural village, Noah Chana expressed gratitude to the Embassy for their support, highlighting the positive impact the infrastructure will have on tourism activities and the overall well-being of the communities.

Gwirize cultural village, established in 2004 and managed by indigenous people from Salima district, stands as a testament to the significance of cultural preservation and economic development in the region.

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