By Andrew Magombo Lilongwe, Mana: Representatives of students from primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions have lashed out at teachers and parents who are still using corporal punishment despite the vice being outlawed in recent years. The development came to light on Tuesday in Lilongwe as the students deliberated in a panel discussion on child protection in and through schools during the launch of a two-day high level advocacy meeting The learners complained that many teachers resort to corporal punishment as the primary resort when settling misconduct of a student. It was further revealed that some of the punishments do not tally with the alleged offences as some teachers go as far inflicting serious physical injuries. One of the panelists, Tendai Mdoka, said some teachers make them crawl a distance of 100 meters on rough surfaces. He bemoaned the tendency alleging that the punishment are not fair in the simplest sense as some learners endure long distances to reach school premises. “We sustain serious injuries due to these punishments and this makes some of us to stop attending school because we live in fear,” said Mdoka His claim was backed a Malawi Police Service representative at the meeting as well as a recent Malawi Human Rights Commission report on corporal punishment in the country. For instance, a Ndirande Primary School head teacher slapped a ten-year-old female student 15 times for being late. Unfortunately, she collapsed on the spot and ever since then she intermittently loses her consciousness. Similarly, at Mthema Primary School, a 15-year-old was subjected to regular dubious corporal punishment by her teacher in the aftermath of denying sexual advances.. In her remarks, Minister of Education, Agness Nyalonje, said violence against children will not be tolerated under her watch as the malaise is crippling the education system due to high levels of school drop outs. The minister added that it is embarrassing seeing young learners coming out to report such cases yet they are public officers who are paid by tax payers’ money to ensure that children are learning in safeguarded environment. She said: “A child has to leave home safely, learn safely and return safely which is our responsibility to guard these children jealously because whether it happens at home, at school or in between, we are mandated to protect them.” “For the sake of our children, let us help them with integrity as such I urge all key stakeholders to partner with us as government so that together we can move with a stronger voice and rigorous efforts which will eradicate violence against children.” Board Chairperson of Civil Society Education Coalition, Dr Limbani Nsapato, said there is laxity in enforcement of child protection policies hence an increase in cases of abuse and violence. He said: “We need to popularize these policies because many people are not aware of the basic tenets in child protection which translates to a continued rise in cases of abusing children in various forms including corporal punishment.” This year’s meeting was supported by other stakeholders like UNICEF, World Vision and Save the Children under the theme “Together for safe and nurturing school environment.”
Government urged to allocate more funds to the health sector
By Joseph Chikalipo Lilongwe, Mana: Government has been advised to adjust and allocate more financial resources to the Ministry of Health to advance public health in the country. The remarks were made Wednesday by the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Health, Dr. Matthews Ngwale, MP, during the joint launch of the Malawi Child Health Strategy II and National Health Communication Strategy II in Lilongwe. Essentially, the two strategies which will both span from 2021-26 have been put in place to improve health of children and enhance the dissemination of health communication which is the pathway to contributing to accomplishing Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being as well as the Agenda 2060. He pointed out that public health was crucial to national development as such, more financial resources should be earmarked in the health sector. “Currently, the government assigns approximately 9 percent to the health sector in the national budget but we should aim for 15 percent as recommended by the Abuja Declaration in regards to health issues which our president signed,” Ngwale said. He expressed his admiration saying what was shown would improve the percent the health of Malawians. “Some of the exhibitions that we saw focused on local solutions targeting children and this is a great idea because they will ensure sustainability as they are relatively easy to apply and relate,” the Chairperson said. He stressed that as an overseer of health issues in parliament would ensure that there are proper mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation to check if the strategies have achieved their intended objectives Secretary for Health, Dr. Charles Mwansambo emphasized that for the strategies to accomplish their goals there is need for collaborative effort. “The strategies are multi-sector so players like the government, non-governmental organizations, donor, the general public and others need to work as a team for a better and healthy Malawi,” he said. Mwansambo applauded various donors that contribute towards child health and the development of Malawi as a whole to continue to providing help which would uplift the welfare of Malawians. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative who represented Health Donor Group, Rudolf Schwenk commended Malawi for the strides that have been made in the health sector recently. “Malawi is advancing health-wise particularly the reduction of infant deaths and it is my hope this will continue,” he said.
