Ministry Of Education Hail DAPP For Training More Female Primary School Teachers

The Ministry of Education has commended Development Aid from People to People (DAPP) Malawi for taking lead in increasing number of role models for girls by training more female primary school teachers in their Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs).

DAPP Malawi Supports LL Demonstration Primary School Special Needs Classroom Project

Special Needs classroom used to be a toilet

Head teacher Mijiga receiving donation from DAPP

Development Aid from People to People (DAPP Malawi) has over the weekend donated bales of clothing to Lilongwe Demonstration Primary School in Area 25 as way of helping the school complete with the construction of the Special Needs Resource Classroom.

Chilima Urge Youth To Stay Focused, Stop Wasting Time With Trivia

Hon. Chilima speaking to St. Patrick Youths 

Youths in the country told to stop being obsessed with trivia but instead remain focused pursuing their dreams.

Malawi Billionaire Ready To Transform Lilongwe

The South Africa based Malawian billionaire, Simbi Phiri, says he has several ambitious plans to help Malawi Government in transforming the outlook of the capital city, Lilongwe.

ADB Promises Support to Investors In Malawi

Delegates for MIF 2015

The African Development Bank (ADB) has assured financial support to existing and potential investors gathered to seize investment opportunities in Malawi at this years second Malawi Investment Forum.

Mzumazi FP School Expect No Dropouts Due To DAPP School Feeding Programme

Mzumazi FP school in Lilongwe rural 

Malawi, is a country where shortage of food and hunger is a perennial problem, school meals would make a big difference both on reducing malnutrition, promoting development and make children stay in school.

DAPP Hygiene Programme Eradicates Diarrhea At Mlumbwira Primary School

“We used to register 15 diarrhea cases in a month but now we rarely hear that a learner has contracted the sanitation related disease.” Recollects Ms. Odeta Beleko a standard 3 teacher at Mlumbwira full primary school in the area of Traditional Authority Chitukula in Lilongwe

Huawei ICT Road Show Gives Malawians Opportunity To See Future Of Technology

Some Malawians and experts Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have expressed hope that Huawei Technology’s latest innovations being showcased at Bingu International Conference Centre (BICC), will enable Malawians and service providers move with new trends in the ICT.

Soya Milk Improving Leaner’s Turnout At Masangano Junior Primary School

Masangano junior class pupils receiving Soy Milk from
one of the mother group leaders

Masangano Junior Primary School in Malumo village, T/A Malumo in Ntchisi district had been experiencing number of school dropouts and this worried the head teacher for the school Mr. Andrew Kalikuni.

According to Mr. Kalikuni, at the beginning of 2015-2016 academic calendar, the school registered 106 pupils for class of Standard 1, but on average he said only 50 to 60 students were coming to school and attending classes.

Madame Mutharika Says New Roundabouts To Beautify LL City, Appeal For Care Of Environment

The First Lady of the Republic of Malawi, Madame Gertrude Mutharika says the capital city, Lilongwe, will soon wear a new beautiful look with two roundabouts under construction near Parliament building and Capital Hotel.

Beautify Malawi (BEAM) Trust has embarked on the project of constructing two state of art roundabouts in the city and more other such roundabouts will be constructed in all cities across the country.

DAPP In Service Training Programme Promoting Innovation

Teachers now use TALULAR
(Teaching And Learning Using Locally Available
Resources)

Mrs. Carolyn Kafodya Linje a teacher for standard 2 at Mzumazi Primary School in Lilongwe rural has been teaching for 19 years now. Like many other primary school teachers, her every day teaching routine had been reading in front of the pupils and writing on the board and nothing more.

Huawei Trained ICT Students Back In Malawi

from left to right- Margaret Kasonya,
Harold Chimtembo, Thokozani Gumbo,
Watson Mbekeani, Kondwani Lisiya &
Marvyn Tembo

Six young Malawians are back from China after extensive study on telecommunications ICT education with the global leading technology, Huawei, through its program, Telecom Seeds for the Future.

