One of the country’s top financial institutions CDH Investment Bank has announced the appointment of Thoko Mkavea as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director effective from January 1,2024.
Mkavea succeeds Kweme Ahadzi, who, after two years of dedicated service, is retiring.
The bank has also appointed Beatrix Mosiwa as the new Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) and Executive Director (ED) also effective from January 1,2024.
Thoko Mkavea
Speaking to journalists on Friday in Blantyre, the bank’s board director Kofi Sekyere said they have confident that the new appointed CEO and the Deputy CEO will continue positioning the CDH Investment Bank as the leader in the investment banking space.
Said Sekyere:”With Thoko and Beatrix at the helm, we are confident that our professional expertise will continue to position us as the leader in the investment banking space.
“Our vision remains unwavering to be the leading specialist bank in Malawi.”
He added:”When CDH Investment Bank was established, we envisioned more than just another commercial bank. We aspired to be a unique institution offering a blend of investment banking, advisory, and corporate finance services, with a special focus on investment banking.”
Sekyere said as part of Continental Holdings Group, CDH Investment Bank stands as a multifaceted institution.
“We have marked a remarkable journey, symbolized by numerous achievements that solidify our position as Malawi’s leading investment bank.
“Our partnerships with esteemed international banks and financial institutions emphasize our commitment to facilitating investment into Malawi. We remain open to fostering more lasting partnerships to drive impactful investments in Malawi.”
He concluded:”We extend our heartfelt appreciation to Kwame Ahadzi for his remarkable contributions, and we wish Thoko and Beatrix great success in driving high-impact investment and commercial banking products and services.”
On his part, Thoko Mkavea said him and Beatrix are determined to build on the legacy and make the CDH Investment Bank greater.
He said:” We stand as a solid investment bank, strong, secure, and a true partner to our customers. The commitment and passion of our team have been instrumental in our success. Our ambition is to be the best specialist bank in Malawi, recognizing the positive impact we have had on our customers’ lives.”
Mkavea said the two will continue to make the CDH Investment Bank go beyond traditional banking, delving into governance, planning, research and advisory.
“We will continue to partner with experts to advise governments, corporates, ensuring impactful project completion.
“Our commitment extends from conceptualization to closure, linking international investors with Malawi, and facilitating national development initiatives.
“We remain fully committed to investing in our people, creating an environment where everyone thrives.”
Thoko Mkavea joined CDH Investment Bank in 2007, traversing various roles from managing clients’ funds as a fund manager to shaping the supply side, leading the creation of financial securities for CDH Bank customers.
More recently, he had honour of deputizing the bank’s outgoing CEO Kwame Ahadzi.
The long opinion by the Investigator recently denigrating President Lazarus Chakwera’s style of administration offers an interesting lesson in what is the difference between a journalistic story versus cheap propaganda.
A journalistic story is well researched. It is balanced by true and authoritative sources who render it objectivity. And, above all, it is inspired by public interest. Unfortunately, the opinion (https://theinvestigator.news/president-chakweras-2025-hard-choices/) in question does not come close to the barest minimum of this journalistic threshold. Instead, it has all the hallmarks of a piece of cheap propaganda. Propaganda uses biased language, imprecise and misleading information to influence public opinion for political or commercial purposes. In this case we are dealing with political propaganda. This piece is not a response to the propaganda opinion. Rather this is an exercise in media literacy; helping citizens to critically analyse information before making a decision. So this is an invitation to critical thinking and patriotism.
Intentions and Approach
In terms of intentions, we find that some propaganda has clear intentions with a name to it. You can easily say this is so and so behind this propaganda. But others operate clandestinely sometimes even using third parties. The idea of hiding identity is to avoid questions and lawsuits because most of the information is dubious and badly sourced. For example, in this particular propaganda under analysis, the intention is to denigrate the President and his administration in the eyes of right standing citizens of this country. The author has not hidden his identity but in terms of style, the author uses heavily biased information littered with imprecise generalities that cannot be verified. He panders to the fears and desperation of the people to evoke negative reactions. But with little success or none at all. But we are here to dissect and expose every lie and exaggeration to set the record straight so that all Malawians are given accurate and truthful information to make informed opinions. At the very least, the author of the Investigator piece, who has a long history of doing proper journalism, owes it to Malawians both for his own reputation and for the sake of preserving the sanctity of journalism as a profession. He has a duty. Let’s examine all the points raised by the Investigator against the President. We are going to weigh them on the scale of critical thinking using the journalistic tools of truth, accuracy, balance, objectivity and fairness for the process.
