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Parliament dismisses Nankhumwa’s clarity on labour export to Israel

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By Vincent Gunde

Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani-Hara on Tuesday dismissed allegations which was made by Leader of Opposition Kondwani Nankhumwa that the Government of Malawi has agreed to send young Malawians to go and join the Palestine-Israel War.

In her ruling, Gotani Hara said the so- called evidence which the Leader of Opposition submitted in Parliament does not in any way supports his assertion that Malawi Government is sending some youths to join the said war.

Nankhumwa and Speaker Gotani Hara



Gotani Hara ordered the so-called evidence brought by the Leader of Opposition be withdrawn and such utterances be expunged from the record of the House met on November 23, 2023.

“I order the so-called evidence brought by the Leader of Opposition and the Hansard that captured this matter be circulated to all Hon. Members and members of the press,” reads Gotani-Hara’s ruling on the matter.

In his comment, Pioneer of Mindset Change Project Bantu Saunders Jumah, said it is sad that the same Government which released a statement proving Nankhumwa’s allegation right that it has embarked on labour export to Israel, booing Nankhumwa for exposing the secret deal.

Jumah said all Malawians are suspicious on the purported labour export to Israel because it was done in secret and had it been Nankhumwa not revealing it, no Malawian would have to come to know that Malawi is exporting labour to Israel except only the families approached for the secret deals.

He said the Parliament particularly those sitting on the Government benches made Nankhumwa to look stupid for exposing the secret deal reminding Malawians that History is the best teacher that Malawi started sending its youths to Israel in 1963 who graduated into a notorious armed wing of the Malawi Congress Party-Malawi Young Pioneers (MYP).

The Mindset Change Pioneer observed that silence by the MDF and Malawi Police Service (MPS) on the MCP training its youth at Mtakataka Police Training College in Dedza is a grave concern and is speaking for itself that democracy in Malawi is under threat.

“In 1994 Malawi made a declaration that never again shall the country go back to one party state and dictatorship and no political party is entitled to have its own military youth, where is the MCP getting all of these powers” said Jumah.

He therefore, demanded the Malawi Judiciary to clarify in the Constitution where there is a clause that political parties must own armed wings training its youth at a government institution advising Malawians to remember the blood of people that brought in the hard-won democracy in Malawi.

No other party can grab parliamentary seat in central region – Chilondola

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By Dean Chisambo

Malawi Congress Party regional chairman for the centre, Patrick Zebron Chilondola has warned other Political Parties that they will not grab a parliamentary seat in central region in the forthcoming elections.

Chilondola made the remarks on Monday during sworning ceremony for newly elected Member of Parliament for Dedza central constituency Willard Gwengwe who won by- election on 6th November 2023.

Chilondola said Gwengwe’s victory is a great achievement to the party and it’s a warning to whoever stands before the party that they will be crushed, saying MCP is not a party to play with because its a ruling, conservative and unbreakable party.

He also lamented that every party in the world has got its base and anybody can not play with it in the central region because it’s the party’s yard.

In his sentiment leader of the house Richard Chimwendo Banda said it’s exciting moment for the party to have one more member after they lost another member in parliament.

Patrick Zebron Chilondola



Banda urged Gwengwe as a well experienced legislator that he should continue to dedicate his work and serve the people that elected him into office but also above all to serve the nation.

Banda said:” we come here yes with our political parties but we have the nation to serve, we have our people to represent therefore I wish him all the best.”

He added that they are happy that the party remains strong, saying MCP continues to prevail and is doing very well in many parts of the country.

On his part the winning legislator Willard Gwengwe said he will try as much as possible to be the bridge between the government of Malawi and the people of Dedza central constituency.

He said:” it was a tight race and am so hopeful that all the people even those who didn’t vote for me, I will try to unite them and work hard , so that development works in Dedza central constituency are indeed achieved.”

The newly elected legislator promised to be a game changer agent and he will not in any case work in an isolation saying he will try as much as possible to be with people in times of sorrow, development works as well as in times of happiness they we will always be together as a family of the people Dedza central constituency.

Gwengwe added by assuring the people of the constituency that in any case he will not run away from them saying they will be together in all times.

Malawi electrol commission conducted a by-election on 21 November 2023 in Dedza central constituency after death of Daniel Chiwere who died in July 2023. Gwengwe won the by election with 7988 votes, while independent candidate Jacob Kaumphawi got 7395 votes and Democratic Progressive Party Andrew Kowedza got 395 votes.

Ministry of Agriculture to complete AIP in December

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By Linda Kwanjana

Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale says his Ministry is geared to complete the Agricultural Input Program (AIP) in December.

Addressing a news conference in Lilongwe, Kawale outlined the reasons why his Ministry has not managed to deliver the program within 40 days as directed by the President of the Republic Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera.

“Even though the exercise began well and was on course for completion within the set schedule, we have experienced two major disruptions that have derailed the process in the past two weeks, and we have since briefed His Excellency about both disruptions to get further guidance from him. The first major disruption was the inability of the central bank to make payments to suppliers due to the shortage of forex. The second disruption was the devaluation of the kwacha, which has had a knock-on effect on pricing and the inflation of the budget we had initially earmarked for the exercise, ” he said.

Hon Sam Kawale and Hon Moses Kunkuyu



Kawale said the president directed the ministry to fully inform Malawians on the progress of the project hence holding the press conference.