SADC Industrialization Week to boost Malawi trading partner’s base
By Kondwani Magombo Lilongwe, Mana: Government has said the week-long Industrialization and Exhibition Week for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that starts Monday in Lilongwe will accord the country an opportunity to build strong trading partners base, among other things. Minister of Industry, Roy Kachale said this Sunday during media orientation held at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe, ahead of the official opening of the event. He said the event, which would advance the SADC Industrialization Strategy that the regions Council of Heads of State decided on in Harare in 2015, would enhance value addition for commodities in the region. “The General expectations are that we’re going to build networks with the region and within ourselves so that we increase our trading partner’s base,” Kachale explained. He added: “We hope to forge networks with other countries on trading of intermediary goods, for example: if sugar is our end product but in other countries it is taken as a raw material, we need to start building those capacities instead of us exporting intermediary goods and importing finished goods.” The Minister added that, other than attaining the growth in manufacturing value added products and the trading of intermediate goods, Malawi would like to see several indicators increase, including growth in GDP. SADC Director for Industrial Development & Trade, Dr. Khutula Sibanda said the regional body needs to appreciate the rationale behind the SADC Industrialization Strategy to enhance value addition to improve the regions manufactured goods. He added that the Strategy is also aimed at improving the regions manufactured inputs and trading amongst the member states as indicated by SADC trading figures. Sibanda said that, “Our trading figures are currently very low: they are around 20 percent at present which is very low as compared to other regions such as the European Union (EU) where that figure goes to up to 60 percent. “This is so because they trade more amongst themselves than we, in SADC, trade amongst ourselves”. He said the industrialization week would help stakeholders’ share common understanding as SADC family and he called upon the media to disseminate the proceedings to the “farthest district of Malawi and to the farthest districts of the rest of the member states.” The Director hoped that the week-long event would motivate people in the region to work around industrialization and to support the policies which support industrialization. “As a region, we expect that where those policies are not put in place they should be put in place and we expect that our policy makers ensure that innovative funding mechanisms are put in place to finance the various components of the strategy, in particular, those big pillars like infrastructure,” Sibanda said. The Industrialization and Exhibition Week will run from Monday through Friday with the participation of all SADC member states.
President Chakwera dares engineers to facilitate development
By Andrew Magombo Salima, Mana: The State President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera has challenged engineers in the country to take centre stage towards attainment of developmental agendas through new innovations that can promptly place Malawi as a middle-income country. He made the call on Friday at Sunbird Livingstonia Hotel in Salima where he officially opened this year’s Malawi Engineering Institution (MEI) engineering conference. Chakwera said a new Malawi being envisioned by the Tonse administration needs engineers that will build the country with ingenuity and integrity as their role is pivotal to Malawi’s economic growth and socioeconomic development. He therefore called for an end to a tradition of excuses by engineers whenever there is a delay in completion of various projects saying that is counterproductive against much needed progress in development. “We do not need engineers who come up with endless pretexts every time. I understand there are other challenges like delayed payments, lack of resources and unfair competition but I ask you all to serve your country with integrity if we are to achieve our goals. “We are sailing through hard times but we should not be so hard on ourselves for being a poor country for I believe when you are rock bottom, the only way is to go up, so let us accelerate development by being anxious to get things done timely,” said Chakwera. He added that the MEI conference will be useless if it will not brainstorm relevant solutions to numerous problems that the country is facing in many sectors. He therefore asked for continued replication of global trends in innovation citing the recently built 3D Printed Classroom in Salima which was completed in a record 28 hours instead of months. “When you look at works of engineering in Malawi, there is hope that the country will achieve its envisioned developmental agendas. I therefore challenge you with two critical needs which are; having the will to act and having wisdom to accelerate achievement of our vision. “I have seen hope which makes me believe that soon things will change in education, science and technology, infrastructural development as well as technological farming particularly through cooperatives,” he said. In her remarks, Deputy Minister of Transport and Public Works, Nancy Mdooko, said technology is constantly advancing hence the country cannot afford to live without expertise of engineers. Said Mdooko: “As a country, we are aiming to achieve middle income class status by 2030 hence for us to achieve that we should boost road networks, energy for household use, and industrialization of farming.” She added that economic infrastructure is one enabler of Malawi 2063 agenda thus engineers are greatly needed as such her ministry will provide all needed support to the Malawi Institute of Engineers. Board Chairperson and President of MIE, Eng. Alfonso Chikuni, said one reason the country is lagging behind is because policy makers do not have a good understanding of engineering issues. He therefore asked for inclusiveness as such gaps lead to weak linkages between engineering and development. At the ceremony, there was also swearing in of Professsional Engineers who included Eng. Chikuni, Eng. Dr. Paul Kulemeka and four others. Malawi Institute of Engineers (MIE) is a newly established institution which came into force in October, 2020 following ascension of the MIE Act (2020). It is the sole regulator of civil, mechanical, electrical, irrigation, mining, chemical, information and computer technology engineering.
