By Lydia Maganga Blantyre, Mana: Deputy Programme Manager for Blantyre ADD, Annie Msukwa has advised farmers to consider planting early maturing maize crop with the prolonged poor rainfall onset that the country is experiencing. She said planting hybrid maize that could mature within 100 days could be necessary to keep up with the time frame of when the rain ends in the country. Msukwa made the remarks on Friday, in Lunzu, Blantyre during the donation of hybrid maize to 250 farmers at Chipande Village by Farmers Organisation Limited. She said about 35 percent of farmers planted with the first rains and they are the ones that have been hit hard with the prolonged poor rainfall. “About 70 percent of the farmers have not yet planted. We are advising them to be ready with their clean crops so that when the rains arrive, they plant. We however recommend they plant the early maturing crops so that they merge with the time frame of the rains. “Those farmers that planted and their crops have wilted, we also advise them to replant maize that matures within 100 days. They should also consider diversifying with other crops like sweet potatoes and cassava so they complement with the maize they harvest,” Msukwa explained. She commended Farmers Organisation Limited for the timely donation saying that they area has been hugely affected by the prolonger poor rainfall and would go a long way in helping the people redeem what they lost. National Sales and Operations Manager for Farmers Organisation Limited, Ronald Chilumpha said the MRI514 Hybrid Maize seed has been tested and prove that it indeed matures in a space of 100 days. He said considering the time lost without rains in the country, farmers need to plant a maize seed that could guarantee them of a good harvest when the rains are gone. Chilumpha advised the people in the area to avoid cutting trees carelessly and to plant trees to keep up with the climate change. Over 250 farmers in the area each received 4 kilogrammes of MRI514 hybrid seed to help them replant in their affected farms.
Family planning methods minimizes teenage pregnancies
By Oscar Kamwendo Nsanje, Mana: Nsanje District Family Planning Coordinator, Lephnant Mauzu has disclosed that Family Planning (FP) methods have minimized teenage pregnancies in the district. In an interview with Mana on Thursday, he said the percentage of youth who use FP has gone up as compared to the last year. Mauzu said “From January to September 2020, 14.833 came in public healthy centres to access FP methods and 16,577 during the same period came to our healthy centres to access FP services in 2021. “The rise of the youths accessing FP service has automatically led to a drop in teenage pregnancies in the district,” he said. The Coordinator said the figures are encouraging as it affects the youth in a positive way. “It is very important for the youth to access family planning methods to reduce the percentage of teenage pregnancies and maternal deaths in the district,” Mauzu said. He said currently the District Health Office was working hand in hand with various stakeholders including PSI in provision of condoms across the district. Mauzu said a good number of youth prefer the use of condoms and injectable contractive method unlike other methods. One of the Youth, Shadrick Happy from the area of Senior Chief Malemia argued that family planning has really reduced teenage pregnancy. “We prefer using condoms unlike other contraceptive method because we believe they cannot harm the body anyhow,” he said.
Ministry of Tourism draws a 20 year project plan
By Mada Ziba Mangochi, Mana: Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife intends to implement National Tourism Investment Master Plan which will facilitate implementation of about 103 projects in the tourism sector in the country. This was disclosed during the National Tourism Investment Master Plan dissemination workshop for Ministry officials that was held at Sun ‘n’ Sand Holiday Resort in Mangochi on Thursday. Minister of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife, Michael Usi urged the officials in the Ministry to be creative enough to develop strategies that should create job in the tourism sector. He called on the participants to the workshop to internalise the master plan, adding “You need to familiarize yourself with the master plan and identify the role you can play to ensure that the master plan is materialized.” Acting Director of Tourism, Sosten Lingwalanya said women and young people who fall into the category of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) would receive a matching grant that would enable them revive their investments in tourism. He said that the Ministry of Finance was working on an Economy Recovery Programme would in the future-with contributions from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and wildlife and other stakeholders in the tourism industry- discuss how best to implement plan to help businesses affected by COVID-19. Out of the proposed projects, to be implemented in all regions of the country over a period of 20 years, the Ministry identified ten priority projects including a transport facility at Songwe, river boardwalk in Lilongwe, integrated cable car resort on Mulanje and Shire River water front in Liwonde. Chief Tourism Officer, Charles Kachelenga said once completed, the projects-some of which have already started being implemented-will greatly improve the country’s economy. “Implementation of the identified projects will contribute towards urbanization, create jobs for Malawians and enable the country to earn forex,” he said. Kachelenga added that some of the projects would be totally implemented by government alone, while others would be solely implemented by the private sector as projects would fall under the public private partnership. The National Tourism Investment Master Plan which will be officially launched early next year and is aligned to Malawi 2063. The National Tourism Master plan is a tourism blue print which has been developed over a two-year period with support from the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Mangochi oriented on Environmental, Social Safeguards