The six students drawn from various academic institutions went to China following the President Peter Mutharika trip in 2015 where among others, he negotiated with the Chinese company to incorporate Malawi ICT students into its Telecom Seeds for the Future program.

Electronic Transactions Bill To Punish Online Publications

Online News Publications in Malawi must tread carefully as the newly passed Electronic Transaction Bill is almost ready to punish online publications publishing false information.

Visual Learning Excites, Makes Learners Understand Things Very Fast

Lilongwe Primary School Demonstration Teacher
using real visual materials in class 

Children learn fast in an environment where they are able to visualize information. They understand better and return information when ideas and words are associated with images.

Catholic MP’s Urged To Walk The Talk

Fr. Jana giving the Holy Eucharist 

Catholic legislators have been asked to represent their words with action in their spiritual and political life.

Reverend Father Henry Chimkanda made the call on Tuesday in his homily as he was celebrating the Holy Mass at the Parliament building with legislators.

“We fail to walk the talk” observed Fr. Chimkanda 

Affordable Prices To Domestic Tourists Can Boost Malawi Tourism Sector

Billy Banda (Shot By EYE LEVEL ART_Francesco Jnr)

Malawi tourism sector players tipped to work out ways of attracting domestic tourism for the sector to register growth.

The Malawi tourism sector recently held Annual General Meeting where sector players noted that the sector is registering small number of local tourist’s as compared to international tourists. 

As the sector is thinking deep on ways to make the tourism sector more attractive to local tourists, one of the country's human rights activist, Billy Banda also Chairperson for Malawi Gaming Board and National Lotteries Board says introduction of ‘special affordable rates’ for the local visitors is a solution.

While sharing similar concern with the tourism sector players, however, Banda observed that the low number of visits to Hotels, resorts and tourists attraction places by locals is because charges are much higher as compared to the income levels of many Malawians who cannot afford to pay for services offered by hotels, holiday resorts and other service providers in the tourism sector.

“What the tourism is looking for and to make it more significant and more important we need to start with our selves.” He said “However one of the key challenge contributing to the lack of commitment by citizenry is because there is no policy that guarantee that a local citizen must be charged a low amount that someone can afford to bring a family to such kind of places.”

He suggested that Malawi Tourism Council need to come up with a policy that inspires local citizenry to participate and support the tourism industry and that one of the key component be that tour operators, travel agencies and other agencies should work out packages which Malawians could conveniently afford.

He emphasized that tourism sector is a key sector for Malawi economy and backbone of the international tourism. 

Billy Banda (Shot By EYE LEVEL ART_Francesco Jnr)

“We cannot say tourism is a failed industry, tourism is another big potential for the economy and if ordinary citizens were committed to support the industry and are given fair charges that can also be a better way. Once that is put in place Malawians will go out strongly and support the tourism sector.” Said Banda but stressed that efforts needs to be made to provide domestic visitors economy accommodation, meals and many other services

But Banda also asked Government to support tourism industry with incentives and reducing interest rates in commercial banks. On this, Banda noted that although access to loans is a challenge in the sector, cost of borrowing in most banks are much higher with short period of time to repay.

“Government is also a bigger player” he noted then urged it to look at the local operators needs and challenges saying “They must be given some incentives, even financing mechanisms they have to be given infrastructure banks, loans that are more manageable, loans that are not crippling the hotel sector.”

Issues Making Malawi Tourism Sector Too Expensive For Domestic Tourists 

The Malawi tourism sector is facing number of challenges that includes visa issues, lack of skilled workers even lack of tourism statistics which is affecting potential investors to advance with tourism business in the country.

However, key challenges making the prices for services beyond reach of the domestic traveler are particularly issues on lack of sector specific incentives for investors and lack of access to finance and cost of borrowing.

Florentine Kabefu

Florentine Kabefu, Chairperson for Malawi Tourism Council, says cost of operating businesses in Malawi is very expensive in tourism. 

Kabefu mentioned a lot of duties and taxes, and said “so that is a big challenge.”  