Machinga DPD commends Government for Geo mapping exercise
By Haneeph Maulana Machinga, Mana: Machinga District Director of Planning and Development, McPherson Mwakhwawa has commended governments geomapping exercise for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), saying it is helping in equitable distribution of resources. Speaking in an interview Thursday, Mwakhwawa said previously the district had a lot of NGOs operating but too little was done on the ground in as far as transformation of lives in the district is concerned. “At first, we had almost 53 NGOs operating in the district, but after initial assessment we came up with 49 organizations that were registered with the NGO Board,” he said. Mwakhwawa added that the mapping exercise has helped the district in the allocation of the NGOs in hard-to-reach areas such as traditional authorities Ngokwe and Nsale. “There could be much that we could have done as government as well as our partners such that we flashed out those briefcase NGOs and we are now assisting large numbers of vulnerable people in those areas,” said Mwakhwawa. On his part, Mposa Area Development Committee Chairperson, Saidi Makwemba said the initiative has promoted transparency, accountability and active participation by communities in development projects. “With support from NGO Board, we now know how to monitor the project operating in our areas in terms of financial issues which is now enhancing transparency and accounatbilty,” said Makwemba. Makwemba said the geomapping exercise, has among others yielded the coming in of more organizations in the area which includes Islamic Relief working towards maintenance of irrigation schemes in the area of traditional authorities Chamba and Mposa. Machinga NGO Board is expected to conduct another geo mapping exercise early in 2022 following the expiry of the 2020/2021 geomapping in December this year.
Guard Your Heart! – Monday, 22 November, 2021
*SEEDS OF VICTORY* *With Apostle Joseph Ziba* // Proverbs 4:23 KJV // _”Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” The word “heart” in the theme verse above means an integral part of a human being that sits life. It is where life comes from. Therefore, no man differs from their heart—everyone is the ultimate expression of their heart. Now, the word “issue” from the Hebrew rendering refers to a boundary, a boarder or a limit. Thus, your heart is what sets limits in your life. In other words, it is the greatest determinant of how far you can go and how much you can have in life. You have what you have and you are where you are now because of the limitation of your heart. That is why you must guard your heart. There is too much bad news in these last days. Everyday you hear of economic downturns, new and strange sicknesses and diseases, higher levels of unemployment, wars and so many other evils such that many are helpless and are terrified. But as a child of God, guard your heart against those— do not let such things to sink into you and determine the course of your life. Focus on what God says. Let His Word be a light into your path and the lamp unto your feet. *PRAYER* Dear Heavenly Father, I know there is too much bad news in the world but I choose to incline my ears to the truth of Your Word. I will not go by what I hear in the world, I will always go by what You speak. In Jesus name. Amen. #*TheRoarofHeaven* #*AnointedforShowing* #*IamGoingPublic* Like our pages: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/fovchurchinternational Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/pastorjosephziba YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC4q8pRVbxfxCmZ3M5BpcRg Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/fovupdate Twitter – https://www.twitter.com/fovupdate
Chilima arrives in Egypt for 21st COMESA summit
By Mphatso Nkuonera In Cairo -Egypt for Mana: State Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima on Sunday arrived in Egypt ahead of the 21st Common Market for the Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Summit that will be held in Cairo from 22 to 24 November. Chillima who proceeded to Egypt from Dubai where he attended the Dubai Expo 2020 is expected to give a keynote address during the COMESA Summit besides carrying out other government engagements. The 21st COMESA Summit is being held under the theme Building Resilience through Strategic Digital Economic Integration, and was motivated by the emerging regional and global economic and trade dynamics which have impacted heavily on the