Two mobile network services providers, Airtel Malawi and Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM) have obtained a court injunction stopping their agents across the country from holding protests tommorow, Thursday.
The disgruntled agents are pushing for revision of their commissions on every transaction processed.
According to a court document 247 Malawi News has seen, High Court Judge Allan Muhome stops the agents under ‘The Voice of Agents and Concerned Agents’ from proceeding with their plans until the court makes its final determination on the matter.
“This oder prohibits the Defendants, their agents, or any person acting in concert with them or any other person acting under their authority or any of them or otherwise from holding demonstrations, vigils, sit-ins or otherwise stopping to provide or disrupting the continuous provision of Airtel Money Services on 14th November, 2023, or any other date, until the final determination of this matter by the Court herein or until a further Order of this Court,” reads the court oder in part.
It adds :” If you disobey this order, you may be found guilty of contempt of court and may be sent to prison or fined or your assets may be seized.”
Recently, some angry agents in Blantyre closed down some booths; claiming their bosses have failed to address their grievances despite several attempts.
According to some data, when one cashes out K500,000 through Airtel Money, an agent gets a commission of K1600.
On the other hand, when one sends K15,000 through TNM Mpamba agent, they get K122 as a commission.
And again published Reserve Bank of Malawi(RBM) data, relative to 2021 shows that the agent network for mobile money agents grew by 56.5 percent to 243 857 in December 2022.
This essentially reflects an increase in access points for financial services across the country.
President Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera on Tuesday arrived in the country from Saud Arabia and Egypt where he went to fullfill a number of engagements.
Malawi President left Malawi for Saud Arabia on Wednesday 7 November, 2023 , where he attended Saudi Arabia – Africa Summit.
While in Saud Arabia Chakwera also witnessed the signing of the financing agreement of the Mangochi – Makanjira Road construction project.
Following his engagements in Saudi Arabia, President Chakwera proceeded to Egypt where he attended an Intra Africa Trade Fair organized by the African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIM Bank) in partnership with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) secretariat.
The trade fair served as a vital platform for African countries to engage in discussions regarding the establishment of an integrated African market for goods and services.
President Chakwera arrived in the country via Kamuzu International Airport and was welcomed by Vice President Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima, Senior Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers, Senior Chiefs and party officials.
Chakwera did not address the media because of heavy rains.
Malawi’s talented female footballers Tabitha and Temwa Chawinga are among nominees for the 2023 Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) Player of the year Award.
CAF has named the two Malawian sisters among the 30 nominees for the award.
The Malawi National Women’s Football Team, the Scorchers, and Coach Lovemore Fazili have also been nominated for the 2023 CAF Awards.
The Scorchers have been nominated as the National Team of the year (Women) while Fazili has been nominated as Coach of the year (Women).
The Chawinga Sisters
Tabitha plays for Paris Saint Germain in France after joining on loan from Chinese club Wuhan.
On Sunday, she scored a hattrick in her team’s 5-2 victory of Dijon.
She has six goals in all competitions.
Last season, Tabitha was also on a season-long loan at Inter Milan where she scored 23 goals in 21 games for the Nerazzurri and became the first African woman to win the golden boot in Italy.
She is the only African woman to win the league golden boot in three countries abroad after finishing as the top scorer once in Sweden and thrice in China.
Temwa Chawinga plays for Wuhan in China where she is Chinese Women’s League leading scorer with 23 goals.
She was top goal scorer with nine goals at the 2023 Cosafa Women’s Championship in South Africa where she was also named player of the tournament as Malawi won the cup.
The 2023 CAF Awards Gala will be held on December 11 in Marrakech, Morocco.
Some three-hour drive from Mangochi Boma to Ntonda, there lies a beautiful structure one would think is a house of the head teacher for some primary school. But it is a Community Based Childcare Centre (CBCC).
Traditional Authority Ntonda calls the structure ‘Ku tauni’ (Town) and discloses that people around the village patronize the structure for wedding photoshoots during weekends because it has transformed the face of the village.
Such is the case with other four centres: Kalira in Mitundu and Chilowa in Kasiya, Lilongwe, and Kapandajuba at Ekwendeni in Mzimba where new structures comprising two classes, and an office for caregivers lie some meters away from the dilapidated structures being used by the children aged between three and six.
The four centres are part of Yamba Malawi Early Childhood Development (ECD) projects funded by National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc to the tune of K100 million.
