A Primary School Protests Over Dzaleka CDSS Closure Injures Two Passengers;

5 Protesters  Arrested

Sgt Richard Kaponda 

Umodzi Katubza Primary School Students at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa district went on run riot Monday morning and in the course injured two vehicle passengers and destroyed some school property.

The Primary school students also stoned their head teacher’s office before injuring the two vehicle passengers, Dowa Police Public Relations Officer told Malawi Voice. 

The riots were related to the temporary closure of Dzaleka Community Day Secondary School (CDSS) on Friday last week. Dzaleka CDSS was closed after students on Friday held protests demanding reinstatement of their Deputy Head Teacher a Congolese national who was teaching  Mathematics at the school. The employment contract of the said teacher  has not been renewed this year and the development has angered students .

On Monday, Sergeant Richard Kaponda said a nearby primary school students also went rampage because are angered with the temporary closure of Dzaleka CDSS and and very handful students from Dzaleka CDSS also joined pupils protests.

“The protests that started on Friday also happened today morning” said Sergeant Kaponda “The primary school students started throwing stones at their head teachers office saying they are deeply concerned that their brothers and sisters at Dzaleka CDSS are not learning.”

“When we were trying to calm down the situation, the pupils tried to runaway then closed Lumbadzi Dowa road. In the course of continuing throwing stones, they smashed front door glass of a vehicle coming from Dowa heading to Lilongwe. Two passangers were injured and were taken to Dowa hospital."

"As of now we have arrested five suspects"  The Officer said the suspects are a Form 2 student, two pupils of standard 6, one pupil of standard 5 and a standard 4 pupil. He said the students ages ranges from 14 to 18 but declined to name them.

The five have been leveled with charges of Malicious Damage and Asualt (Unlawful Wounding).

"The situation as of now is quet” He said but indicated that police are continuing with patrols around the area.

He said school officials from Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), Dzaleka Day Secondary School and the primary school as well as Camp Administrator and Police were in the day discussing ways of ending the riots.

Kachama Confirmation on Wednesday- Kasaila

Kachama Confirmation on Wednesday- Kasaila

The Malawi National Assembly is expected this Wednesday afternoon debate on confirmation of the newly appointed Malawi Police Service (MPS) Inspector General (IG).

President Professor Peter Mutharika on 10th February 2015 appointed former deputy Inspector General of Police responsible for Administration Lexten Kachama as new IG with immediate effect. 

Kachama appointment followed a surprise resignation of Paul Kanyama on health grounds. Kanyama who serve IG post for three months, announced his resignation at the same time as the National Assembly was debating his confirmation.

“We expect that on Wednesday we will bring business of confirmation of the new IG.” Confirmed Leader of House hon. Francis Kasaila in an interview

“My colleague, the minister responsible (Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security) is doing everything possible to provide the details that are required to be provided into the house” he said

Cashgate Convicts Namata gets 8 years, Kasamba gets 4 years

Cashgate Convicts Namata gets 8 years, Kasamba gets 4 years

The High Court in Lilongwe has given two Cash gate convicts Maxwell Namata and Luke Kasamba custodial sentences despite returning the stolen money.

Judge Justice Anabel Mtalimanja has sentenced Namata to eight years imprisonment with hard labour and co-accused  Kasamba has been sentenced to four years imprisonment with hard labour.

Namata and Kasamba were convicted after being found guilty to encashment of two government cheques totaling K24.1million through Cross Marketing Limited, a company  owned by Kasamba.

The two through lawyer Raphael Kasambara told the court during sentencing submissions that they have made a restitution of the money they defrauded government. Namata resituated K14 million in cash while Kasamba returned K4 million and a truck valued by

defence at K9 million.

Namata and Kasamba are the fourth convicted cashgate convicts to get custodial sentences since commencement of cash gate prosecution.

TICSTO Malawi's first online ticket selling, buying platform

World over the Internet has changed the precedence in the way people buy and sell goods and services. Since 1980s, when e-shopping began in most developed nations shopping and selling of goods has not only become exciting but less costly and convenient to both customer and service provider.

Nowadays, for instance, people are buying cars after hours of Web research and subsequently pay using various online payment platforms. Similarly, using payment systems and shopping platforms like EBay, Paypal and Amazon customers can buy various items and make payment online and there several other platforms that give opportunity for a customer to place an order to purchase airline ticket, Coach ticket even booking for accommodation.

It is of late, where Malawi online payment industry has seen growth though at slow pace. There are now platforms like Xtra Pay which uses scratch card vouchers and email technology to transfer credit online, Sky Services, Dibs Africa and other facebook pages.