By Ernest Mfunya Mangochi, Mana: National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) on Thursday trained Mangochi District Environmental Sub Committee (DESC) on environmental and social safeguards planning and implementation of projects under Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) project. During the training, NLGFC Training Officer, Foster Chingayele said that councils must include safeguard issues in request for bid documents which are important in ensuring sustainability of the environment as country was being developed. “The safeguards are issues of sustainability; we don’t want to have development which is destroying the environment because we realized that the environment is affected when projects are being implemented,” he explained. According to Chingayele, the safeguards are in four components which are environmental, health, social and safety and asked councils to ensure that all are being met when a project was being implemented. “We want a project to meet all the components of safeguards so that when it is over, the project should not bring negative impacts to the community. For instance, when the council is constructing school blocks at a place where there are trees, it should ensure that the trees are re-planted after being cut down,” he said. Government is implementing the Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) project which became effective in 2020 and it will run up to 2025 with funding from the World Bank. The project includes a Performance Based Grant (PBG) that is allocated to all local authorities based on the results of the Local Authority Performance Assessment (LAPA). Chingayele asked councils to include performance security on the safeguards and that contractors should have environmental specialists. “Council should be able to write a report whenever there are accidents in process of implementing projects to provide oversight and monitoring of the Environmental and Social Health Safeguards (ESHS) performance,” he added. Chingayele said that councils should conduct mass awareness campaigns in order to let people know what is happening in their community and should have a well labelled grievance box at the council as well as project site to allow communities give their complaints. District Environmental Officer for Mangochi, Bruno Kamanga commended the NLGFC for organizing the training saying it came at a right time. He described the orientation as an eye opener which would improve the councils daily business saying; “this orientation has elements that will improve implementation of environmental and social safeguards for all projects in the district”. Under GESD project, Mangochi District Council has eight sub projects which include construction of bridges, teacher’s houses, teachers training development and renovating some local authority infrastructures.
Malawi Government optimistic of 20% GDP from exports
By Sylvester Kumwenda Lilongwe, Mana: Government says it is optimistic that in the next few years, the export industry should be able to be a source of 20% of Malawi’s Gross Domestic Production (GDP). This was retaliated Thursday during the launch of the National Export Strategy 2 (NES 2) 2021 – 2026 at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe. It has been launched under the theme “Unlocking Malawi’s Full Potential” and has four strategic goals namely; Export Promotion, Export Development, Export Facilitation and Organization and Effectiveness. President Dr Lazarus Chakwera who virtually launched the strategy said stakeholders should fully embrace this if the strategy is to translate into success. “This could also not have come at an opportune time when Malawi is at it is greater need for exports as tobacco alone cannot sustain the country’s needs for exports. “I am confident that the strategy will help in tilting the trade balance in our favor. My heart is in this strategy and I would like to see this succeed. “Therefore, let me call upon the private sector, women, the vulnerable, exporters and everyone to embrace their role in the implementation of this strategy,” said Chakwera. NES 2 precedes NES1 which ended in 2018. The previous policy faced challenges like low in quantities and quality of export goods, lack of enough international markets and lack of collaboration. The new strategy addresses these and has a vision of making Malawi a competitive, compliant, diversified and sustainable sourcing destination for goods and services for the Regional and Global marketplace, and to increase exports as a percentage of GDP from 14.6% to 20%. Minister of trade Sosten Gwengwe in his remarks said the strategy has been anchored on industrial development in quest of driving the economy. “The NES II has prioritized high value products for manufacturing of value-added products, to revamp the manufacturing sector, besides mining and tourism which are also prominent in the Malawi 2063 Vision,” he said. He however said the work ahead remains challenging bearing in mind huge transport costs which render Malawi exports uncompetitive. This he said will require more heavy investments to turn the fortunes. On the other hand, issues of energy also he said need to be addressed. “For us to reach a target of doubling our exports, we need huge investments in the energy sector. My Ministry will therefore work very hard and closely with the Ministry of Energy to attract more investors in the energy sector so as to realize our dream of raising the contribution of exports to GDP to 20%,” said Gwengwe. He added saying the NES 2 also intends to optimize her diplomatic assets/Embassies outside the country in order to attract more investors of the countries export sectors. The strategy has been developed by the MoT with technical and financial assistance from key partners; the Commonwealth Secretariat and World Trade Organization (WTO) through the Enhanced Integrated Framework Project (EIF). Secretary General for Commonwealth Patricia Scotland congratulated Malawi for the launch and committed her organization in helping Malawi in various economic activities like in linkages to regional and international markets. “The new strategy is a milestone for Commonwealth Secretariat as well as Malawi. We value our partnership band look forward at the strategy bearing fruits,” she said in a video link. Targeted markets include neighboring countries like South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, SADC community, regional markets, Europe, UAE and other and Asia.