Christina Izeki, a Caregiver at Ntonda CBCC, said last academic year they had 103 children. This year they have registered over 70 with more coming every day and expect the number to surpass last year’s figure.
“The structure we were using is thatched with grass and no cement on the floor if you compare with the new one National Bank of Malawi plc in partnership with Yamba Malawi has built. It was so inconveniencing especially when it was raining because we would suspend classes for as long as two weeks until it stopped raining,” she narrates.
At Chilowa in Kasiya, Lilongwe, chairperson of the CBCC, Henry Mponda, says they started working with Yamba Malawi in 2020 where they realized the importance of early child development.
“The new structure has ignited interest from the children to be in class and we expect this to help improve their performance at primary school level,” he says.
Martha Silumbu, a caregiver at Kapandajuba CBCC in Ekwendeni, Mzimba expects enrolment to increase from 42 children because the new structure is able to carry more pupils.
“The old structure was not suitable for a classroom because it had cracks and parents feared the room could collapse on their kids. But with this new structure, it gives confidence to the parents to send the kids to learn as we prepare them for primary studies.”
“A kid who has attended ECD classes is different from those who haven’t, because this is a preparatory stage where we train them not only to memorize things, but also to socialize with others. So, if they graduate to primary school, they are already used to school set up,” explains Silumbu.
At Kalira in Mitundu, Herbert Chikumbe, director of Luzi Community Based Organization where Kalira CBCC falls under, discloses that the structure is now a model for 114 other CBCCs under his jurisdiction.
“We expect children from other villages to enroll at this school once opened because we demolished the old sub-standard one. However, I can confirm that other CBCCs have started mobilizing materials with the hope of finding funders for their projects just as Yamba Malawi did with Kalira CBCC,” he says.
Yamba Malawi Grants Manager, Sothini Ziba commends support from NBM plc. He says the organization has 96 CBCCs in its catchment and less than eight are improved structures.
“We support an average of 65 kids per CBCC varying around school calendar, community, incentives programs and high interest by the kids in more organized facilities,” he says.
With the ECD week hosted by the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare coming early November under the theme ‘Nurturing Bright Futures: Promoting Access to Integrated Early Childhood Development Services’, the ministry’s spokesperson, Pauline Kaude also commends NBM plc for their commitment in promoting education from grassroot.
“What National Bank of Malawi plc has done is exactly what the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare is expecting from the corporate world to support early childhood education in this country.”
“If you read through our policy, it is the role of every individual, companies and government to support and promote Early Childhood Development (ECD).”
“ECD is an investment that gives back to society. To address economic challenges, there is a need to improve educational performance as a way of building vibrant human capital in Malawi,” she says.
National Bank of Malawi plc Marketing and Corporate Affairs Manager, Akossa Hiwa, says their commitment to aid Early Childhood Development is one among many of the Bank’s initiatives to develop the nation and give back to the clientele that help them grow.
“We believe that the support we have given to Yamba Malawi will improve its service delivery for the development of children in need. Because Early Childhood Development is an important component of an individual’s subsequent development and education, we felt it right and proper to commence our expansion through this avenue.”
“We value child development, because we believe that well-developed children will grow into productive citizens that will develop our country and benefit the Bank,” she explains.
NBM plc and Yamba Malawi signed the agreement in December last year and the project is expected to benefit more than 300 children per intake.
Forum for Democracy and Rights Defenders(FDRD) has organized a solidarity walk to lobby for collective effort to stand in support of the people affected by persistent crisis at Gaza in Palestine.
Vice Chair for democracy and rights grouping, Asubuni Phiri told journalists in Blantyre that the walk is set to take place in Blantyre on Wednesday this week.
Phiri said many innocent citizens in Gaza are dying due to current situation going on in the Middle East, hence, the match.
According to Phiri, there are currently over 11 thousand palestinians who so far have been killed and among them are over 4 thousand women.
“These numbers include interfaith members not only the Muslims community.
“Therefore, this is not a single faith freedom fight as it cut across different faith community in the country,” said Phiri
Phiri added that the walk is intended to ask the president of Malawi, Dr. Lazarus Chakwera to call for the United Nations and join hands in the efforts.
According to him, the walk is expected to start at around 2 pm and will start from Kamuzu Upper Stadium to Ginnery Corner Round About via Chipembere Highway then back to the upper Stadium.
