Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture Richard Chimwendo Banda says the government is now ready to embark on a journey of constructing the much awaited National Arts and Culture Centre.
Chimwendo Banda disclosed this in Lilongwe on Saturday when he presided over an Arts in the Park Festival organised by Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi (WESM).
According to the Minister, the centre is a flagship project for the arts and will have a national theatre, national school for the arts and a national museum.
Richard Chimwendo Banda
He also indicated that his ministry is geared to support artists to showcase and market Malawian creative products at selected international events.
“This exhibition is a statement to the power of art in bringing communities together and presenting our heritage to the new generation.
“Art is supposed to comment on current situations,take us deep into our past and critique the common narrative of our society,” said Chimwendo Banda.
The Art in the Park festival is an yearly event where visual artists from across the country showcase their finest works .
This year, the event took place at Four Seasons Gardens in Lilongwe and attracted over 30 artists, both old and new.
NBS Bank Plc has donated four air conditioners and one executive office chair worth K10 million to Thyolo District Council.
In her speech after presenting the items at the council offices on Thursday, NBS Head of Retail Banking Victoria Chanza said the Bank thought it was good to donate to the district council as part of their corporate social responsibility.
“NBS Bank got a request from Thyolo District and they told us that with the heat that we have had these years, they are working in an unconducive environment, so as a ‘Caring Bank’ today we came to donate the air conditioners as per request so that they can now work in a conducive environment.”
Victoria Chanza handing over the donations
“The total cost is around K10 million because we bought the air conditioners, they are double split and we are also going to cover the installation cost,” said Chanza.
Thyolo District Commissioner, Hudson Kuphanga thanked NBS Bank for demonstrating that it is indeed a ‘Caring Bank.’
“As Thyolo District Council we are very happy that NBS Bank has donated these modern air conditioners because this is going to make our life at our office conducive. It was tough to operate from the office as you see there is climate change so Thyolo is one of the districts that is now very hot. You could not work in the office from 2 to 4 o’clock when the sun is about to set, so the coming of the air conditioners is a relief to the council,” said Kuphanga.
Thyolo District Council offices are still housed in the old building built around 1900 while awaiting the completion of a new three-storey office complex under construction.
Ladybird Private School in Blantyre has organized coding sessions for kids to be held at its premises in Upper Chinyonga on Sunday,November 19, 2023.
The coding sessions are targeting kids aged 6 to 13 and will start from 1pm to 4pm.
The facilitator for the coding sessions will be Dr. Bennett Kankuzi, who is also a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science and Head of Department of Computer Science and Information Technology at the Malawi University of Science and Technology(MUST).
In an interview, Dr. Kankuzi said he will facilitate the sessions as part of community engagement in imparting coding skills to Malawian kids as early as possible.
Said Kankuzi :”I joined first year of my undergraduate studies in 1998 at University of Malawi (Chancellor College) having not touched a computer before.
“However, I immediately fell in love with computer programming when I got introduced to it, such that even when I joined medical school to train as a medical doctor in 1999, I returned back to computing school, the same year, to pursue a career in computer science, a career I was never aware of before joining university.”
He added :”From 2004 to date, as an academic computer scientist, I have introduced IT as a career, through computer programming to many university students, some of whom, are now professional software engineers.
“Times have now changed. Computer programming is an art and science that is indispensable in this digital age. Kids need to be introduced to computer programming at an early age. An early introduction to coding is one way of achieving this.”
Ladybird Private School was established in 1990 by Mrs.Joyce Jaffu, and it is located in Upper Chinyonga, Blantyre.
In 2015, the school’s premises were leased to other institutions with similar business interest until 2023.
The School has now been reopened by Mrs. Joyce Jaffu’s daughter – Jacqueline Jaffu-Pangani and it offers nursery, reception, lower primary and upper primary.
The school is currently offering MANEB curriculum with secondary school to be reintroduced in 2024.
Its website is https://www.ladybirdprivateschools.mw
A Roman Catholic Bishop Alfred Chaima of Zomba Diocese has appealed to the citizens to come together and pray for Malawi as it is passing through pain, anger and suffering.
Bishop Chaima is describing the recent devaluation of the Malawi Kwacha by 44 percent as a very worrisome development reminding Malawians that the same Kwacha fall by 25 percent and this time around, government has devalued the Kwacha by 69 percent in one year alone.
