BMC, Parliament Want ATI Bill Enactment In the Upcoming Meeting

Chakwera (middle)

Leader of Opposition in Parliament, and Media, Information and Communications Committee of Parliament says will lobby for enactment of the much waited Access to Information Bill (ATI) during upcoming meeting of Parliament.

Members of the Bwaila Media Club (BMC), on Wednesday had an audience with Leader of Opposition Hon. Lazarus Chakwera, sought his support in pushing for the tabling of the bill and objectively pass it amid delay ‘tactics’ from Government to take the bill to the upcoming Meeting of Parliament.

Few weeks ago in Salima, President Peter Mutharika promised to take the bill to the First Meeting of the 46th Session of Parliament which begins this Friday saying all the processes were finalized. This pronouncement was reiterated by Minister of Information Jappie Mhango during the recent meeting of some Cabinet Ministers and Members of Civil Society in Lilongwe.

However, the promises are unlikely to be met now as Leader of House in the National Assembly, Francis Kasaila disclosed to Journalist on Monday in Lilongwe that the bill still awaits final inspection by Cabinet. He said it is not on the list of the business for the next Meeting of National Assembly.

Hon Samuel Kawale and Chakwera

Chakwera shared BMC concern over the delays by Government to take the bill to parliament and promised to “Seriously” take the responsibility of encouraging all members from his party and others in opposition on how they can help push for the tabling of the bill.

“I would say that am with you” he said, “The message you brought has been received and warmly so. And that if Lord willing we should even incorporate your concerns in some of things that we say”

The Opposition leader also underscored that Access to Information Bill is very important.

He said the bill empowers people to have information that is needed in order for them to appreciate what their own government is doing. And that with comprehensive view of what is happening they are able to make informed decisions.

“Let information that the public needs to have be made available. Not just on demand… but when such is needed however, there should be a backing of the law that says you have that right to access that information.” said Chakwera

“We are with you.” He affirmed “I am particularly would love for the information to be available to anyone because issues of accountability and transparency are important to us all” added the opposition leader with emphasis that information is critical in an age “like ours”

Hon Samuel Kawale

In his remarks Chairperson for the Media, Information and Communications Committee of Parliament, Samuel Kawale, said was “disappointed and discouraged” to learn that Government is keeping on delaying the bill which has stalled for so many years.

“If there were issues that needed to be addressed they should have been brought earlier on, so that we sit down again, talk over them and make sure that all the grey areas are sorted out” he said

“As Committee, our major task from now on, is to work alongside with media houses and other stakeholders to lobby government to make sure that this bill is tabled in parliament and passed into law” assured Kawale

Meanwhile, leader of the Bwaila Media Club delegation, Steve Chilundu has expressed his profound gratitude for the promising remarks from the Leader of Opposition Lazarus Chakwera and the Chairperson for the Media, Information and Communications of Parliament.

Chilundu said BMC will continue to meet with various stakeholders to ask them lobby government to table and pass the Access to Information Bill during the Meeting of National Assembly which begins this week.

Bwaila Media Club has also issued a statement expressing concern over, government recent ambiguity and dilly dallying in its commitment to table and pass the bill.

China Promises Malawi Of Continued Brotherly Support

Chinese Government says it will continue to support Malawi because of friendly and enhanced bilateral relations that exist between the two countries.

The Chinese Ambassador to Malawi Zhang Qingyang said this in an interview following Wednesday’s announcement by President Peter Mutharika that Chinese Government is set to implement seven multi-million projects in Malawi and provide free and soft loan grants.

Salima Woman Becomes Instant Millionaire In Airtel Tisanje Promo

Ruth Makowa from Chikwawa Greenbelt in Salima district is one of the three Airtel lucky customers and lucky customer from central region to walk home with K5 million grand prize money in Airtel Tisanje Promotion. 