She pointed out that in order for them in the sector to make Malawi a place of excellent domestic tourism and where Malawians can go and have access to tourists products “we need to work on some of the costs that our tourism operators are facing in order for them to make them cheaper.”

During the recent Malawi Tourism Council Annual General Meeting, minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Joseph Mwanamvekha highlighted key steps that Government is undertaking to improve the tourism business environment to make it more competitive and attractive.

Mwanamvekha said his ministry together with the ministry of Finance and Economic Planning are working out on issues of incentives. 

“As such proposals for incentives for the tourism sector shall become part and parcel of a comprehensive tax review which government will undertake soon as part of the ongoing Public Sector Reforms,” assured Mwanamvekha adding that Government is also developing a Tourism Investment Master Plan to guide the development of the sector and it will included mapping and zoning of potential sites across the country and that the plan shall also include development of specific incentives to encourage participation in development on the identified sites

On access to finance, the Minister further promised that Government is undertaking a study on the availability of setting up a Development Bank but at the moment the only opportunities for SMEs are only MARDEF and the Export Development Fund.

“As for cost of borrowing is concerned, it is my belief that as the economic fundamentals or our economy stabilizes, interest rates shall also become more favourable.” Said Mwanamvekha who also hinted that he has asked tourism department to finalise the Tourism Policy before the end of 2nd quarter of the coming financial year

UN Rights Expert To Assess Situation Of Attacks Of Albinos in Malawi

Ikponwosa Ero

United Nations Independent Expert Ikponwosa Ero will visit the country to assess the human rights situation of the people with Albinism.

A statement from Geneva dated April 14th 2016, indicates that the monitoring visit by Ms. Ero from 18 to 29 April 2016, comes as reports of the attacks of persons with albinism and the sale of their body parts continue to surface in the country.

“I look forward to this first official mission to evaluate the situation of human rights of persons with albinism in Malawi, make concrete recommendations, and identify good practices to promote regionally,” said Ms. Ero, who visits the country at the invitation of the Government.

UN says this is the first country visit ever by the UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism since the Human Rights Council established the mandate in March 2015.

“Attacks of persons with albinism and the sale of their body parts will be one of the main focusses of my visit. Yet, I cannot separate these crimes from other relevant and contributing human rights issues faced by this group in the spheres of health, disability, education, harmful traditional practices, among others,” she stressed.

The Independent Expert is tasked to report on developments and obstacles to enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism; identify and promote good practices; and combat stereotypes, prejudices, harmful traditional practices and beliefs that hinder the enjoyment of their human rights.

During her two-week visit, the human rights expert will travel to Lilongwe, Machinga, Zomba, Phalombe and Kasungu. She will meet with representatives of the executive, legislative and judicial branches, local and territorial authorities, the Malawi Human Rights Commission, civil society groups, including organisations of persons with albinism, and members of the diplomatic community. 

“I also give particular importance to meeting with persons with albinism as well as families affected by violations of the human rights of persons with albinism,” Ms. Ero added.

At the end of her visit, on Friday 29 April 2016, the expert will share with the media her preliminary observations at a press conference but will present a comprehensive report on her visit to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2017. 

Ms. Ikponwosa Ero from Nigeria was designated in June 2015 as the first UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism by the Human Rights Council.

MRA Asks Business Persons To Avoid Corrupt Practices In Borders

Hilda Mkandawire: MRA

Business people in the country have been asked to join forces with Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) in the fight against corruption in country's borders.

The call was made over the weekend during the meeting organised by the Small and Medium Enterprise Association (SMEA)-Lilongwe chapter on issues about tax.

SMEA members raised alarm on incessant corrupt practices among some MRA officers who often ask for bribes from business persons if they want to have their goods cleared at boarders in good time.

"Most officers delay processes and can't help without us pay them something" reported one of the participants in the meeting 

Responding to this problem, Hilda Mkandawire, the Public Relations Specialist at MRA pleaded with participants and all business persons in the country not to tolerate this unbecoming practice and encouraged every tax payer to report to MRA, any officer who may ask them to pay bribe.