1.Take Social Media posts with a pinch of salt not on face value: Journalism 101
The Genesis of the investigator’s propaganda opinion stems from a social media rant of a frustrated State House employee who was venting her anger after she was duly fired for misconduct. Journalism 101 says we must not take social media posts on face value. That we should treat them as news ideas that need to undergo a rigorous verification process before they are refined into a proper story. This process includes talking to the source of the post, the people mentioned in the audio and State House officials to verify for the sake giving a balanced story. But without bothering to contact any of the above, the Investigator goes ahead to use the unverified contents of the audio to make sweeping statements against the president. He says and I quote:
” Serious allegations of theft, corruption and all sorts of debauchery at State House… could have seen heads to roll and the President should explain to the public why State House is operating like big brother house”
The truth is heads have already rolled with the firing of Tiyanjane Mulangeni, the source of all these wild accusations in an audio after a due process. She was first given a warning for misconduct against terms of her employment. And when she did it again, showing no sign of behavioural change, she was fired. The process that was followed in the firing of Tiyanjane shows State House does not operate like big brother. It shows State House is a place of order. It has respect for decorum, rules and regulations. A matter that has been swiftly dealt with does not require any further explanation, least of all from the President. Please!
2. State House does not deal with Corruption, ACB does
The Investigator further accuses the President of inaction: ” The muted silence to the serious allegations that implicates State House officials in corruption carrying ‘bags of money from Malawi Revenue Authroty (MRA). ”
The truth of the matter is that State House does not deal with corruption. The Anti-Corruption Bureau is mandated to deal with corruption. The Investigator should know this. If the Investigator is convinced there is enough evidence pointing to wrong doing in the audio, we encourage the Investigator to submit a tip for the ACB to investigate and bring the culprits to book. I would happily do so. But making these wild accusations without evidence has potential to tarnish image of innocent people which could lead to trouble because they can sue you. We also begin to question the integrity of the Investigator whether he is compromised or not. “The president has failed to tame corrupt elements in the government “
This opinion is another generality that is incorrect and an exaggeration. If there is a government that has done a lot in fighting corruption, then it is this government. Here are the facts.
This government has increased capacity of ACB by increasing funding from K6.39 billion to K7.17 billion in the 2022/23 budget. This increase has allowed ACB to recruit more staff members than before and implement projects contained in the National Anti-Corruption Strategy II of 2020. The government has also amended several legislations to create an independent and conducive environment for the ACB to operate. For example, the establishment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Court to expedite corruption cases. Not to mention removing the requirement for ACB to seek permission from DPP before prosecuting a case.
And, this is the only government where there are no sacred cows when it comes to facing the law. The President has not shielded anyone involved in corruption from arrest and prosecution. The Vice President was arrested, a couple of ministers, Police Inspector General, Presidential Advisors, too. This is unlike in the past where many close to the President were shielded from prosecution, case of Presidential Aide Norman Chisale. To ignore these facts and claim the President is doing nothing on corruption, is being dishonest. The Investigator, once the voice of the truth at MBC and the Nation, is being dishonest. Why?
3. The President takes too long to act. For example, he is yet to give comprehensive economic recovery plan
This is another allegation that is an exaggeration of the truth designed to denigrate and paint a wrong picture of the President. The president does not give reactionary responses to events. Rather, he consults first before making a decision. In fact, the President is a learning President. He learnt his lesson in the manner former minister Ken Kandodo was fired. It was a haste decision because when the facts came out, it was discovered the minister was harshly dealt with. Since then the President decided to take his time before making any decision that will have serious impact on people. And, as they say, the slowness of a cat should not be misinterpreted for weakness. It is mark of calculation, precision, accuracy and cunning approach.