COMESA regional integration agenda, such as the COVID -19 pandemic. Speaking earlier at the Embassy, with Malawi News Agency (Mana), the Malawi Ambassador to Egypt Caroline Bwanali said that, this year’s COMESA Summit creates a great opportunity for Malawi to lure investors and tap some ideas on how it can expand use of technology and embrace the concept of digital economy. “Malawi is going to benefit a lot from this COMESA Summit because the union is building integration and creating a roadmap to reach digital transformation to drive the economy. COMESA is about development diplomacy as such we are very ready and prepared to carry out duties that will foster our bondages with other member states. “Nowadays we cannot talk of development alone as a country; therefore, COMESA is building a mass to stand and be able to come up with development programmes as one unit. “The roadmap that comes out from this summit it will empower Malawi to do better resource wise, knowledge and many other areas that matter towards Malawi’s electronic transaction, be it in banks, electronic agriculture, electronic business and electronic health to name a few,” she alluded. The Malawi envoy added that the country will utilize this COMESA sitting as another chance to advance the philosophies of African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) in order to maximize its opportunities that directly or in directly impact on other Malawi’s development dimensions namely technological, social, political and economic. Formed in 1994, this regional bloc works to achieve the promotion of electivity trade, enhancing security of power supply and faster regional integration and has since adopted a phased monetary co-operation programme which aims at establishing a common monetary area. The plane carrying the vice president touched down the ground at Cairo international Airport at exactly 6:30pm Upon arrival through Cairo International Airport, the Vice President was welcomed by Malawi’s Ambassador to Egypt, Caroline Bwanali, Principal Secretary in the office of the vice president, Wezzie Kayira and government delegates, and top Egyptian government officials.
Chakwera inspects MDF parachute training
By: Grace Kapatuka Salima, Mana. President Lazarus Chakwera on Friday took time off his busy schedules and inspected a paratrooper training at Mpatsanjoka Airfield in Salima where he also presented certificates to 53 graduates who have completed a paratrooper basic course. The President who is also the Commander –in- Chief of the Malawi Defense Forces (MDF) witnessed the administrative and combat jumps as well as sky masters from the paratroopers who have completed a six week long paratrooper training. During the inspection ceremony, the President also presented a certificate to Shupie Zamadenga, for being the best female student and to Noel Kabambe for being an overall best student during the paratrooper training which is the fourth cohort to be trained this year alone. Speaking in an interview with Malawi News Agency (MANA), MDF Commander Major General Vincent Nundwe said, MDF has trained over 200 paratroopers alone, a development he said means that the force is well equipped with soldiers specialized in the field. “This is a special unit of the military which goes to war by using aircrafts and they land in the enemy’s territory using parachutes. This means that Malawi as a country we are well equipped when it comes to that service because we have over 200 trained this year alone and we hope to continue training more,” he said. He said Malawi being one of the member states of the Southern Africa Development Committee (SADC) will also continue offering training to other member states citing an example of the last cohort of paratroopers which incorporated soldiers from Zambia. General Nundwe reminded the soldiers of the need to display high levels of discipline and professionalism every time they are sent on a mission. “Let me remind them that they need to exercise high levels of discipline and professionalism in making sure that lives of civilians is not in danger. We are there as soldiers to protect and not threaten them,” said Nundwe. Before inspecting the paratrooper training, President Chakwera opened the annual conference of engineers at Sunbird Livingstonia Hotel where he called upon the engineers to come up with structure designs that are in line with the Malawi 2063 Agenda. The engineers’ conference was held under the theme “Accelerating the Roadmap to Malawi 2063 Through Engineering.”
