Two Men Who Stole Gun From Veteran Evangelist Wame Sentenced 3 Years Imprisonment

Two men who stole a Greener Rifle (Gun) and 17 rounds of ammunitions belonging to Malawi's veteran evangelist, Shadreck Wame, have been sentenced to three years imprisonment.

Convicts, Chisomo Sayenere aged 20 from Kamwana village, T/A Mponela in Dowa district and Michael Esau aged 22 from Godi village, T/A Kabudula in  Lilongwe committed the offense when they were working as tenants at the farm of the renowned evangelist.

Police charged the two two tenants with Theft by Servant charges.

Salima Magistrate Court on Thursday, heard that they stole the rifle from the farm house of the Evangelist who was at that time away from home.

Passing the judgement, First Grade Magistrate Alex Kamtiki said the two had an evil agenda to do with the gun as the Greener Rifle is a dangerous weapon which can either injure or kill a person if not properly handled.

He therefore said to set a lesson to others with similar motive the two deserve custodial sentence although the convicts did not use the weapon.

President Mutharika Transforms State House Streets: Plants Royal Palm Trees As BEAM, LL City Council Joins Him In Planting Palm Trees Along Presidential Road

• President Peter Mutharika lead state house residents and staff in planting royal palm trees along all streets in the compound
• He then went outside the compound to launch BEAM Trust and Lilongwe City Council project of planting palm trees along presidential road 
• Lilongwe City Mayor, Willie Chapondera welcomes the palm tree project with excitement 

One of the Palm Tree planted by
President Mutharika
along Presidential road

The Malawi State House will have a new face, full of Royal Palm trees along all sides of streets located in the compound as President Peter Mutharika and the First Lady, Madam Gertrude Mutharika leadtate House staff and residents in plan''''ting the trees on Saturday afternoon.

Then after, the first citizen together with first lady, went outside the main gate of state House to commission planting of palm trees along Presidential way, starting from the gate to parliament building, a project jointly being done by Beautify Malawi Trust (BEAM Trust) and the Lilongwe City Council.

Madame Mutharika in summer hat

President Mutharika told the media after commissioning the BEAM Trust and Lilongwe City Council project that him as first citizen was in this exercise walking the talk that everyone should take initiative in planting as many trees as possible during this rainy season.

“My house is right here at the State House, so I felt the need to plant these palm trees from State House and pass the gate all the way to the Parliament so that there will be beautiful trees along the whole road to parliament. This is also part of beautifying Malawi.” Said President Mutharika

He then encouraged all Malawians to plant trees of any type this season and as many as they can.

“If you have a little space, plant a tree there. This will beautify our country as well the planted trees will help to attract rains. So, where ever you are, whether you have a little space, plant any type of tree.”

The Malawi leader, officially launched this years’ National Forestry Season at Masasa Primary School ground in Ntcheu on January 18th, 2016.

This Satuarday, Mutharika expressed his desire for the country to reach to a record of 60 percent and above of the survival of the trees being planted this season against previous records of 50 percent and below. He said he wants to see over one million trees surviving from this tree planting season and he therefore encouraged Malawians that when they plant trees this season they must take good care of them including watering them throughout the year to maximize survival of the tree seedlings. 

Mayamiko Mwinjiro

BEAM Trust Chairperson, Mayamiko Mwinjiro, said in an interview that the joint project with Lilongwe City Council of planting palm trees along Presidential road was one of many projects that BEAM is going to undertake throughout the year in beautifying the Capital City.

 “We are planting palm trees from State House gate all the way to Parliament building and this is just a first phase because we want to do this in several areas within the city of Lilongwe.”

Mwinjiro hinted that the next phase will see BEAM Trust planting palm trees along Kamuzu International Airport road from the junction of M1 road and then transform some of the roundabouts to a completely new face.

“We are going to plant palm trees from M1 Junction all the way to the airport. This is just begging of things, I think in the next three to four weeks we are also going to see roundabout at Capital Hotel being transformed into a complete new roundabout. It will have a certain Malawian theme to it, but it will be very different

When we are done with that one, we are going to move on to Parliament roundabout as well to have it a completely new face so that at least Lilongwe should look different. We plan that, when we reach December 2016 the capital city should be seen as capital city of Malawi” he explains

Mwinjiro also assured that “something” will be done to beautify other three cities of Mzuzu, Blantyre and Zomba. He also added that this year BEAM Trust will be “ambitious beyond the way” it were, last year because it plans to plant beyond 20 thousand trees surpassing last year’s target of planting about 6 thousand trees.

Mayor Willie Chapondera 

Lilongwe City Mayor, Willie Chapondera said he was delighted that the President and BEAM Trust decided to plant palm trees not only from the State House compound but along the presidential way. 

“It is very important because in one way or the other the road will look smart. In some other places that I visited I have seen highways with palm trees, looks good and smart. And what the president has done is a history” said Chapondera

He said the city council has been involved in digging holes and that the project will involve a total of 1500 palm trees.