He says the devaluation of the Malawi Kwacha by an alarming 44 percent has sent a strong message to the outside world that things are not moving in Malawi and this has never happened in the country’s history before.
Speaking through an extract taken from his preaching circulating in various social media platforms, Bishop Chaima has called on the citizens in Malawi to pray to God to choose for them good leaders who will place a human being at the middle of their leadership.
Bishop Chaima says while it is a fact that Russia-Ukraine war, Tropical Cyclones including Freddy have greatly affected the country, some other clever people should not take this as an advantage hiding from their corrupt and theft activities in government.
“Patriotic Malawians 25 percent plus 44 percent is making a 69 percent Kwacha devaluation in one year alone. This means that things are not moving in Malawi, ” he says.
One of the prominent Malawi’s economists Dr. Daniel S Dube says the Republic of Malawi is in unprecedented full-blown economic crisis calling upon President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera to address the nation on the 44 percent Kwacha devaluation.
Dr. Dube says the decision by Reserve Bank of Malawi to devalue the Kwacha by 44 percent after 25 percent devaluation, has devastating adverse on the poor and rural masses saying the Chakwera Administration and the Reserve Bank of Malawi have failed to enact transformational policies to improve economic output, control inflation and to create jobs.
He says President Chakwera needs to address the impact of his government’s economic decision on social services and outline how the massive economic shock looming from the devaluations that his government has unleashed will be addressed.
“This is the time when the country needs leadership, economic direction and above everything else a comforting and sensitivity to their suffering,” reads the writings of Dr. Daniel S Dube’s on the wall.
FDH Bank Plc has become the first Southern African bank to access a US10 million Africa Trade Exchange (ATEX) facility agreement set to reshape the agricultural landscape in the region.
ATEX is an online platform developed by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and African Export-Import Banks (AfreximBank) stands as a beacon of transparent and competitive access to critical supplies like food, fertilizer, and agricultural chemicals.
FDH Bank Deputy Managing Director George Chitera sealed the deal with Afreximbank Director and Global Head, of Trade Finance Gwen Mwaba, on Saturday at the ongoing Intra-Africa trade fair in Cairo Egypt.
In reaction to the agreement, Chitera said the Bank is pleased with the facility which has come in very timely manner.
“Malawi is an agro-based economy, and its staple food is maize cultivated between December and June. For a good harvest, there is a need for fertilizer that is not locally produced. The facility will assist the Bank in supporting its clients in the timely importation of this fertilizer for the 2023/2024 growing season.”
“The facility will also allow the Bank to increase its support to the Government of Malawi by increasing its credit facilities to importers of petroleum products.”
“Through the ATEX facility, the Bank will be able to support fuel importation by bridging the gap between the ordering and delivery of the fuel and the actual settlement of the payments to the suppliers,” said Chitera.
He added that the deal is coming in when most foreign banks are de-risking from the African markets, reducing their exposure to African economies and limiting the level of financial support to the trade within and outside the continent.
“The provision of the facility therefore asserts Afreximbank’s commitment to facilitating and promoting trade in Africa. With the increasing impact on global supply chain disruptions emanating from the challenging macroeconomic environment at the back of the Covid-19, the Russia/Ukraine war, and locally, the impact of Cyclone Freddy, such financing products from Afreximbank go a long way in cushioning the supply chain disruptions that may exist due to limited resources,” he said.
According to Chitera, by participating in the ongoing fair, the Malawi Stock Exchange listed Bank strives to become a leading financial services provider in Malawi and in the region to facilitate trade between Malawi and other countries by engaging businesses and demonstrating financial solutions that help importers and exporters to effectively do their business assisting with solutions to mitigate international trade risks and provide financing to enable growth.
On his part, Mwaba said apart from reinforcing the bond between the two parties, the deal also positions FDH Bank as the first bank in this African region to access the facility.
“This facility agreement will empower FDH Bank to effectively pool procurement for the upcoming 2023/2024 growing season, aligning with Malawi government strategy to bolster agricultural activities,” he said.
The Third Intra–African Trade Fair started on November 9 and will end on November 15 under the theme “Building Bridges for a successful AfCTA”, recognizing growth opportunities for Intra- African cross-border trade and investments.
FDH Bank was the only Malawian company sponsor of IATF.