Mulanje introduces hydro electronic cooking
By Colleta Wilton Mulanje, Mana: German non-profit Climate Change NGO through the Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust (MMCT) has introduced a new project which aims at ensuring that the climate is conserved by preserving nature. Project Manager for the German non-profit Climate Change NGO, Annika Richter said they have introduced a project where people will switch to electronic cooking rather than using firewood as one way of making sure that trees are maintained in Mulanje Mountain. “Over 1.8 billion households worldwide use biomass although they have electricity in their homes and this is contributing challenges that come due to climate change on the continent,” said Ritcher. Richter said the project is being carried out in 25 countries and in Mulanje during the pilot phase 20 households have been provided with an electronic single hotplate, a matching steel pot and a heat retention device known as the Wonder Box. “We will ensure that 3000 households benefit from this project by the year 2024 since we are also working with MEGA supplying hydro-electricity to the beneficiaries,” she said. Mulanje District Council Environmental Officer, Chikondi Kayange commended MMCT for the development since it will help keep Mulanje Mountain green. Kayange, however, expressed concern with the growing malpractice of cutting down trees carelessly for cooking, noting that it might not end since there are some families that cook multiple types of food for a meal and a single hotplate might not be enough. MEGA Project Coordinator, Arnold Kadziponye said the project has helped people to come up with some income generating activities to make sure that they do not go back to cutting trees for businesses since tree cutting is not only for firewood. “Since this project is targeting over 3000 households, MEGA Project intends to upgrade its work to make sure that it supplies enough electricity to all the households,” Kadziponye added. Kadziponye said the project will also help people health wise considering that carbon monoxide emissions will be reduced because people will be using affordable and clean energy since hydro power supply will be cheap and reliable. He, therefore, said MEGA Project has since introduced a stakeholder suggestion book, email address and a toll free line where people will be able to submit their views on the project.
Karonga and Rumphi to benefit from READY + project
By Enalla Mnyenyembe Mzuzu, Mana: Global Network of Young People Living with HIV (Global Y+) is set to implement the Resilient and Empowered Adolescent and Young People (READY+) project in Rumphi and Karonga districts. In an interview with Director of Programme, Management and Governance for Global Y+, Tinashe Rufurwadzo said the project was to target young people living with HIV through advocacy to ensure that there was change in the challenges they encounter. “This project is aimed at ensuring that young people living with HIV are able to hold decision makers to the problems they face such as access to sexual reproductive health rights, human rights, access to medication and also how the government can support its young people to improve their quality of life,” he said. Rufurwadzo added to say the project would help in assisting young people living with HIV to have access to information regarding HIV and AIDS. “Through this project, we hope to see change in the gap that there is much attention given to young people to know the challenges they face and that government does invest in youths living with HIV by giving them a platform and initiatives to help Malawi as a country achieve the global AIDS goals,” he explained. Head of Programme Planning and Implementation for National Association of Young People Living with HIV (Malawi Y+), David Bondera said the project would help assist in ending some of the challenges that young people living with HIV face. “Young people living with HIV in Malawi face a number of challenges like stigmatization, disclosure of their status as well as having a favorable health service delivery and this project will surely empower the youths to have a platform to work on such challenges,” he said. Bondera said throughout the project they anticipate the gap that was there due to the challenge’s youth face to shorten. Karonga District Director of Health and Social Services (DHSS), David Sibale said since the youth comprise a majority of the population hence, they need to be taken care of in this era of HIV as they are the future of the country. “This project will help to assist the impact of HIV and AIDS among the youth in the districts it will be operating as it seeks to combat challenges such youths are troubled with,” he said. Sibale added that the project would be very beneficial to youths in Karonga as they would be able to voice the challenges they face like lack of infrastructure where they could be meeting as well as monitor the flow of resources that reach their district to see that they are being directed towards addressing issues of youth. The READY+ project will be implemented for a period of five years starting from 2021 and to end in 2026 with donor grant of K81 million from Government of Netherlands and it will be implemented in Malawi, Angola and Zambia.