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.

Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Bill Receives Overwhelming Response: Passed Without Amendment

Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Bill Receives Overwhelming Response: Passed Without Amendment 

The much awaited bill Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Bill has received irresistible positive reaction from members of National Assembly.

The Bill was presented on Thursday afternoon by Minister of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare hon. Patricia Kaliati. She told the house that the bill seek among others raise the marriage age from 15 to 18 years in order to promote wellbeing of children especially girls who are being married at tender age.

“The bill adds value to the promotion of education and empowerment of children especially the girl child.”

She said girls are continuously facing gender based violence and that Malawi is among 10 countries with the highest child marriage levels in the world currently estimated at 52% which she called the “sad note”

She said this development is ruining the future of girls because of fistula due to teen pregnancies and school dropouts.

Responding to the bill party spokes persons hailed the bill saying it will assist alleviating challenges that women and girls are facing in the country in absence of this legislation.

Malawi Congress Party Spokes person on Gender issues in the National Assembly hon. Jessie Kabwira in her remarks said “It is a longer awaited bill” adding “It declares Malawi’s fight in ending gender violence and early marriages”

She said early marriages are creating a cycle of poverty in the country and it denies girls right to heath, education and on behalf of MCP Kabwira urged all parliamentarians to support this bill in order to make people from their constituencies (those who voted them) to live better life.

Peoples Party Spokes Person hon. Patricia Kainga Nangozo said “PP supports this Bill because it will help this country to ably define who the child is in our own understanding” she added that this will help girls to stay in school and be mature before getting married a development which will help them contribute effectively to the economy.

She also hailed that the bill will protect women during divorce and added “This is a bill to benefit both men and women”

United Democratic Front (UDF) Chief Whip and Spokes Person on gender issues in Parliament hon. Lillian Patel said the party supports the bill.

She said the early child marriages are worse in her constituency “Over 21 girls aged 11 years dropped out of school in a single term at one school. I hope that problem is not only in my constituency, this might as well happen in other constituencies. We have to support this bill”

But she bemoaned that the fees contained in the bill are mean and urged the ministry to change. 

However male MPs expressed dissatisfaction with the level of debate of the bill because no male MP was given an opportunity to hold the floor and very few female MPs spoke on the bill. During the tea break male MPs were heard on top of their voices over dissatisfaction on how the bill has been debated.

The development saw leader of the Opposition in Parliament hon. Dr. Lazarus Chakwera immediately after tea break expressed his dissatisfaction over lack of men’s voice in the chamber.

“I am concerned over procedure of the debate which has been curtailed without men contributing on the bill.” He said “It should have been better to let men to speak on the bill because this is not women issue”

But the bill was passed without amendment. Immediately after the bill was passed the Leader of House Honorable Francis Kasaila thanked all parliamentarians for passing the Bill and announced that the house be adjourned immediately (That time was 16:30 hours) which was 30 minutes earlier to the official adjournment time at 17:00 hours.

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Norwegian Church Aid Appeals for Passing Trafficking in Persons Bill

Norwegian Church Aid Appeals for Passing Trafficking in Persons Bill

The Norwegian Church Aid has appealed to Members of Parliament to pass Trafficking in Persons Bill without hesitation once it is presented in the house on Thursday.

The bill is already appearing on order paper and is expected to be presented in the house this Thursday.

Cases of human trafficking are increasing in the country due to lack of specific legislation to curb such illegal practice. Last month 13 children the youngest being 6 years old were trafficked from Zomba to Mozambique and in Phalombe, Police have been involved in rescue operations with Mozambican authorities and more than  124 children have been rescued but some of these were mutilated their genitals according Norwegian Church Aid information.

Habiba Osman Gender Justice Programme coordinator for Norwegian Church Aid says current proposed legislation contains necessary provisions that can help to end the human trafficking which is rampant in Malawi in all regions and most vulnerable areas being border districts due to porous boundaries.

Habiba said Malawi is the only country in SADC region that does not have a comprehensive law on trafficking “There has been no specific legislation that prosecutes traffickers adequately” but assured “current proposed law is a good one” and hoped that the National Assembly will do the “need full” to pass this legislation.

She said absence of the legislation puts everyone in a vulnerable to trafficking and that everyone is living in fear. She therefore pleaded that, MPs should debate the bill of trafficking with sober mind and seriousness taking into account that trafficking is happening everywhere in the country.

“This legislation should be passed even without debate” she added

“It is my deepest call that when the bill reaches parliament members of parliament should not sent it back but should pass it” reacted Maxwell Matewere President for Southern Africa Network against Trafficking and Child Abuse (SANTAC)

He said “This bill is very important because it is supporting the victims through care programmes and rehabilitation and sheltering programmes among others. This is also important for the collaboration with other countries where prosecution will also be easy if for example Malawi arrests traffickers from other countries or Malawian traffickers arrested elsewhere”