Ever since, Malawians have had no opportunity to taste online ticket booking. But wait a second! Ticket booking will never be the same of travel long distances just to get a ticket, there is TICSTO.com the innovation that will see Malawians brief a sigh of relief.

At comfort of home or office, anyone can buy a ticket even for family and friends using TICSTO.com platform.

TICSTO, found on http://www.ticsto.com by TICSTO events management firm is the first online ticket re-tail store in Malawi. It aims at bringing event management and booking solutions to clients for both social and corporate events as well as recur-ring events.

Using TICSTO’s ad-vanced online payment system which makes use of Mobile Money systems like Airtel Money, TNM Mpamba and National Bank’s MO626 the site provides an opportunity for events managers to sell tickets to consumers online.

Emmanuel Kamwenje

“This first ever payment platform in Malawi is a simplified system for any user wishing to buy or make an order.” Said Mr. Emmanuel Kamwenje one of the managers for TICSTO “Once one searches and finds their desired event then from the tickets list for that event, the buyer chooses the number of tickets wants and adds this to their shopping cart by the click of a button.”

“Once satisfied with the choices in the cart, the buyer proceeds to checkout then transfers money to TICSTO accounts using their mobile money accounts and enters the transaction id on TICSTO checkout page.” He explained, and proceeded that the buyer receives their ticket in an email or by text which is a transaction id (a ticket) that one can use at the gate or to verify that one paid for the service.

“There is no better way to drive up sales in the events business now than to offer clients ability to acquire tickets remotely from the comfort of their homes."

Kamwenje indicated that this online ticket retailing system is ideal for all major events whether Cinema, Concerts or football games and football tournaments where tickets can be sold in advance and people can use their transaction id at the gate.

He said the system can help event’s organizers want to “tremendously save costs” incurred for organizing events, as well it can completely prevent ticket fraud while offering a better customer experience.

He added that any service provider like Coach Services can take advantage of this platform as well “even hotels and lodges can utilize the site to enable customer book for accommodation. This is also important on improving the clients’ customer experience and drive up sales.”

Kamwenje assured that TICSTO is an intuitive system, user friendly and reliable.

Now, people would like to check bus, concerts or football game tickets and accommodation availability at a click of button. Preference for services that are more convenient but less costly among customer is on the increase, and taking advantage of the booming advanced mobile devices that support internet, online banking and mobile money services, what remain is companies and any other business to adopt these kinds of technologies for a customer to have a better shopping experience like online ticket booking on TICSTO.

Surely, long gone are the days where one would be required to walk for a distance or drive for miles just to buy a ticket or book for accommodation.

Listing services at online services like TICSTO.com will not only help consumer but also grow business and even reach out to other Business 2 Business (B2B) and Business 2 Consumer (B2C) clients and get rich dividends in the form of increased sales and large turnovers.

Dzaleka CDSS Students Goes Rampage; Wants Deputy Head Teacher Reinstated

Dzaleka CDSS Students Goes Rampage; Wants Deputy Head Teacher Reinstated 

Students at Dzaleka Community Day Secondary School Friday went on rampage protesting against the removal of their Deputy Head Teacher. 

They were furious having learned that contract of the said Mathematics teacher a Congolese national has not been renewed  this year.

"The development has angered students who likes the teacher" said Dowa Police Public Relations Officer Sergeant Richard Kaponda but did not mention the name of the teacher.

"They were destroying school properties both at their school and Umodzi Katubza Primary School (a near by school managed by the Jesuit Refugee Service JRS). Police rushed to control the situation and no arrest was made."

He said police managed to stop students from destroying school property, and police are continuing carrying out patrols in the area following rumours that students have vowed to continue with their protests up to Monday next week. 

Dzaleka CDSS under UNHCR is situated at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa district.

ActionAid, UN Women, WOLREC Excited With Passing of Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Bill

ActionAid, UN Women, WOLREC Excited With Passing of Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Bill 

The passing of Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Bill by the National Assembly on Thursday evening has brought joy to civil society organisation particularly institutions working in promotion of rights of women, gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls related issues.

Immediately after the house passed the bill, gender activists who attended the national assembly deliberations in the day were excited that finally "the battle is won"

"Am very happy that the bill has been passed" said Julie Juma Regional and Thematic Manager for Education and Youth at ActionAid Malawi "This is something that we have been fighting for since 2009 and it is going to bring a big difference to our advocacy work on child marriages and it will help us to end child marriages now that we have a legal backing" 

Alice Harding Shackelford a country representative for UN Women in Malawi also shared her happiness and how UN Women has received the development "Ooh! We are excited, we are excited!" she said, "We are crying with joy and we are happy that finally the parliament has taken this step. It has been a long journey for the civil society and for the ministry"

"We know this is one step but very important step" she continued and thanked parliamentarians, civil society which kept advocating on the bill and congratulated "all the girls who are keeping hope eye in Malawi"

In an email response Women's Legal Resource Center (WOLREC) Programmes Officer Gift Mauluka said "This is a very good news. It is one of the great things that this government will be remembered for. The passing of the bill is one of those things which shows that government has the interest  of the people as long as gender equality issues are concerned."