“The president directed us to tell Malawians on how much fertilizer the country has, how the distribution exercise is working, how are we working on addressing rising issues and challenges, how non beneficiaries of AIP are going to be rescued from hunger as well as we should tell Malawians measures on how we are going to work in order to make sure that by Christmas festival everyone should have fertilizer,” Kawale added.

According to the Agricultural Minister Government had plans of distributing 3 Million bags of fertilizer to 1.5 million beneficiaries but so far it has distributed 1,160,829 bags of fertilizer which is representing 47 percent.

According to the minister, hard to reach areas were prioritized in the process and so far a lot of fertilizer has been disbursed. These areas are Usisya, Nthalile, Misuku, Likoma, Makanjira, Nkhotakota as well as Chikwawa just to mention a few.

Currently 598,591 bags of fertilizers are being distributed 538, 580 bags of fertilizers have already been accessed and that there is only need for letters of credit to be given for the fertilizer to be accessible and ready for distribution.

The minister has also assured the general public on the availability of fertilizer as the Government of Japan is committed to assist with 140,000 bags of fertilizer by December or early January.

“The Ministry is working on the financing and payments for the remaining 24,340MT (486,800 bags) of fertilizers to complete the 150,000MT (3,000,000 bags) target,” he said.

Civil Society leaders backs Government on Malawi-Israel labour deal

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By Linda Kwanjana

Blantyre based consortium Civil Rights grouping known as Independent Civil Society (ICS) , has supported Government decision of exporting young people to Israel saying the decision stands in the best interest of young people in the country.

Addressing a news conference in Blantyre, ICS chairperson, Ceaser Kondowe who was flanked by Veteran human rights activist Unandi Banda and others said the decision remains part of the job creation initiative.

Independent Civil Society (ICS)



“We, members of the Malawi civil society organisations, applaud the State President, His Excellency, Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera and his government for remaining committed to job creation and youth empowerment,” he said.

The CSOs commended the state President and his government for handling the labour export deal transparently as fully disclosed in the media release by the Ministry of Labour.

“We are fully aware that past administrations, including the immediate past one, handled such deals in total secrecy and with absolute lack of accountability,” he said.

The CSOs have since appealed to the Government to negotiate for labour exports to more counties so that the youths are absorbed.

Kondowe reminded Malawians that unemployment has remained source of evil and agony amongst Malawian youths.

“So, we welcome the Labour Export Programme and in particular the Malawi–Israel deal as an initiative coming along the way to address the unemployment, we will support the initiative,” he said.

The CSOs believe that the initiative is a major accelerator towards achieving Malawi 2063 agenda.

“We believe the initiative will surely help the Government to achieve Malawi 2063 agenda,” he said.

He said, Youth Development and Empowerment, is among the key priority areas of the Malawi Government.

Kondowe said the initiative will help achieve the Malawi 2063, that envisions “An Inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation,” in the next four decades.

Ben Longwe accuses Malawi opposition parties of lacking intelligence

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By Vincent Gunde

One of the country’s prominent human rights activists who is in South Africa Charles Ben Longwe, has accused Malawi opposition parties of lacking intelligence to see things from far saying all members in opposition parties are too sleepy hence giving President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera an advantage of doing whatever he can to destroy the country.

Ben Longwe observes that if the opposition was made to be well- alert they would have seen that what the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is doing sending youth to Israel without transparency and in secrecy, they would have advised the government to either stop or prevent it from happening.

Leader of opposition Kondwani Nankhumwa



He says the news surrounding 221 youth that have safely arrived in Israel to work in farms has exposed the Malawi opposition sleepiness on duty claiming that if President Chakwera wants to kill all Malawians it is because of opposition parties inactiveness.

Speaking through an audio clip circulating in various social media platforms, Ben Longwe saya it is sad that all opposition leaders are hungry for power to rule forgetting that their role is to offer constructive criticism to the MCP-led government for it to know that God reveals hidden agendas to come at open open air.

Longwe further observes that Leader of Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa wanted Government to clarify on the 221 youths flying to Israel in secret saying this is speaking for itself that the cohort that has safely arrived in Israel on Friday is not the first and second,but many youths are in Israel on secret deals.

He alleges that since 2022, Malawi has been exporting labour to Israel in secret recalling that former Minister of Foreign Affairs Eisenhower Mkaka was pictured with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in August, 2021 saying nobody knows what jobs these youth are being offered best explained by President Chakwera and the Government of Israel.

The activist claims that the Israeli Government cannot offer Malawi 60 million US Dollars for nothing describing this as a good business for President Chakwera and an offence on the other side, exporting labour to other countries is Slave Trade and in the modern world-Human Trafficking.

“There is no law that allows the youth of the country to be exported as labour to another country, to Malawi, the leadership has failed to create job opportunities,” said Longwe.

According to an audio clip circulating in various social media platforms from one of the youths, said at Area 30 National Police Headquarters, they only came out with a clearance letter, passport withheld, and opening an FDH Bank account for salaries to be deposited while working in Israel.

The youth in the audio clip expressed doubts with all of these arrangements describing the deal as pure 100 percent human trafficking.

However, Ben Longwe has asked Malawians to pray for these youth to have their phones so that they communicate to their parents and guardians progress of what they will be doing in Israel.

He is suspecting someone to be behind this business claiming that if the passports of those travelling to Israel are detained here in Malawi, the youth will have no freedom to come back even if there parents and relatives buys a return air ticket.