Three winners from each region were unveiled on Friday during the final draw of Tisanje Promotion and each has won K5 million. However, two lucky customers from South and Northern regions could not be reached when Airtel tried to call them to break the news.

"Am very thankful of this prize money!" said excited Makowa in a phone call "Am going to start a nice business which am very hopeful it will help me a lot"

Makowa, said she previously worked as domestic worker but her husband works as electrician and mechanic at Greenbelt. 

Meanwhile Airtel Money Country Director Francis Matseketsa said Airtel is excited that its Promotions are not only satisfying but also changing lives of customers. 

He said giving out prizes to the lucky winners in the promotion is a true commitment from Airtel that it does not make empty promises but can only promise what it can deliver.

"…and for customer satisfaction, our commitment is always guaranteed" Matseketsa added while thanking customers for their overwhelming support throughout the promotion and promised for more exciting offers from Airtel.

He also disclosed that throughout the promotion the company got overwhelming response due to increased recharges, Airtel Money registrations and transactions which went up to 35% and subscriber base growth by 3%

"Tisanje as the name suggests has ably made our hundreds of our customers reap lucrative amounts of money" said Matseketsa

Matseketsa also promised that Airtel will reach and inform the winning numbers before the close of business of the day.

If we don't, he said "We have mechanisms in our network where we can tell exact location they are. Normally our numbers from a network point of view, they are known and picked that they are operating within such areas. Also we have sales team on the ground; we will go to the details of Know Your Customer (KYC) where we can go deeper and see if they provided us with their addresses."

Since its inception in August this year, Tisanje has made 300 people win K50 thousand chash prizes and 112 people win K100 thousand cash prizes weekly. Now, with the final draw where three lucky people from each region won a cool K5 million, in total Tisanje has splashed out a total sum of K41.2 million.

Citizens Forum To Continue Pressure Govt To Address CSO Grievances

The Citizens Forum for the Defence of Good Governance (CFDGG) vows to continue to make demands for concrete solutions on democratic and economic governance issues raised in recent statement by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).

The newly established group says cabinet Ministers failed to provide concrete answers during a dialogue with CSOs weeks ago.

Early month of October, CSOs issued the statement which also demanded President Peter Mutharika to honorably resign if finds his office too difficult to handle and this prompted the dialogue which was shunned by the petitioner CSOs.

At the inaugural of the CFDGG on Thursday in Lilongwe, a statement was issued tackling similar issues and demands made by CSOs but with call to Government to address those issues with no hesitation.

Spokesperson for the CFDGG, Mr. Timothy Mtambo also one of the signatories to the CSO statement said at the inaugural that, there was never concrete response from Ministers during the dialogue which was facilitated by the Special Advisor to President on NGO’s and Civil Society Mavuto Bamusi and the Economic Advisor Collins Magalasi.

“These issues are being repeated because they were not addressed during the dialogue. We will continue to press for these issues until Government address them.” Said Mtambo and added that attempts made on the issues by the Ministers were general responses

Then Mtambo said the group wants from Government “concrete” and “comprehensive answers” on the issues raised and Government should seriously respond in writing providing action plan and timeframes on how it is addressing issues raised in the CSO statement.

The CDFGG in its statement further accuse Government of using “divide and rule, ambush” approach to dialogue and governance as a response to Civil Society’s statement on political and economic issues.

“Using this approach, Mutharika’s regime has gone as far as using tax payers money to mobilize and organize politically-motivated CSO’s meetings under the guise of dialogue with the petitioner CSO’s never invited.

The recent events in Lilongwe and Blantyre spearheaded by the Special Advisor on NGO’s and Civil Society Mavuto Bamusi and the Economic Advisor Collins Magalasi were not only “childish” but also a clear reflection that the recent calls for dialogue by the current regime are nothing but mere political rhetoric aimed at portraying the false picture that Government is sincerely interested in dialogue with concerned CSOs and that CSOs are shunning dialogue while the actual truth is that Government is playing double standards.” Reads the statement

But the statement says CSOs are always open to constructive contact and dialogue with Government, however, it maintains that such a dialogue must be done in good faith and mutual trust and in the best interest of Malawians and human rights for all.

