The Public appointments Committee (PAC) of Parliament has today January 30,2022 approved Masauko Chamkakala as new Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Chamkakala was appointed new DPP director by President Lazarus Chakwera two weeks ago after firing Steven Kayuni on the post over unsound judgement he made on Martha Chizuma’s saga.
PAC Chairperson Joyce Chitsulo has confirmed Chamkakala’s approval in an interview with the press.
According to Chitsulo, out of 16 Members of the committee that were present for voting, 14 voted ‘Yes’ while two voted ‘NO’.
The development means Chamkakala is now the new DPP director.
Reports reaching this publication indicate that police have this evening arrested the former Ministry of Agriculture spokesperson Gracian Lungu over a Facebook post.
His lawyer Abison Chitukula has confirmed the arrest saying Lungu is currently at Lingadzi Police Station in Lilongwe.
“I can confirm that he has been arrested by the Police apparently in relation to a social media post he allegedly made a few days ago about the ‘National Intelligence Bureau’ (sic).
“Our view is that this is yet another shameless abuse of the power of arrest by the police,” says Chitukula of Maxson Arnold & Associates.
Gracian Lungu
This is part of what Lungu posted: “Our Bureau lacks expertise and I really don’t know if men working there do refresher courses to refresh their brain.
“Most of its officers lack intelligence skills and when tasked to work on a specific issue, they depend on lies and unsubstantiated social media banter, no wonder, the whole bureau failed to notify His Excellency on the impending arrest of ACB DG.”
Minister for National Unity, Timothy Mtambo, has appealed to all Malawians to rally behind President Chakwera regardless of differences in political affiliation; calling national unity as a primary catalyst for sustainable development.
Speaking to the press over the weekend Mtambo said: “It is very unreasonable to expect State President alone to develop the country. He added that Malawians must understand that any of Chakwera’s successes is the achievement of the entire country. He further added that this five year term is yet another vital opportunity for socio-economic growth in line with the Mw2063.
The Unity Minister further reiterated that gone are the days when citizens just sat and waited for the government to do something for them. “Let us all focus on developing Malawi instead of always attacking and criticizing the government,” he said.
Mtambo also took this opportunity to reprimand and remind power hungry politicians that this is not yet time for political campaigns, observing that some have already started rallies just to talk ill of others.
Mtambo said that one of the major factors for Malawi’s poverty and underdevelopment have been politics of envy, hatred and division. “I call upon all Malawians to demonstrate unity of purpose, love and peace,” Mtambo said.
Mtambo has urged the citizens to for once downplay politics of envy as this retards development and is against Malawian values. Mtambo said his Ministry has tirelessly advocated for enacting law on transformative national values which includes patriotism, integrity, hard work, transparency and accountability just to mention a few.
Mtambo further said that achieving development is not only governments role and that it starts with national unity and respect for national shared core values. “We now boast of the Peace and Unity Act, but this is not enough, it is just a blueprint; it will require concerted efforts from all quarters in the country.”
Mtambo added that his Ministry has established a vibrant district unity approach through the recently enacted Unity ACT. “We have established District Peace and Unity Committees in Karonga, Nkhata Bay, Kasungu, Salima, Mangochi and Mulanje,” said Mtambo. He said this conflict resolution mechanism has been tested and found to be working effectively in resolving conflicts such as the religious conflicts had erupted in Mangochi last year.
Malawian Gospel Artist Wendy Harawa has won two awards in the Prestigious Royal Gospel Music Awards held last evening in Uganda.
Harawa has won Southern Africa Song Of The year award with his song ‘Hallelujah’ which she featured Abel Chungu from Zambia.
The musician has also won the Southern Africa Artist Of The Year award.
The former Zembani Band member was also nominated in the categories of Collaboration Song Of The Year and Video Of The Year.
Writing on her Facebook page, Harawa said she was very excited to have won the awards and acknowledged that it was not any easy race.
“First of all, I would like to congratulate my fellow nominees for we are all winners, it does not mean am the best, but the grace of God was with me this time around, and your votes did it.”
The artist has since thanked her fans for the support and the organizers for recognizing gospel artist from across Africa.
“Thank you Malawi, thank you Africa, thank you Uganda, above all thank you King Jesus Christ my Lord.The Royal Gospel Music Awards my gratitude is beyond measure,.. Malawi they are coming home. We did it,” she said.
This is not the first time for Harawa to win the award as her song Zikomo, a duet with Ugandan Levixone, was voted the Best Zouk Song of the year in 2021.
The Nkhata-Bay First Grade Magistrate Court on Saturday January 28,2023, sentenced a 52-year-old village headman Chiwombe, whose real name is Patrick Phiri, to 3 years imprisonment with hard labour for tampering with national identity cards for ten people in his village by tricking them.
State prosecutor Sub Inspector Imedi Isaac told the court that Phiri had on January 8, 2023 tricked ten villagers and collected their national identity cards, promising to help them to easily access government loan through a local bank.
Phiri, instead of using the IDs as he promised the people, he used them to purchase his fertilizer under AIP at Mkumbira Resource Centre without the owners’ knowledge.
This came to light on January 22, 2023 when the villagers wanted to access fertilizer at one of the AIP selling points.
They noticed that five IDs were already scanned and used to purchase the commodity.
It was also heard that Phiri used some boys who were offloading the fertilizer to pose as people from the village sent by their aged relatives to buy the fertilizer on their behalf.
Appearing in court on January 24, 2023 Phiri pleaded guilty to the charge.
In submission the state asked for deterrent sentence, basing on the fact that the convict planned to commit the offence.
The state further said that the convict, as a village headman, would have taken a leading role in safeguarding his people to smoothly access the inputs.
In mitigation, Phiri prayed for leniency to the court when passing its sentence citing he has children who depend on him, and that he has health problems.
When passing sentence, First Grade Magistrate Ezekiel Kamtikana, quashed the mitigating factors and concurred with the state saying that chiefs must always be responsible and set good examples in the society.
He then went on to sentence Phiri to 3 years imprisonment with hard labour effective from the date of his arrest.
Phiri, hails from Sub Traditional Authority Mndola in Nkhata Bay District.
