Former Vice President of Zambia, Dr Nevers Sekwila Mumba today went to visit the grave of the Late Iconic Malawi Singer Wambali Mkandawire. Dr Mumba laid a wreath on Wambali’s tombstone at the singers final resting place in Area 18 cemetery in Lilongwe.
Dr Mumba, is currently in Malawi as a Guest at Nick Chakwera’s Religion and Politics book launch today. Speaking to reporters Dr Mumba described Wambali as a friend and brother in Christ and that his gift of music extended beyond Malawi as he was famous even in Zambia.
“Wambali was a great music icon and for that reason, I thought of paying him respect,” Mumba said
Wambali Mkandawire died from Covid on 31 January 2021, at age 68. Vitumbiko Mumba, who was the late Mkandawire’s manager thanked the former Zambian vice president for the gesture, saying his visit shows that Wambali was a friend to many.
Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule has commended BM Sofa Designs Furniture for expanding its business to the Capital City Lilongwe.
The company has its headquarters in Mzuzu.
Speaking in Lilongwe on Tuesday when she presided over the official opening of the BM Sofa Designs Furniture in Area 49 in Lilongwe, the minister commended the company for employing 151 employees in Mzuzu alone.
The company is also set to have plus or minus 140 employees in Lilongwe.
“I see a full social economic system that will spill over from this enterprise. The quality of their products is amazing. What’s impressive from my end is the fact that they have their own private forest of a special type of tree they need for production, which means they are not contributing towards deforestation,” she said.
The Minister said while materials used to make these are imported, the end product is surely an import substitute on its own.
“You can buy on credit, you can lay bye and transport is provided for free when you make a purchase,” she said.
The Minister has since discouraged those trying to import furniture to buy from BM Furniture and save forex.
Said Kamtukule, “My question to you is, why import when you can buy local?”
Speaking during the function , Member of Parliament for City Centre Constituency, Alfred Jiya commended BM Sofa for opening the branch in his constituency saying most youth in his area will find employment.
Mayor of Lilongwe city Richard Banda has also Commended BM Sofa Designs for coming up with a different way of doing furniture business.
“As a country lets support our own Malawi products. Lets support our own designs lets promote our Malawi brand,” said Banda.
Meanwhile, BM Sofa Designs Managing Director Pater Kasese has pledged to provide quality products in the city of Lilongwe.
Kasese has appealed to Malawians to support his business saying doing so will help him employ more Malawians.
In October 2022, Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe said he was upbeat that Malawi would fulfill all the conditions to access the all elusive Extended Credit Facility (ECF) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
As a short term measure, Malawi fulfilled conditions to access the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF), something like a downgraded version of ECF, which allowed the country to access half of the money in the facility as it works towards getting the full facility. The RCF was around $88 million.
These funds helped Malawi deal with some of its teething challenges that it was facing in the last quarter of 2022 such as lack of fuel and forex.
In an interview with the media that time, Finance Minister Gwengwe said the RCF is a newly introduced package from IMF designed to help poor countries such as Malawi deal with their immediate challenges as they wait for the IMF Board to approve their full ECF.
Fast track to last week, the IMF’s Executive Board discussed the first review of the 12-month Staff-Monitored Program for Malawi. This is the next leap that the IMF has taken towards approving a full ECF for Malawi, which will most likely see this country access the remaining funds in its ECF.
President Chakwera and head of IMF
ANOTHER THING COMING FOR DOUBTERS
For those that doubted the ability of President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera and his MCP-led government to balance the Malawian economy and set it on the path to recovery, they must have another thing coming.
For any government to qualify for ECF, there are comprehensive economic factors that it must achieve such as debt restructuring, fiscal discipline and others. It is not an easy process.
It means Malawi has demonstrated exceptional policy commitment that included structural reforms to address institutional and economic weaknesses whilst maintaining macroeconomic stability.
Malawi has also been asked to address its unsustainable public debt, which the Minister of Finance, Sosten Gwengwe, said the country is fixing by among other things engaging a French-based financial consultant and debt advisor to help the address the issue.
The disbursement of the facility is also conditional on the observance of a quantitative performance criteria that is critical to achieving the program. These measures are supposed to be achieved holistically and assessed through predetermined benchmarks.