The CFDGG statement, is also calling Government to publish the names of Malawi delegates to the United Nations General Assembly and the total expenditure of the trip.

“We want to know, who funded who? Because people can speculate that there are others who took their girlfriends but we want Government to be on top of things in terms of giving information to Malawians so that people should not speculate” added CFDGG Chairperson Gift Trapence

Among others, both the Forum and CSO statements wants Government to immediately address current political, human rights, democratic and economic governance problems and on poor service delivery in hospitals and education sector which includes shortage of drugs, exorbitant school fees as well as water and electricity problems in Blantyre and Lilongwe.

But Government has been indicating that it is carrying out reforms in the public service with promise to end some problems in service delivery and an end to economic problems facing the country which are a result of recent plunder of public resources dubbed Cashgate.

Gertrude Mutharika Launching Sanitation Campaign Initiative For Schools

The Malawi First Lady Gertrude Mutharika is this Friday October 30, 2015, expected to launch 'My Clean School my Pride' Campaign aimed at encouraging and enhancing good sanitation practices in schools.

State House statement signed by Chikondi Juma Press Officer at Kamuzu Palace on Thursday, indicates Her Excellency Madame Gertrude Mutharika, First Lady of the Republic of Malawi, will be guest of honour at the launch to take place at the Lilongwe Academy Private School in Lilongwe. 

"The campaign is a joint initiative between Beautify Malawi (BEAM) Trust and the Independent Schools Association of Malawi (ISAMA) and is aimed at encouraging and enhancing good sanitation practices in schools as well as raising public awareness on appropriate waste disposal management to create a cleaner and healthier nation." Reads the statement 

Madame Mutharika is expected to arrive at the Lilongwe Academy campus at around 9:30 in the morning.

MW CSO’s Forms Forum To Promote Good Governance

Some Malawian Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Rights Activists have formed a group 'Citizens Forum for the Defence of Good Governance' that aim to create a broad based social movement to speak with common voice on issues affecting Malawians.

The Chairperson for the group Gift Trapence told Journalists Thursday morning in Lilongwe that the group is a movement of likeminded and patriotic CSOs, networks, Concerned Malawians, Academia and many others including those in diaspora.

He said the group will be tackling issues of good governance, transparency, and accountability, rule of law and constitutionalism, and respect of human rights.

He emphasized that Citizens Forum for the Defence of Good Governance will have a voice of Malawians and speak on behalf of Malawians. As well, he said the grassroots will be reached with the activities of the forum which will be objective but not politically driven. 

"This forum is for Malawians and not for CSOs only. We want likeminded CSOs, networks, Trade Unionists, Members of Parliament even Faith Based Organisations to be part of this forum" said Trapence

"This forum will go to the grassroots, they will be the members of this forum because we want to give Malawians platform to voice out issues." Said Trapence and emphasized that the group is people centered

"We will have regional and district structures across the country but we want likeminded people who can speak objectively" he said then added; "This association is not there to overthrow the government, but actually to support it"

Trapence observed that the current administration has already began showing signs of bad governance and therefore formation of the Forum is one effort to bring a common man in the debate to defend human rights and engage relevant actors to adhere to basic tenets of democracy and respect of human rights.

"The purpose of this forum is to create a social accountability movement which will stand up to safeguard democratic and good governance principles and observance and respect for all human rights as well as adherence to the rule of law." said Timothy Mtambo spokesperson of the Forum

"The Objectives of this forum are that; we would like to create a critical mass of members of the general public that will be able to claim their rights to hold leaders accountable and guard against tendencies that undermine democracy, good governance and rule of law.