Now for the Investigator to claim that the President has not given a clear economic recovery plan as an example of lack of decisiveness, is a blue lie.
4. It is not true that the president is yet to give a comprehensive economic recovery plan or direction that’s a lie unless you are no in Malawi. On 15th November, 2023, the President gave a comprehensive economic recovery plan that touched on a number austerity measures and some aspects designed to cushion the poor and small and medium sized enterprises from the economic crisis.
The President suspended international trips, reduced by 50% fuel entitlements for ministers, ordered a 15% salary increase for civil servants and a review of PAYE tax. IMF, World Bank and EU have also been forth coming to help the country with financial aid to lift businesses. The country has since started receiving $178 million from IMF, $60 million World Bank, EU resumption of direct budgetary support and many more.
Now for anyone to come and indulge in misinformation of this nature, we begin to question their motives and sanity. If you are indeed patriotic, then you owe it to the people to give them the correct information so that they can make informed decisions. Not engaging in cheap propaganda.
Have we ever wondered why organizations go into oblivion when all the structures are in place.? Without wasting time one of the issues that comes to mind is that the leaders were not visible enough to inspire confidence in the subordinates or followers, maybe they were too busy in the boardrooms and in their air-conditioned offices and therefore lost touch with the reality.
The events of the last few years should leave no one in any doubt that we live in turbulent times. ‘Business as usual’ is an increasingly rare state for most organizations. In Malawi politicians have realized that business as usual will not take the country anywhere hence they have decided that it will be “business unusual “approach to issues. Recently Malawi has faced a 44 percent devaluation which the country is struggling to cope up with.
If the politicians have realized that it is important to do business unusual what about the organizations or any entity what about companies.
It is always a good thing to be associated with success, once people don’t feel safe, they jump ship. When Malawi the flames lose a game people distance themselves from the team this is the same to political parties. In political parties when they see there is no vision or leadership that is visible members will defect to where they feel their ideologies align well
But what is visible leadership?
Visible Leadership is the commitment of leaders to a culture of quality that aligns performance management practices with the organization’s mission, regularly takes into account customer feedback, and enables transparency about performance between leadership and staff or followers. VISIBLE leadership motivates the staff, followers, take the example of the factory when a manager leaves his comfort zone (air-conditioned office being served by smartly elegant assistants) to go to the factory at the end of the shift and help sweeping all the debris from the work station, what a smile would be on the floor guy.
However, bear in mind that when you start being visible floor guys will be suspicious of your motive and may think you want to hammer people, but run them through that you want to understand the issues with which people were struggling, to see what processes works .
It is precisely at these times that leaders earn their money – through their competent visible leadership. Visible leadership includes three key components: setting a vision, actively discussing the change, and knowing the impact.
Setting a clear vision for leadership
The first job for a leader who wants to visibly and proactively drive change is to create a crystal-clear vision of what the future will look like for the employees or followers and then communicate it with passion. Leaders do this by walking employees through the status quo or “the current way things are done around here” to the desired state of where the organization wants to be once the change happens. Change leaders build a powerful case for the change, then work relentlessly to generate understanding and consensus. Visible leaders make sure they are there all the time for their people
Actively discussing the business change
Change leaders don’t just wave a magic wand and then hide out until the change is done. Visible leadership means the change leaders are out there talking about the change, adjusting their own behaviors to align with the change strategy, and actively addressing concerns voiced by employees or followers. It is not only about manifestos or paper policies but leaders or Managers should be seen to practice and implement what is contained in those nice documents
Knowing the impact of change in a business
During change, visible leadership focuses on helping to identify negative reactions and barriers and knocking them down one by one. Common barriers to change may come from fear — fear of losing control, losing status, diminished compensation, loss of job security, or being asked to take on a bigger workload. Visible leaders help to align agendas and balance interests to reduce concerns and conflicts.
It is in this vein that Visible Leadership Make Business Change Successful
Christina Tangora Schlachter and Terry H. Hildebrandt, have said that Leaders without visible leadership have no clue in what they are doing and they often fail ;They do nothing and just hope it all works out they manage it without a project plan from a cubicle or corner office. They lead the change with words and actions that support the future state but nothing changes.
