Parliament has on Monday afternoon passed the revised K4.33 trillion budget without any changes as presented by Finance Minister Simplex Chithyola Banda two weeks ago.
The revised budget is up from previous K3. 7 trillion.
It took the House about 2 hours and 30 minutes to pass all the 57 revised votes.
However, there was some resistance on the Malawi Human Rights Commission vote as lawmakers objected the reduction of the vote from K2.059 billion to K1.952 billion.
The lawmakers argued that MHRC is crucial in the rollout of the Access to Information law.
While acknowledging the importance of the vote, Chithyola Banda said Treasury will look at how best to address the issue so that the operations of MHRC are not affected.
Parliament passes Revised National Budget
On his part,the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Madalitso Kazombo, MP, commended Members from both sides of the House for their active participation in the budget passing process.
Today, the legislators are also expected to meet at 9:30 to proceed their importation discussions.
Minister of Youth and Sports, Uchizi Mkandawire has urged Malawian youths to be transformative and innovative leaders for them to drive the nation’s development.
Mkandawire made the remarks on Monday when he was presiding over the YouthConnect Malawi Expo at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe.
The Minister emphasized that Malawian youths should take the YouthConnekt initiative seriously in order to benefit from the vast opportunities offered by YouthConnect Africa.
Hon Uchizi Mkandawire
He assured that the government of Malawi remains committed to providing crucial support to the youth at both local and international levels, in terms of leadership programs and financial backing to ensure their diverse talents and innovative ideas fulfil their potential.
Mkandawire highlighted the impact of YouthConnect Expo as a valuable platform for promoting visibility, networking, and collaboration among the youth in the country.
He further appealed to international organizations and partners to join hands with the government in funding various youth initiatives that have the potential to promote social and economic development of the nation.
In his remarks, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Deputy Resident Representative, Challa Getachew, said youths play a great role as primary contributors to Malawi’s future forex earnings, hence the need to involve them in decision-making processes and empowering them economically.
He commended youths in Malawi for being catalysts of change in improving social-economic indicators and advocated for innovative programs like the YouthConnect Malawi Expo to create an inclusive platform for the development of all youth.
He added that UNDP will keep supporting Malawi to become an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation through youth empowerment.
The YouthConnekt platform is a regional initiative dedicated to unlocking African youth’s creative and leadership potential, fostering a mindset change, and driving transformation in civic, economic, and political spheres.
In Malawi, the YouthConnekt Chapter is implemented by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, with technical and financial support from UNDP, UNFPA, and UNICEF.
The initiative represents an innovative approach that aims to connect young individuals with opportunities for skill development, entrepreneurship, and leadership.
By providing a platform for networking and partnerships focused on youth, the initiative seeks to contribute to the overall socio-economic development of Malawi.
The YouthConnect Malawi Expo has been designed to celebrate young talent, encourage networking, and provide a platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has described the National Governing Council (NGC) meeting of 6th December, 2023 in Lilongwe as unprocedural and illegal claiming that the Party’s Secretary General Madam Jefu wa Jeffrey did not consult the President as required of her by the Constitution of the party.
Madam Jeff wa Jeffrey in her capacity as Secretary General of the DPP convened a media conference in Lilongwe that she is calling for an NGC meeting to be held in Lilongwe which among others, will set a date for the Convention as ordered by the court. The media conference was quashed by another DPP press conference of Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika who argued that powers to call for the NGC meeting rests in the hands of the party’s President in consultation with the Secretary General.
Jeff wa Jeffrey-she didn’t consult APM to call for an NGC meeting
On Wednesday afternoon, High Court Judge Simeon Mdeza rejected an application filed by DPP interested Parties in the names of Honourables Shadric Namalomba, Chipiliro Mpinganjira, Jean Mathanga and Thom Kamangira to stop the 6th December, 2023 NGC meeting called by the Secretary General Grezelder Jeffrey.
Jefu wa Jefuiles’s post carried a message to the 6th December, 2023 NGC meeting that take it from them, NGC meeting is on, Convention is on within 90 days as sanctioned by the court and the judgement is clear.
“Za contempt of court, ife sitikupanga nawo, wina alira meaning that we are not part and parcel of contempt of court, one will cry” reads Jefu wa Jefule’s post on the wall.
And writing in a statement dated 5th December, 2023 signed by the DPPs Spokesperson Shadric Namalomba, the party has informed all of the NGC members and the entire membership that there will be no NGC meeting on Wednesday 6th December, 2023claiming that the meeting was not sanctioned by the Central Executive Committee.
“The party is aware of an application by interested Parties for an injunction which the court has declined on the basis that all matters to do with the convention have been adjourned to 12th January, 2024,” reads part of the DPP statement.