The Forum will facilitate dialogue with different stakeholders including the Government on issues affecting Malawians. We will strengthen, collaboration and voice of Malawian citizens to able to seize their democratic space and hold their duty bearers accountable" said Mtambo

He added that the group will also strengthen CSOs collaboration for effective engagement with duty bearers on democratic and human rights issues.

He then made it clear that the group will dispel suspicious members or anyone whose actions are political and are not conforming to the group's objectives.

The group has also made a statement on what it call 'Crisis State of Public Service Delivery, Economic Governance, Transparency, Accountability, Rule of Law and Human Rights.'

The group says these problems continue to stagnate the progress of this country and further, eroding the public trust in the current administration.

The Group noted challenges that includes; Water and Electricity challenges in all main cities, Security lapse and poor working conditions of police officers, shortage of drugs in hospitals and poor health service delivery as well as delayed salaries among health workers and teachers.

The group has therefore demanded for the immediate effort to address these challenges and not making empty promises.

The newly formed forum has a motto "Promoting good governance, human rights and democracy in Malawi", "A better Malawi is possible, people power"

Cashgate Case: High Court To Rule Wyson Soko 'Appeal' On Conviction, Sentence

Wyson Dzinyemba Soko serving his seven and half years imprisonment was back in court on Wednesday morning, appeared before presiding judge, Justice Lloyd Muhara for appeal hearing against his conviction and sentence.

The former Deputy Youth Director for Malawi Congress Party (MCP) was on 28th January this year handed a prison sentence after being found guilty of siphoning K40.9 million from Ministry of Tourism through his Wymbaso General Dealers on charges of theft and money laundering.

On conviction Soko through his lawyer Robert Kadzakumanja said there is no evidence to support the conviction of theft and money laundering charges.

"Evidence given was insufficient to warrant conviction" said Kadzakumanja while on sentence, he argued that it is excessive and it must be reduced assuming that the conviction will be sustained.

Early this year, when Soko was being sentenced by Senior Resident Magistrate Patrick Chirwa, the Magistrate in its Judgement directed that the two sentences should run consecutively. But Mr. Soko's argument in his appeal is that would like two sentences run concurrently.

However, Prosecution lead by Enoch Chibwana argued that the conviction on both counts (theft and money laundering) is safe because there is sufficient evidence.

Among others the State said Soko's bank account statement indicates that he received Cheque from Government through his company Wymbaso General Dealers yet  rendered no service and that he admitted of the transaction.

"The state is contented that the conviction on theft was appropriate and justified. With regard to conviction of money laundering the applicant received money with full knowledge that it was proceeds of crime. His actions to proceed to deal with the money accounts to money laundering which is under section 35 subsection 1 of subsection C of Money Laundering Proceeds of Serious Crimes and Terrorist Financing Act... The applicant is correctly convicted of money laundering." Argued the state

On the issue of sentence, State argued that the sentence "is not excessive and is reasonable" considering the reasons the lower court gave when passing the sentence which includes the economic problems and interrupted services from Government following his participation in the looting of public money.

The state further said "there is nothing wrong in the magistrate giving him consecutive sentences because that is acceptable at law as long as the court gives reasons" which the magistrate gave reasons why he opted for consecutive sentences.

"Our appeal therefore is that this appeal hearing should be dismissed in its entirety and costs be awarded to State" pleaded the state

In his application, Soko is also asking court to consider his dettoriating health which the state said there is no sufficient evidence.

Meanwhile, the matter has been adjourned for judgement to a date to be fixed by the court.

Wyson Soko was charged and convicted of two counts of Theft and Money Laundering; on theft he was given four years while for money laundering he was handed three and half years.

Wyson Soko pleaded not guilty to all two charges of Theft and Money Laundering and he  become a third convict to get a prison sentence since the commencement of prosecution of Cash gate cases.

During his trial, Soko named Godfrey Banda as the person who deposited the cheques to Wymbaso General Suppliers but was coy to reveal more details of that person