However, it is imperative to note that; successfully led changes, with strong visible leadership will result in shorter project timelines, widespread ownership of the change, and an organization or entity or a country ready to take on future challenges.
In order to establish a long-lasting and sustainable performance management system at any organization, the senior management must commit to a culture that aligns PM practices with the organization’s mission. Leaders must regularly take customer feedback into account to think about performance in context and with the end-user’s experience in mind. Additionally, leaders must enable transparency about performance throughout the organization. Many organizations find it challenging to engage colleagues in performance management initiatives; capturing the interest of those in leadership roles may be even more difficult. Establishing and cultivating commitment to PM throughout the organization is crucial in building a culture of PM that will lead to an enduring PM system. Organizations should consider how their performance measures and reporting strategies connect to their ability to create interest and support among leadership. It should be business unusual if we want to succeed and avoid downsizing in our organizations, entities our country.
Leaders should be visible and more visible
Don’t hide behind, or under, your desk with your office door closed (if you’re lucky enough to have an office). Get your own coffee, use the common restaurant, go and see people rather than emailing them, attending their chikhoswe and bridal showers if necessary. Although people may not want to engage openly at first it is worth getting out and about – to be seen, but also to watch and listen. The mood will come through if you let it and people will open up thereby creating value to the Management organization or a country.
Of course, none of this will work (and you’ll certainly fail the authenticity test) if the first day you adopt these approaches because of suspicion of staff (Why now, what is he up to?)
So – for the good of your colleagues, for the good of your organization for your country and as a high-performing leader – start acting as a visible leader from today.
Visible leadership
All Managers and leaders should take a lead in visible leadership they should practice and own it.
*The writer is a Fellow of IPMM (Institute of people Manager Malawi) He writes in his own capacity.
Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Authority (Magla) has on Thursday donated K15 million to the Malawi National Board (MANEB ) to cover examination fees for 753 candidates.
Speaking during a symbolic cheque presentation at MANEB headquarters in Zomba, MAGLA Director General Rachel Mijiga said the authority decided to come to the rescue of the candidates after hearing reports that 29 817 candidates failed to pay for their examination fees.
Said Majiga:”The Gaming Act of 2022 mandates us to provide social services, hence when we heard the news that there are other students that have not paid their examination fees, we thought it wise to come and reach out to Maneb and make a contribution for 752 pupils that are going to sit for different examinations nationwide.”
Receiving the donation, MANEB Executive Director Professor Dorothy Nampota said it was good news that MAGLA has come to the rescue of the candidates.
“I am glad to say that examination fees for almost all candidates have been paid.
“MANEB appreciates the support towards education advancement in Malawi,” she said.
Nampota said the rest of the candidates who will not sit for the national examinations either withdrew from school due to factors such as early marriages or relocated.
This year 610 000 candidates are expected to sit for the Malawi School Certificate of Education, Junior Certificate of Education and Primary School Certificate of Education nationwide.
Deputy Minister of Education Nancy Chaola Mdooko has expressed concern over sub-standard construction work of a school block at Jombo Primary School in Chikwawa District.
Speaking after inspecting the project on Wednesday, Mdooko emphasized that the contractor should redo the work, saying that her ministry prioritizes quality buildings.
“I am not satisfied with the way the school block is being constructed. The contractor should believe in quality work, and therefore they should redo the work,” Mdooko said.
Mdooko then commended the community and the contractor for maintaining a good relationship during the project implementation.
In his statement, the contractor, Simon Yotamu, explained that the construction work has been affected by rain, resulting in poor quality output.
“The construction work has been affected by rain, causing the cement to lose quality. But I am confident everything will be well,” said Yotamu.
In her remarks, head teacher for Jombo Primary School, Rhoda Malunga expressed optimism that the newly constructed school block, once completed, will reduce overcrowding in classrooms, which she said remains a big challenge at the school.
“Shortage of school blocks is a big challenge we are experiencing here. This project is surely a welcome development as it will help us have enough classrooms,” said Malunga.
