President Lazarus Chakwera is geared to appear before National Assembly in Lilongwe and face His Excellency’s Question Time (HEQs) style-session questions from Members of parliament this coming Thursday. This is set to be historic as only Bakili Muluzi had attempted this before abandoning it.
State House through its Press Secretary Brian Banda issued a statement that said ” in fulfilment of his promise to govern by the rule of law, His excellency the state President Dr Lazarus Chakwera will this Thursday appear before Parliament to answer members questions”
Chakwera: To answer questions from MPs
Chakwera promised that he will be giving a chance to MP’s to directly ask him burning issues right in the august House. The MP’s are likely to draw questions from the State of the Nation (SONA) which President Chakwera presented in the house last Friday.
The Malawi Congress Party has added another Member of Parliament just a day after the state president who is also president of MCP Dr. Lazarus Chakwera delivered his State Of Nation Address in Parliament.
Speaking when welcoming Honorable John Bande who is an MP for Blantyre City East Constituency, the first vice president for the party Hon. Sidik Mia started by urging people to keep observing the Covid-19 restrictions set by government to fight the disease. Turning to politics Mia who is also the minister of transport and public works said the area has not been developed since Bande left it, hence people voted for him back in 2019, considering how he developed the constituency when he served as an MP. Mia then concurred with his campaign director that Bande has been MCP despite contesting on an independent ticket. Mia further told the gathering that the current MCP is a transformed one aiming at ending problems faced by Malawians in all areas.
Bande, Now MCP
Mia assured the gathering that soon after passing of the budget, Malawians will start seeing the fruits of Chakwera administration saying the vision of Chakwera is to develop Malawi beyond recognition in all sectors. As minister of transport Mia didn’t want to leave the podium without making some promises like completion of Ndirande-Makhetha road and a bypass road from Chiradzulu turnoff to Blantyre.
Speaking before Hon. Mia, the National Campaign Director for MCP Hon. Moses Kumkuyu said the joining of Bande is of a great impact to the party for the MP is developmental conscious which is in line with the vision of president Chakwera and MCP. Kumkuyu added that the fact that Mutharika and DPP were voted out of power it remains a blessing to the entire nation and that Malawians never wish to see DPP back in government. He then thanked the MP for choosing MCP saying he has done a good choice for him and his constituency, but Kumkuyu urged the supporters from both sides MCP and Bande who won as an independent to work together as one team under Honorable John Bande as an MP.
But in his remarks Bande thanked MCP for warmly welcoming him and said he is ready to serve tirelessly to develop Blantyre City East. He then laid out some problems in his constituency which he requested the government to look into. Honorable John Bande reclaimed the constituency in 2019.
Lilongwe-based gospel singer, Kondwani Potifala Chabuka, also known as Mr KC has released a single titled ‘Solomo’
Speaking in an interview Chabuka said the song is seeking to encourage the nation to always ask for God’s direction at all time if the country is to prosper in every way.
“I believe for the country to thrive in all its affairs and have goals accomplished we need to inquire of God all the time and make God our foremost priority” Chabuka said.
He said the country is assured of success if the leaders and their people are interested to have their lives controlled and guided by the almighty God.
As such, Chabuka said people should always ask for direction before they do anything because without God they are nothing and they cannot achieve their plans.
Chabuka
He further said that, if one is lacking wisdom he should not hesitate to ask of God because the Lord is more than willing to give generously to whosoever asks of it.
Explained that, even the church to succeed in its activities and administration it needs to embrace supernatural wisdom which is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
He said the single is talking about Solomon who had asked wisdom from God and was given insight which made him wise more than anyone else.
Part of the song goes, Palibe munthu wina wanzeru ngati Solomo/ Palibe munthu wachuma ngati Solomo/ Mfumu Solomo / Mfumu Solomo / Anapepha nzeru kwa Mulungu anamupatsa/ Tsono ikasowa nzeru upemphe adzakupatsa/ Ikasowa nzeru ya dziko pempha adzakupatsa/ Ikasowa nzeru ya banja pemphe adzakupatsa/
The singer it was the wisdom of God which made King Solomon outstanding and able to lead his people with excellence and success as such the musician urges people to pursue God’s wisdom if they are to excel in life.