"Don't give money to MRA officers as bribe. MRA does not condone corruption." She warned

"If our officers ask for bribes you should not accept this practice because an MRA officer is paid at the end of the month and please do not pay bribes for them to assist you. It is their job to assist you.” she emphasized 

Mkandawire further cautioned that bribes are vices that haunt growth of businesses as significant part of profit is used to pay for the corrupt officers. She added that this further derail development as Government also fail to correct tax from struggling businesses.

"Please report them to us, and we will deal with it. Remember, without your businesses this country cannot prosper." She added

Other concerns raised by the business persons of which MRA has committed forward them to Management for consideration are bad attitude of officers when helping business persons, delays when clearing goods and interruptions at roadblocks among others.

“Most of them have requested us to have some privacy when they want to discuss their tax issues with MRA officers. We have promised them that we are taking up this request to management to look at this and see whether we can set up some interview rooms in our stations. It is true that when somebody has an issue you wouldn’t want to discuss an issue where there are a lot of people. But this is something that needs to be taken to the management and we will see how management will handle that one.” said Mkandawire later in an interview

“But, we ask all business persons to be compliant so that whenever they pass through the borders they are not delayed. And they should always not avoid tax at boarders and this will even reduce their delays in roadblocks because many people do not declare all their goods at boarders so the roadblocks assists us to verify if the traders have paid tax for all their imported goods." She said

The meeting looked at all areas of domestic, customs and excise tax

One of the participants, Danny Zenengeya who trade as Double Options Investments said was satisfied with most answers from MRA. He said the meeting has helped him to understand reasons why some challenges were happening to him when importing goods and how he is going to avoid them.

"The meeting has been fruit full and we have been advised to report any matters of concern immediately to their offices and also that we have to follow the right channels and pay the tax” he said and urged MRA to improve on time frame issues because some delays in issuance of invoices and finalising some processes prevents him from meeting deadlines of delivering goods and attending to his business.

Jacob Chikoya

Chairperson for Small and Medium Enterprise Association (SMEA) for Lilongwe chapter, Jacob Chikoya who works for Printers Systems said the group decided to invite MRA to enlighten them more on tax related matters because most of the businesses encounter a lot of challenges with MRA officers.

“In other words we would like to be more tax compliance without being penalized as it is the case right now.” he said, then added; “We are very satisfied with their response but listening to them presenting what tax is all about is not a big problem but the problem is only that the officers on the ground they make it difficult for us."

Chikoya has also urged fellow business persons to work together in order to have a better force when negotiating to Government and other enforcement agencies, various issues haunting their businesses.

“We also like to invite all the business people to come forward and join SMEA because we understand that if you have one voice and talking to Government and all other relevant authorities, we can achieve more” pleaded Jacob Chikoya 

Changes In Parliament: Full Day Wednesdays For Bills, Impeachment Procedures For Presidents Applys To Deputy Speakers

Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament has again made some significant proposals to ensure that the business of the House is conducted for benefit of Malawians.

The weeklong meeting of the Committee has mainly made changes that are minimizing amount of time wasted during the period of National Assembly Meeting. 

Chakhwantha

Chairperson for the Committee, Peter Chakhwantha said in an interview after finalizing the review exercise of some of Standing Orders that the changes made are of great significance.

“Of greater significance that so far, what we have done is to review areas that we felt that Parliament has really struggled in terms of its procedural matters." He said

"You recall that there was a time when the Speaker had bemoaned the fact that a lot of hours are wasted with some breaks in between the meetings and there was a need for us to relook into time schedules.”

Chakhwantha then disclosed that the Committee has discussed and agreed that the sitting for Wednesdays must start from 09:30 hours till 17:00 hours instead of starting from 14:00 hours as it is the case now.  