President Mutharika Meets CMD Members; Advocates For Interparty Dialogue As Cornerstone Of Development

President Peter Mutharika says Malawi will move forward if all political parties embrace tolerance and dialogue.

The Malawi leader, was speaking at Kamuzu Palace on Thursday, evening during his meeting with members of Center for Multiparty Democracy (CMD).

“I would like to assure you the members of CMD, that Government will do all it can to support the noble cause that you have. We need dialogue in order to work together. We have one Malawi, and its development is the responsibility of all of us.” Said Mutharika

He also appealed to CMD and all Political Parties to promote Patriotism, Integrity and hard work.

Mutharika also expressed his profound appreciation with developments taking place at CMD. He mentioned that he was happy to hear number of important issues that have been discussed in CMD relating to the general principle for the regulation of political parties; the political independence of registrar of political parties; process of registering and de-registering political party’s; transparency and accountability of political parties among others.

“This is interesting and commendable” he added

The CMD meeting with President was first of its kind because there has never been a meeting between the grouping and sitting President. 

CMD executive director, Kizito Tenthani indicated that the institution was through the engagement introducing board members and Political Party’s bill to president as well updated him of number of activities that were carried out by the institution.

At the end of the closed meeting with the president, Tenthani said president Mutharika has given a nod to the proposed Political Parties Bill, “He has said that he will try to see to it that the bill runs though its necessary process and he agreed that it was important for the country to have effective political parties and one of the ways he said is to look at the legal regulations of political parties.”

The bill which has been endorsed by all political parties, seeks political parties to be exercise accountability and transparency on their source of financing, internal democracy in political parties as well as making sure that political parties have legal personality so that political parties can sue or be sued. The bill further encourages effectiveness of the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties.

Tenthani also indicated that President Mutharika has asked CMD look for other sustainable sources of funding for the institution as well as consider issues of safeguarding independence of CMD after the institution had requested the President to be assisted financially by the Government.

Tenthani further mentioned that the president also has welcomed the idea of establishing Leaders of Political Parties Forum but “he did not make a commitment because he noted that we didn’t have enough time to engage on other things but on principle he seemed to have no problem”

Currently there are seven political parties that are members for CMD and the board comprises of Political Party Secretary Generals.

Malawi To Enact ATI Bill Once Inconsistencies Are Corrected-President Mutharika

President Peter Mutharika maintains that his Government is going to enact Access to Information Bill (ATI) after all inconsistencies in the bill are resolved. 

He was speaking during the meeting with Media Council of Malawi and Media Owners at Kamuzu Palace in the capital city, Lilongwe on Thursday who engaged him on the progress of ATI Bill.

The bill was previously rejected by cabinet after noting some inconsistencies and was referred to Cabinet Committee on Legal Constitution to resolve the problem. Meanwhile Minister of Justice and Constitution Affairs, Samuel Tembenu says the bill has been finalized and will be taken to back to cabinet soon.

When responding to media plea that the bill needs to be enacted, President Mutharika reiterated that it is his wish to see the bill enacted. But he repeated sentiments made last year, that two major inconsistencies in the bill, Sections such as: 6(2) and 3(1) are most problematic areas that were being resolved so that, once enacted, the bill should be free of inconsistencies. 

Mutharika said Section 6(2) which reads “Any law enacted after the commencement of this Act which restricts the rights and obligations provided for in this Act, shall have no effect.” actually restricts future parliament from repealing the law and said this is against sovereignty of the parliament of repealing and passing any law.

Section 3(1) reads; “This Act shall apply to information in the custody or under the control of any public body, relevant private body or other information holders listed in the Schedule hereto regardless of whether such information came into existence before the commencement of this Act.”

On this section, President Mutharika explained that the provision is retrogressive because it seeks to obtain information which originated back before the existence of the bill. He said this is against principle of common law (ex post facto law) which prohibits application of the legislation to things that happened it was adopted. 

“There is no way” he emphasized “and I cannot accept to assent the bill which its sections are inconsistence with the principle of common law.” 

Without specifying dates he said cabinet is meeting where the bill will be discussed and after approval it will be taken to National Assembly for tabling but he underlined that enactment of the bill will not be as the result of pressure from anybody or conditionality of donor aid from development partners. 

“This Government will not accept ultimatums, no more ultimatums. Let’s act in fair and respectful manner” said Mutharika

“Should your Cabinet gloss over inconsistencies in the intended Law just because everyone is pressurising us? Will you not be the first people to say we made a bad law when the problems begin to surface? Should we overlook addressing the anticipated challenges that will face implementation because the media fraternity and donors are giving the Government of Malawi ultimatums” inquires Mutharika

Earlier, Media Council of Malawi Chairperson, Wiseman Chijere Chirwa noted the importance of the bill to both media and all Malawians.

Chirwa, said Government needs to enact the bill in order to help media to easily access to information from Government. 

The Media Council chairperson, underlined that failure to enact the bill will fuel unfavorable costs which includes creation of an environment for corruption, lack of accountability as well as lack of public trust into public officers.