MANEB releases 2021 Primary and Junior Certificate Exams results
By Natasha Muthete Lilongwe, Mana: The Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) in conjunction with the Ministry of Education has release the 2021 Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) and Junior Certificate Examination (JCE) results on Thursday. Minister of Education Agness Nyalonje said she’s impressed with 2020/2021 results since out of seven best performing students in PSLCE, five are girls and only two are boys. “This shows that girl child is working hard to achieve what a boy child can do as it shows that a lot of girls have passed the examination than in the past years,” Nyalonje said. She further said that the government through her ministry is planning to build more boarding schools for girls. “We want to build more boarding school to prevent the girl child from walking long distances to get to the school. “Some of the boarding schools are under construction that anytime soon they will be completed so that our children can have good facilities for education,” Nyalonje said. In her remarks Executive Director for MANEB Dorothy Nampota said out of 270, 576 who sat for PSLC examination, 226, 809 have passed and this represents an 83.83 pass rate. “This year passing rate is the highest in the past 5years,” Nampota said. On JCE, 98, 753 have passed out of the 129, 928 who sat the examination. According to MANEB Director Dorothy Nampota this represents a 76.01% pass rate. “There is no significant variance in the pass rate of the JC examination years after JCE was discontinued,” Nampota said. She further said that 10 candidates have been withheld for contravening regulations but she was quick to say; “We have suspended 10 candidates’ results due to contravening regulations but all in all both examinations were leakage free. She has since advised that all stakeholders with queries to forward their concerns to MANEB by 16th January, 2022. “All those who have queries about their results should contact MANEB by January 16 through their head teachers,” Nampota said. She said students who have been selected to start from one are requested to report to the secondary school they have been selected to on Monday January, 4 2021.
Government start Covid-19 vaccination for children next week
By Patrick Ndawala Lilongwe, Mana: Government says it will from next week start administering Pfizer vaccines on children of between 12 and 17 years old as a way of protecting them and controlling the spread of Covid-19 in the country. Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda revealed this in Lilongwe on Thursday when the Government of Japan through UNICEF donated a Cold Chain Equipment valued at K574 Million to the Ministry of Health. The donated equipment includes 3 main vest frost freezers , 460 vaccine carriers, 100 cold boxers, 3 electronic loggers, 3 voltage stabilizers, 4 cubic meters cold rooms and one toolkit for cold chain maintenance. Chiponda said the vaccination apart from protecting protect children from being attacked by the virus it will also help the country to control Covid-19 saying most children are asymptomatic and carriers of the virus. “As government we have made a decision that from next week we start giving the Pfizer vaccine to our children. As you are aware, we received Pfizer vaccine from the government of America and fortunate enough this vaccine is recommended by World Health Organisation that it can even use to vaccinate children from 12 years,” she said. The minister said her ministry is currently working with the ministries of Information, Covid-19 education and education to sensitize people including teachers, school management committees, parents and traditional leaders on the importance of vaccinating their children. “But the most important thing is that as we are protecting adults it is also important that we should protect our children,” she said. On the donation, she thanked the government of Japan and UNICEF for supporting the country to fight the pandemic. She added that the donation has come at the right time when the country has just started experiencing the fourth wave of Covid-19. She said for her ministry to deliver effective health care it needs to acquire new pieces of equipment which are technologically advancing in order to meet demand for services from the increasing population. “Today it has pleased the people of Japan through UNICEF to improve our capacity at this crucial period we are managing the covid 19 vaccination campaign. She urged people to observe precautions of masking up, washing hands with soap sanitising and isolation when found with covid symptoms. UNICEF Country representative Rudolf Schwenk commended government of Malawi for its plans to start vaccinating children and promised to support the initiative. Schwenk also acknowledged government of Malawi’s commitment towards strengthening the Expanded Program on Immunization services in the country. “Government of Malawi has demonstrated its continued commitment to ensuring vaccine security in the country as it doubled vaccine procurement budget to US$150M,” he said He further applauded government for the recruiting additional 1,430 Health Surveillance Assistants which he said will go a long way in strengthening Community Health initiatives, including the Immunization Programme. The country representative further said Government of Japan has come at the right time as it will help the Government of Malawi to safely deliver COVID-19 vaccines across the country and ensure continuity of routine immunization services for the children beyond COVID-19. Japanese ambassador to Malawi Iwariki Satoshi said the government of Japan under emergency grant aid scheme decided to donate the equipment so as to contribute to the smooth distribution of vaccine in the country. “This support compliments other interventions of the government of Japan including Japan Supplementary Budget of MK1.1 Billion for increasing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Economic Social Development Program for supply of medical equipment,” he explained. He urged the general public to take part in all initiative that aimed at fighting Covid-19 saying the initiative would be incomplete unless everyone follows mask use with proper distancing and accessing the vaccine.