IMF COMMENDS AUTHORITIES’ ZEAL
To sum up the efforts of President Lazarus Chakwera and his government, the IMF said although Malawi’s performance has been mixed, the authorities in the country are doing all they can to address the challenges and continue to commit to agreed macroeconomic adjustment path and policy reforms.
It added that the Malawi Government is taking corrective actions necessary to demonstrate its capacity to implement the agreed macroeconomic adjustments and reforms, as well as to build the policy track record needed to support its prospective request for an Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement.
With this it is only a matter of time before Malawi can access the remaining chunk of the ECF facility, most likely by the end of this year or early next year. The Chakwera government’s efforts on the Extended Credit Facility are contrary to what was happening under the previous DPP government.
In 2020, the IMF cancelled a planned US$70 million in loans to Malawi after it came to light that former President Peter Mutharika gave the lender false information about how ECF funds were being used.
The investigations into the matter last year led to the arrest of the former Governor of Reserve Bank of Malawi, Dalitso Kabambe, and former Finance Minister Joseph Mwanamveka.
In 2021, President Chakwera warned that the road ahead is long, winding and bumpy before arriving to the promised paradisal. This is what he meant because fixing the country is about clearing the mess created by the previous DPP government.
President Chakwera promised Malawians he would devote his time and energy to make corrections to the multiple systemic problems that had ruined the country’s economy, taxes, infrastructure, nationhood, institutions, and the public services saying there is need to make serious sacrifices in order to nurse Malawi’s failing economy back to health.
The ECF is thus one of the programs that can help bail Malawi out of its dire economic straits because in order to satisfy the ECF conditions, it means the country must also have satisfied various other conditions needed to put the country on an economic recovery path, and ultimately raise the living standards for all Malawians.
The Democratic Progressive Party(DPP) Treasurer General (TG) Jappie Mhango has urged party members to support the endorsement of current party President Peter Mutharika as DPP torchbearer for the September, 2025 tripartite.
Speaking on Sunday during a political rally in Karonga to drum up support for Mutharika’s candidature, Mhango said Mutharika is the right candidate to liberate Malawians from the current social and economic bondage.
“As party members,let’s support Peter Mutharika. He is the only one wise leader to lead us in the mighty DPP,” he said.
Jappie Mhango
On his part, DPP Regional Governor (RG) for the North Rev Christopher Mzomera Ngwira echoed Mhango saying many people are in support of Mutharika’s endorsement as demonstrated by all district governors from the party’s twenty two political regions in the north who he claimed have endorsed Mutharika as well.
“Mutharika is receiving a huge support to represent the DPP during the 2025 presidential elections, let us give him support,” said Ngwira.
Among other notable faces who graced the political rally are Shadreck Namalomba, Mutharika and Zomba-Malosa legislator Grace Kwelepeta.
National Theatre Association of Malawi(NTAM) says it has introduced a competition that is aimed at promoting the theatre industry in the country.
The competition unveiling was held on Monday in Blantyre, with the contest set to start at regional level in September, before stretching to national level in November this year.
According to NTAM President Maxwell Chiphinga, the competition will involve three categories namely theatre, traditional dance and comedy.
Maxwell Chiphinga
Chiphinga, popularly known as Max DC, said the contest at regional level will see two groups in each category being selected for the national level.
Said Chiphinga :”The winner at national level is expected to walk away with K2 million in the theatre category, with the top winner in stand up comedy pocketing K750,000 and in traditional dance, K1 million.
“This is part of reviving theatre in the country which is not dead but rather has suffered greatly with Covid and also absence of proper venues.”
The theatre body’s President resident also announced that they have launched a crowd funding initiative in their quest to raise funds for their K15 million budget.
On his part, Veteran actor and playwright Charles Mphoka called on people to support support the competition in raising the K15 million, saying theatre lovers should support the crowd funding initiative.
NTAM was established in 1988 as Drama Association of Malawi (DAM).
In a couple of the succeeding years, it changed its name to National Theatre Association of Malawi (NTAM) to reflect other elements that go with drama such as dances and singing.
The Association has since then remained a coordinating body for theatrical arts in Malawi.
NTAM was formed to protect the interests, mediates and resolves issues involving performers, drama and choreographic groups on both individual and collective note.
The association is comprised of a functional Board of trustees, Executive Members at national level, regional level and some districts within the country and it has almost 150 members nationwide.