President Mutharika rejected Media Council proposal that using his executive powers, the President should reject “adulterated” Bill which went to Cabinet, instead approve the “original” version of the bill which was formulated through duly consultative process. Mutharika argued that him alone cannot change “collective decisions” made by cabinet.

After the meeting, Chijere Chirwa said media council was happy that they finally met president and were explained in detail why the bill is facing delays but was quick to mention that media council is waiting to see how Government will reconcile media concerns and the problems raised by President.

During the meeting, Minister of Justice and Constitution Affairs, Samuel Tembenu assured the media that the bill before cabinet is not adulterated document but they are only trying to sort out problems with some provisions and further promised that the refined bill will be the best law in Africa.

Manet+ Epress Worry Over Mw Govt Failure To Meet Abuja Declaration Targets

Safari Mbewe

An ambrella body of people living with HIVMalawi Network of People Living with HIV (Manet+), says Malawi seems to be far from meeting agreed target of allocating 15% of the total national budget to the health sector.

The body has expressed its concern during the stakeholder Meeting aiming at strategizing as CSOs on what they can do to help Government meet its commitment made in 2001 on Abuja Declaration.

In 2001 African Governments including Malawi  committed to allocate at least 15% of total annual budget to the health sector, However, records indicates that in 2012/2013 budget, Malawi allocated 12%, in 2013/2014 it was 8.3% while in 2014/2016 budget the allocation was 9.7%.

Safari Mbewe, executive Director for Manet+ said Malawi Government failure to fulfill its commitment to allocate 15% of national budget towards health sector is a worrisome development looking at how at the moment the health sector is continuously struggling to provide services.

“We are concerned on issues of sustainable financing especially when we reflect back on the commitment that our own Government made and this is in line with 2001 Abuja Declaration where our government committed to contribute at least 15% of the domestic resources towards health.”

And we see that that commitment is not being fulfilled and especially when we see the challenges that are facing our health delivery system”

Daniel Mkandawire, Mary Mount Catholic Secondary School Crowned Best In Old Mutual Maths Olympiad

Daniel Mkandawire of Nkhotakota Secondary School emerged as the best student and Mary Mount Catholic Secondary as the best school, during secondary school Mathematics competition dubbed “Old Mutual Maths Olympiad”

This year’s (2016) Old Mutual Mathematics Olympiad National Competition attracted 167 participants from 58 schools across the country representing 18 districts and drew to a close on Thursday.

This year, each school was allowed to send a maximum of three participants and out of the 167 participants, 64 were female and 103 were male.

As part of its corporate responsibility, Old Mutual—a long-term savings, protection and investment Group which provides life assurance, asset management and unit trusts in the country—sponsors the competition as a way of promoting interest in Mathematics among secondary school students in the country. This highly competitive competition is done in partnership with Mzuzu University’s department of Mathematics.  

Secondary school students across the country sit for a number of Mathematics examination papers aiming at identifying the 'crème de la crème' of Mathematics in the competition. 

After gruelling three examinations, Daniel Mkandawire of Nkhotakota emerged as the best student and was awarded K70, 000 cash prize together with a scientific calculator, while other 24 best students also walked home with cash prize, a scientific calculator and a certificate.

The competition had three stages. All students took a preliminary exam on Monday, 11th January.  A total of 75 qualified for semi final examinations which were written on Tuesday, 12th January. Out of these, 54 were male and 21 were female.

The top 25 students wrote the final exam on Wednesday, 13th January. 8 females made it into the final against 17 boys. 

This year, the Department of Mathematics also ranked the best Mathematics schools. This was dependent on the performance of their students. The score obtained by a school was the total score obtained by its representatives at all stages of the competition.

The best three schools this year were Mary Mount Catholic Secondary School, St. Mary’s Catholic Secondary School, Kasungu Secondary School, Chaminade Secondary School and Mzuzu Government Secondary School.

Two Men Arrested For Stealing Gun Belonging To Mw Evangelist Shadreck Wame

Police in Salima are keeping in lawful custody two young men for stealing Greener rifle (gun) which belongs to Malawi's renown Evangelist, Shadreck Wame. 

Police in the district have identified the two as Sayenera Chisomo aged 20 and Michael Esau aged 22 who were working as tenants at Pastor's estate located at Chifuniro village, T/A Kalonga in Salima.

"On the night of 26th December 2015 the two broke into the house of their master while the owner was away and stole a Greener rifle(gun) together with 17 rounds of ammunitions and escaped an arrest." Says Sub Inspector Gift Chitowe, Salima District Police Public Relations Officer

He went on, "When the owner had returned from where he went, he was surprised to see that his rifle was missing and his tenants also were nowhere to be traced."

Chitowe said the suspects were arrested following man hunt operation launched by police after receiving several leads to their whereabouts.

Sub Inspector Chitowe said the  first suspect was apprehended at his home village of Kamwana T/A Mponela in Dowa district who revealed that the rifle was with the his accomplice, who was also at his home village of Godi, T/A Kabudula in Lilongwe district where the rifle was recovered together with the amunitions.

The two suspects will appear in court soon where they will be answering to Burglary and Theft charges.