“As a nation will must learn from Solomon to seek wisdom if will are to develop our country and outshine in our respective families,” he said.
Produced by Martin Angels at MC Studios, the single is currently enjoying airplay in various radio stations across the country.
Fans can get the song by contacting his WhatsApp number, 0882200009.
Government has assured electoral stakeholder in the country that it was keen to ensure the implementation of the electoral reform in the country.
Minister of Justice, Titus Mvalo made the remarks Thursday during the opening of a two day Electoral Reforms Review Conference organization by National Initiative for Civic Education (NICE) Public Trust at Bingu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe.
He said for the long time various electoral stakeholders have been calling for the electoral reforms after every elections in the new multi-party democracy in country. “Government supports the initiative taken by NICE to encore that gaps within our electoral laws are corrected so that out electoral systems should be credible all the time,” Mvalo said.
Hon Titus Mvalo
The Minister admitted that there are several possible electoral reforms that need to be deliberated and come up with resolution fro considerations. He said in 2017 there was a proposal of a transitional arrangement between an election and next government in order to ensure smooth transition of governments. “There was a suggestion to the effect that the incumbent president has to leave office before the commencement of official campaign to avoid abuse of public resources. Presidential candidate should be on equal footing unlike what is happening with the current electoral law,” Mvalo explained.
He added that the report had recommended that a special electoral fund to Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) should set aside for smooth operation of the electoral body. Mvalo said the reform should look into the issue of majority in which the Courts indicated that it should be 50 +1 and how to deal with a re-run in the event of having now winner in an election. “There is suggestion creating of 28 seats meant for Lady Members of Parliament to raise their numbers in the august house. The change will largely depend on the implementation of the new electoral laws. Each district will have a permanent lady representation,” the Minister added.
MEC Chairperson Chifundo Kachale said the electoral reforms should take into account on the operation of MEC and make sure the new laws should make it work efficiently. He said the new law should clearly stipulate on how commissioner of MEC would be appointed in order to improve efficiency to the electoral body. “MEC must strive to conduct credible and fair elections when discharging its functions in order to generate confidence to all key stakeholders. The electoral body should act independently without any influence within any branch of government,” Kachale pointed out.
MEC Chair observed that legal reform is a political process where parliament make laws of the country are stakeholders in the whole process of the electoral reforms. He said there was need to look at the voting process with the new emerging voting technologies in order to speed up the vote counting processes Nice Public Trust Executive Director, Ollen Mwalubunju said all electoral stakeholders are appealing to parliament to be more responsible to ensure that electoral reforms translate into legislations.
He said it was pleasing to note that the new government was keen on implementing electoral reforms and they need to demonstrate that they are keen to do them
The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) sitting in Lilongwe has t ruled that the planned lockdown by the former ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was unconstitutional.
The three-judge panel has also recommended that in future, before any lockdown is imposed, practical and realistic measures should be put in place to cushion social economic needs of the poor.
Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda
Peter Mutharika, Malawi’s immediate former president, declared the lockdown in April. Some concerned citizens and civil society groups obtained a court order stopping the lockdown.
Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda ordered an injunction against its implementation until the government could come up with some way to protect the country’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens.
This ruling forced Mutharika to announce a nationwide minimum wage equivalent monthly cash transfer to poor households. It also forced him to create a Covid-19 task force that included opposition leaders, civil society and public health experts.
Justice Nyirenda faced fierce criticism from the DPP-led government officials, who declared that if the virus spread quickly then “the nation knows who to blame”. Nyirenda was also attacked for failing to be “patriotic” in the face of a national crisis and branded a ‘covidiot’.
But analysts and civil society groups praised him for maintaining judicial independence.
Boniface Dulani, a senior lecturer in the University of Malawi’s department of political and administrative studies, said that Nyirenda prevented possible abuses of power by the then government.
Gift Trapence, chairperson of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition — the civil society group that initially opposed the government’s lockdown plans — also praised the judge.