Do not panic over COVID-19 vaccination Certificates – Zomba DHO
By Lazarus Nkolombidzo Zomba, Mana: Zomba District Health Office (DHO) says people should not panic over failure by the office to issue COVID-19 vaccination certificates, saying data is always available in the ministry’s database. The plea follows reports from some health centres within the district where community members demanded COVID-19 vaccination cards having received the vaccine. Speaking Tuesday to Malawi News Agency (MANA), Zomba District Health Promotion Officer, Anold Mndalira, said failure by a health centre to issue vaccination certificates should not be an issue as it does not mean the person will not be found in the system or that he will appear as someone who has not been vaccinated. Mndalira said before vaccine is given to an individual, the health personnel is supposed to capture all details and register them in the health register book. “Data from the register book from each of the health centres is tabulated and saved in the ministry’s data base. “This means each time we want information about someone, we can just pull it down from the system and this includes printing of the cards,” said Mndalira. He said the health office has been printing and will continue printing certificate cards and supply them to health centres for those who need them. “Once we have printed the cards, we send them to health centres and sometimes to chiefs who then give them to their subjects,” he said. Mndalira said what is more important is people receiving the vaccine than demanding for vaccination certificates. “As long as someone is vaccinated, he or she can demand the certificate anywhere and it shall be given,” the district health promotion officer clarified. Meanwhile, Mndalira has called on residents of Zomba to continue receiving COVID-19 vaccine even in cases where a health centre has run out of cards. “When a health centre runs out of cards, it does not mean people should not be vaccinated. What matters most is people receiving the vaccine and not the card,” he said.
Chiefs applauded for taking a leading role in nutrition programmes
By Rudo Nditani and Haneeph Maulana Machinga, Mana: Director of Health and Social Services for Machinga District Dr Arnold Kapachika has commended local leaders for taking a major role in the fight against malnutrition which is rampant in the district. Kapachika was speaking on Tuesday at Mauwa Primary School ground in the area of Sub-T/A Mizinga during a Nutrition Learning Forum which was organized by GOAL Malawi under the Nutrition Impact Positive Practice (NIPP) project and Mild Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) family learning. Kapachika said he was convinced with the effort played by local leaders which has helped to reduce malnutrition cases in the district. “Through the project it has enabled local leaders to ensure that expectant women, breastfeeding mothers and under-five children have access to six food groups to fight malnutrition,” he said. Kapachika added that he was convinced with the way the project was being implemented by involving men in its activities which are influencing every household to establish backyard vegetable gardens and promoting livestock production. Principle Nutrition Officer for Machinga Autile Sanyika hailed the program saying it has helped in family decision making on how to have balanced diet throughout a year which will help to build their health and that of their children. Sanyika said that the program came to rescue the district council amid Covid-19 which affected the Muac distribution. “The pandemic affected us a lot. Thanks Goal Malawi for giving us a hand,” said Sanyika. She therefore urged the communities to keep on taking the locally-available nutritious food especially among mothers and under-five children. Goal Malawi Food and Nutrition Coordinator, Dorica Chibota highlighted the object of the project which is creating awareness on Nutrition Impact Positive Practice (NIPP) and Mild Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) to the community and encouraged them to adopt the pillars of the intervention. “Most of the households that are under NIPP and MUAC have adopted the intervention and they have been able to establish the backyard vegetable gardens, livestock production and sanitation has improved within the communities that we are targeting,” she said. Sub-T/A Mizinga commended the project saying it has changed the mindset of people in his area which has resulted into improvement of child growth and small number of cases of malnutrition. Goal Malawi is implementing NIPP and MUAC project in the area of Traditional Authority Mchinguza in Machinga District under Waterloof Foundation and Irish Aid.