Commenting on legal technicalities observed in the bill particularly on raising of the marriage age from 15 to 18 years which is being considered as in gross conflict with Constitution provision in section 22 (7) "For persons between the age of fifteen and eighteen years a marriage shall only be entered into with the consent of their parents or guardians.", Julie Juma reacted that "The technicalities are always there" but Malawians should be happy that now there is a legal backing people can refer to and the other processes can be done from "now onwards"

Alice Harding Shackelford said on the same "There are many steps one is, we need the president to assent the bill, we need a bit of enforcement of the bill, we need to work with ministry of justice which is already in support of the bill and working on the amendment of constitution a package which is already in preparation" 

She also highlighted "We need to start working on distribution and dissemination (of the bill) to make sure that law enforcement, judiciary, traditional authorities and others are aware that this is now being enforced by peace of legislation. So we have a lot of work to do and a lot of efforts but I think this shows that if we work together change is possible"

Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Bill Passed Without Proper Oversight

As Uladi, Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament Says Some Provisions Contravenes with Constitution

Member of Parliament for Salima South Constituency Uladi Mussa has insisted that the bill ‘Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations has been passed in haste and the house failed to have a critical eye on some provisions that contains in the bill and those in the Malawi Constitution.

Mussa at the beginning when the bill was about to be presented by the Minister of Gender, Children Disability and Social Welfare hon. Patricia Kaliati pointed out that the proposed legislation should have been referred to Legal Affairs Committee of the house before debating it in the house.

“Even the Minister of Justice can agree with me” he said “am totally supporting this bill I don’t have any problem with it, but it is involving Section 22 of the constitution of the Republic of Malawi. Minister of Justice is fully aware of that legal necessity required to be done” 

He insisted “Am worried that we are violating our own constitution, this bill is proposing to change marriage age from 15 to 18 which we all agree but that is also in the constitution of the republic of Malawi and for that to happen requires amendment of the constitution.” And suggested, “After amendment of Constitution that will be a right time to bring the bill otherwise this bill will be null and void outside the parliament because the Act cannot be above the constitution”

When Minister of Justice and Constitution Affairs hon. Samuel Tembenu hold the floor, he clarified that the bill is not seeking to amend the Constitution “Actually the provision in the bill merely states that the age is subject to what the constitution says so there is no attempt or what so ever to amend  the Constitution”

Later in an interview Mussa maintained his argument based on Section 22 subsection 7 which stipulates “7. For persons between the age of fifteen and eighteen years a marriage shall only be entered into with the consent of their parents or guardians."

He therefore said "Amending that Section of Constitution we would have been absolutely sure that early marriages will stop and perpetrators penalized but as of now this bill is not stopping early marriage”

Malawi National Assembly Building Entrance

He also pointed out that he is not happy with provision that divorce of religious marriage also be done through the courts. He strongly said the bill should have cited that all marriages falling under ‘Religious marriages’ make divorce with consultations from clergy or churches officiated the engagement. He said as the bill stands now it is in conflict with some religious laws of some churches like Catholics that does not allow divorce and others like Islam which accepts divorce but given valid grounds like dishonesty and unfaithfulness of a marriage partner.

Reacting on the same, Chairperson for Legal Affairs Committee Hon. Peter Chakhwantha said at the same time as committee is contented with some provisions in the bill on protection of girl child and women, it also noted that the legislation contains issues that shall later be amenable to amendments and needed immediate correction.

“In this case there are so many areas in this bill that very soon we shall hear legal battles and challenges simply because we did not want to take our time to do homework properly”

He went on “We are not saying the bill is in its entirety wrong, but as member for Salima (Uladi Mussa) pointed out, we also as committee pointed out section 22 which clearly shows that this bill has grossly contravened the constitution”

As Chairperson for the Committee said his expectations were to see the government bringing the bill in the house by following standing order 125 where the bill was supposed to go through Clark of Parliament then sent to the relevant committee in this case Legal Affairs Committee to scrutinize it and make recommendation before debate in the house.

“The way this bill has been passed it has been a marathon and there was no room for those expected to bring controversial issues” he said

The Chairperson further observed that processes happening in this Meeting are short charging the entire essence of having standing orders “There are a lot of bypassing, maneuvers that does not want to recognize relevance of some procedures to be followed to avoid obvious issues that arise after the house short-circuited process.