The statement says former President of the Republic who is DPP leader Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika will in due course call for a meeting of the Central Executive Committee to discuss and map the way forward.
In the statement, DPP NGC members have been advised not to attend the illegal NGC meeting saying sanctions will apply to those that defy the order.
Pioneer of Muvi wa Chilungamo visionaries Bantu Saunders Jumah, has condemned in strongest terms possible the violence and vandalism which happened in Mangochi after the protesters had presented their petition to the office of the District Commissioner. Jumah said demonstrations and protests are legally sanctioned in the Republican Constitution pleading with Malawians not destroy property but to deal with a person who is a problem to them and not the country.
He said Muvi wa Chilungamo supports demonstrations and protests advising Malawians to show their anger by demonstrating peacefully warning them that some of the decisions can lead to total destruction of the country.
Bon Kalindo-a victim of police arrests for inviting violence and vandalism during demos
Speaking through his face book page widely followed by millions of people in Africa, Jumah has advised Malawians to draw lessons from the aftermath of the May, 2019 elections where a lot of property were damaged, looted and vandalized.
Jumah has advised Malawians that the past is gone and no need to go back to the past reminding them that the same property they vandalized, destroyed and looted, there taxes will foot down all the bills to have them back.
He said Malawian’s anger is on President Chakwera for not fixing the country resulting to prices of essential goods skyrocketed beyond the reach of the poor saying this is painful and Malawians have all the reasons to show anger at President Chakwera.
The Muvi visionary leader said the recent devaluation of the Malawi Kwacha by 44 percent has pushed up prices of essential goods including food after another 25 percent effected some months ago making it to a total of 59 percent, has added in another salt in the mind of the citizens in Malawi.
“Everything what we destroy, will be rebuild by our hard-earned taxes, Presidents will change and go but Malawi will remain, violence and vandalism is taking our country 40 steps for its rebuilding,” said Jumah.
He has pleaded with Malawians not to divert their anger to destroy property, violence and vandalism will take the country to nowhere saying the country will continue to be called Malawi after Chakwera and Mutharika have gone, advising them to jealously guard, defend and protect Malawi.
And in news just comes in, President of Malawi First Bon Elias Kalindo was on Tuesday evening arrested by police in Lilongwe and has been transferred to Zomba to appear in court on charges of inciting violence and vandalism in Zomba, Karonga and Mangochi districts.
The UN Women says research has indicated that the gender digital divide in Africa continues to widen as most of the new internet users since the year 2013 have been men, observing that women in developing countries are 14 percent less likely to own a mobile phone and have internet access than men.
The organization said according to the Malawi Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2019-2020) more men use the internet compared to women, men are three times more likely to possess computer skills than women, and internet use is high for those with higher education and lower for those with none or pre-primary education. It said the Sub-Saharan region remains amongst the widest gender gaps in digital usage saying digital literacy in Malawi is extremely low, especially for women and girls in rural areas calling for the need to empower women and girls to use and create technology.
Dowa Dec members listening to UN Women’s project presentation
Presenting the Malawi Girls can code too project at a meeting with the District executive committee (Dec) in Dowa, UN Women said the project is aimed at reducing the digital gender divide and economically empower girls and young women through increased digital skills, access and technology adoption by 2026.
The project will target 6 Education Divisions, 8 districts including Dowa, 20 secondary schools (both urban and rural), 6 institutions of higher learning (public and private institutions such as Universities and Technical Colleges and will work in collaboration with Ministry of Education through the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation and Ministry of Gender. Community Development and Social Welfare, with funding from the Embassy of Ireland.
Speaking on behalf of UN Women Country Representative, Ann Lipipa Chikoko said in Dowa, the project will target Dowa, Natola Secondary Schools and Mvera CDSS through equipping Malawian girls with digital literacy and entrepreneurship skills and stimulating girls to become ICT professionals, among others.
The project will benefit 7,500 girls and boys aged 14-25, with or without ICT background and link girls who participate in the coding camps to opportunities in Tech clubs, Tech companies and other actors on coding and ICT sectors.
She said among the key interventions, the project will provide tablets with pre-loaded lessons, intensive training through bootcamps on coding, entrepreneurship, gender and other relevant topics, as well as conducting, media campaigns. “The project will conduct regional and national bootcamps to encourage competition and showcasing solutions developed by the beneficiaries,” said Lipipa-Chikoko.
In his remarks, Acting District Director of Agriculture and Natural Resources for Dowa Martin Kamlomo, welcomed the project into the district urging partners and Government sectors to support it for the intended outcomes to be achieved in the district.