“Another thing for Wednesday is that we have decided that it will just be a day for bills, so, Government will be allowed to flood the House with many bills as they would want.” He said 

And for Thursday’s, he continued “is Private members day, but what we have noted is that Government would actually flood the House with a lot of business on Questions to Ministers for Oral replies, so, we have decided to scrap off that one and it will just be dedicated for Private Members Business. And by this we are talking about Private Members Motions, Bills and whatever any private member would want to bring. So effectively it is taking away that part where Government would still want to have a hand in the business of Thursday.”

Chakhwantha said since members come from far places, the committee has resolved to maintain time for starting business for Mondays which is 14:00 hours and that on Fridays time to adjourn the House remains at 12:30 hours to allow members travel back home in god time. 

“We have also looked into the issue of absenteeism. We have mandated the secretariat as our consultant to come up with stiff measures that are going to arrest this malpractice where members would pocket allowances and yet not attend the deliberations. So we are going to come up with proper measures to arrest that development.” He confirmed

Among others, Chakhwantha said the committee has also proposed that times for health breaks be minimized to allow more participation of members in debates as well putting in the Standing Orders the ‘Cluster System’ a newly adopted procedure for budget scrutiny.

On Impeachment of Deputy Speakers he said the Committee also come up with the impeachment procedures of Deputy Speakers by adopting and copy what is already provided under the procedures for the removal of Speaker and President. 

He mentioned that these procedures will be applied with emphasis on the “right to be heard first before one is condemned.”

He then clarified; “We started to discuss some of the procedures around this issue some time back in July 2015. It is mot true that we just started this because of some issues that happened with our current deputy speakers.” 

MPHIA Survey Researchers Struggling To Get Blood Samples From Some Participants-NSO

Isaac Chirwa: The prevalence is mainly in Towns

The National Statistical Office (NSO) has disclosed to the Parliamentary Committee on Nutrition, HIV and AIDS that the major obstacle in the ongoing survey ‘Population Based HIV/AIDS Assessment has been the unwillingness of some participants to allow researchers drawing blood samples from them.

NSO together with Centre for Social Research is carrying out two surveys in the country; Malawi Population Based HIV/AIDS Assessment (MPHIA) and Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (DHS).

Isaac Chirwa, Head of Demographic and Social Statistics Division at National Statistics Office (NSO) said although the study is going on smoothly, but the biggest challenge has been to convince some participants in the MPHIA survey that the blood samples being taken from them are for the noble cause.

“One of the major challenges is basically myths associated with drawing of blood. So, sometimes people will be unwilling to give their blood.” Said Chirwa in an interview after meeting with the Committee on Thursday 

“But we would like to implore the communities out there to understand that this is a Government sanctioned survey, and this information is going to help them as communities in the sense that Government will be able to do proper planning and come up with effective interventions for combating this HIV disease. So the communities are requested to be cooperative.” He pleaded

He disclosed that this challenge is generally taking place in both rural and urban areas as people believes the blood samples taken from them is going to be used in the wrong way.

“Actually I was even surprised that this problem is more prevalence in the urban than in the rural. People in the rural are even more cooperative than people in the urban.” Added Chirwa but said efforts are being made to civic educate people about the importance of the survey and a team is being sent ahead of the researchers to dispel fears people may have

Another problem that was noted but is said to be minor was difficulties in finding men in their homes during weekdays particularly in urban areas, but Chirwa said they are solving the problem by booking appointments with men during the weekends.

MPHIA study is among others mainly looking at population prevalence of HIV in the country, the efficacy of the HIV drugs that people are taking.

On Thursday, NSO was basically informing the committee about two surveys taking place in the country; Malawi Population Based HIV/AIDS Assessment (MPHIA) and Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (DHS).

The committee was informed of the objectives of the two studies and expected dates for the announcement of the results for the two studies. Chirwa said results for the DHS which has come to an end are expected to be out in May but for the MPHIA results are expected to come out probably in July or towards the end of the year. 

Both are random based national wide surveys targeting people of all backgrounds. However, MPH is mainly targeting almost all age groups while for DHS is only targeting the people age between 15 to 64.