Inspirational Quotes for the WEEKEND
By Charles Leyman Kachitsa Asked about Christmas festivities, one immediately if they are older go back to their childhood years as that’s the era the period it was all ignorantly exciting. I can not speak for the youth of today, but to us Christmas was something aligned with eating special food and drinks you could otherwise only dream of the rest of the year. Without any burden or responsibilities as children, we expected these food plus drinks including now and again new clothing to materialise however that is done by parents or guardians. In this sense, Christmas meant ‘rice and chicken’ which would only be eaten on that one day throughout the year, in such combination with a bottle of Fanta that was either shared between two or three but taken full bottle individually only heaven knows after whatever miracle made that happen. Although on any normal days sharing of meals between households was something showing a mark of kindness or generosity or ‘Christianness’, this was something forbidden on Christmas day meals. On this and only on this day, each family was left to have their own which in a way depending on the richness of the food and quantity, climaxed in showing how hard or not the bread winner of the family has faired during that particular year. For children there would also be the other part days before Christmas which now because our eyes are open, we may call ‘internal tourism.’ This I don’t know what it depended on but could have been rotational, involved bus rides on the famed Stagecoach buses visiting the tea plantations areas of Thyolo or Mulanje. Some other years it could be a Christmas train ride on a same day return journey to Balaka or Bvumbwe. With either, the bus or train ride, it was accompanied by an avalanche of Christmas carols in the cabin (s). Such were the childhood joys of the Christmas period albeit to say without understanding it’s full significance, not sure even if most adults understood it especially when one realised as they grew up that to most it meant a period of binge alcohol intake. The quotes for this week are from a book written by a career diplomat given responsibility in what in our modern days is or was the centre of commerce and trade for so long especially the city he took station in. Interesting how he describes ‘Britishness’ which I believe is saying get a copy of the book and read it in its entirety perhaps your Christmases will take on a new meaning. I am sure that the selected quotations below from the book will enlighten you to one or two life lessons. Read and enjoy: THE LAST POST – A MEMOIR OF A HIGH COMMISSIONER IN LONDON by Kena Mphonda “One would hardly see a minister gracing a national day for an African country, and I was perplexed that the Africa Minister, Harriett Baldwin, spoke on behalf of her government on November 12, 2018, during the national day reception for Angola. This only pointed to the interest of the British in the minerals in Angola, not to the exclusion of oil. She had visited Angola in April earlier the same year. ——- Andrew Stephenson, who succeeded Baldwin, visited Angola as well in January 2020. This would be more characteristic of sub-Saharan Africa rather than North Africa. If you went slightly beyond the functions, it would be visits to Africa by the PM, Foreign Secretary, and a Minister for Africa that would tell the story as to where the strategic interest of the UK learned.” “Looking back to the 1960s, the British started to look into civil rights issues, especially coming at the helm of the passage of the American Civil Rights Act of 1964 and voting Act of 1965, and I look at this issue with the FCO lens. Noteworthy is the fact that it was only in 1973 that Eleanor Emery became the first female to head a British diplomatic mission. Then come 2018, the first black female British career diplomat to be appointed a High Commissioner. She went to Botswana for the assignment. In 1987, Veronica Sunderland became the first married woman to be appointed as Ambassador to Cote d’Ivoire. Malawi had the first female British High Commissioner in 2017.” “A British citizen criticised a picture in a daily local newspaper showing a woman in a village for ‘throwing’ herself at the feet of a senior politician. In essence, the woman laid flat on the ground on her belly. This was a traditional way of expressing gratitude following the politician’s support for a cause. The person did not appreciate such a gesture and thought it was out of the way. The issue brought an avalanche of reactions from a lot of Malawians, most of whom questioned how anyone could question the Malawian culture. Indeed, the British would have their own way to show gratitude. Examples or contrasts were given relating to the Queen where, when persons are knighted, they kneel before her, and she places a bayonet on the recipient’s shoulder. Of course, there are a lot of things that can be picked as illustrations, but the bottom line comes to what is it that is Malawian culture, and, ………., what is it I picked up as Britishness.” “Outside politics, it became increasingly difficult to really discern who is a British Citizen, especially from a casual perspective when you go to public places such as restaurants, hotels, and bars. The accent that you would get would be as varied as it could get, stemming from a Nigerian to an Italian to Japanese. One very interesting case was that of my office neighbourhood restaurant, Rugby Tavern, where there was one British bartender, one Brazilian bartender and another bartender who never at any point greeted me, much as I frequented the place. Yet one day he smilingly greeted a dog; simply unbelievable. Of course that is not Britishness.”