President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera’s is utilising the King Charles’ coronation trip in the United Kingdom to court various investors to invest in Malawi.
On Thursady, President Chakwera held discussions with Davies Martin, Head of Nuveen Natural Capital.
Writing on his Facebook page, the Malawi Head of State indicated that Nuveen Natural Capital has expressed interest to invest in Malawi’s agricultural sector.
He writes: “On Thursday I met Mr Davies Martin, Head of Naveen Capital in London who has expressed interest to invest in Malawi’s agricultural sector.”
President Chakwera and Davies Martin
The President further revealed that that Nuveen Natural Capital is planning to invest heavily in the value addition of the Malawi’s agri products, an initiative aimed at helping smalll scale farmers in the country to scale up their profits.
“I have gladly learnt that they [Nuveen Natural Capital] also intend to initiate a robust value addition revolution to transform the fortunes of our small scale farmers,” said Chakwera.
Between now and the day of his return, President Chakwera is expected to hold bilateral meetings with other Heads of State beside meeting business leaders.
The Commander in Chief of Citizen Transformation Movement (CFT) Timothy Pagonachi Mtambo on Thursday took centre stage to deliver a talk on peace at the ongoing Peace Summit that is taking place in the city of Seoul in South Korea. Mtambo talk centred on ‘Peace Ideology and Vision for a Peace Movement‘ – A Reflective Comment to a presentation that was made by Dr. Francisco Rojas Aravena, Rector of The University of peace
Mtambo who is also the Patron of Charity group League of transformation Foundation in his opening remarks highlighted The reason why the world need to quest for peace ” We are living in an era where the world is polarised and conflicts are all over ” He went further by arguing that there is necessity of the search for peace amid conflict and great uncertainties with need for more recover spaces of dialogue for consensus cooperation and solidarity while educating new leaders for peace. Mtambo spoke of the United Nations and its 77 years existence and the new challenges that the organisation still faces. He pinpointed areas such as the existence of a new wave of violent protests, increased corruption, organised crimes, increased support for authoritarian and populist leaders, legal uncertainties for business and investment, migration crises, use of armed forces, the US-China geopolitical conflicts, regional integration paralysis, emergency of boarder tensions, democratic erosions, climate change and others
With Former Vice President of Zambia Nevers Mumba
Mtambo argued that the Weakness of regional coordination has hindered intergovernmental coordination to address the issue of peace, ” The lack of spaces for effective dialogue inhibits opportunities for cooperation, lack of cooperation impedes development of regional public policies against organised crime and new transnational crime. Without cooperation there is no peace, without peace there is no development, without development there is no social justice or equity” said Mtambo
The Peace Summit has brought together 1000 world leaders from the 157 and includes incumbent and former Presidents, Vice Presidents, Prime Ministers, First Lady Of Malawi, Dr Monica Chakwera and former US Secretary of State, Mr Mike Pompeo, former US Speaker Newt Gingrich, President’s Trump special advisor Pastor Paula White and many others.
Malawi benefit from the summit
In a separate Interview , Mtambo clarified the benefits that Malawi will get from its partcipation in the summit. He said Malawi, stands to benefit because Malawi is currently building the Peace and Unity Commission and the entire infrastructure of peace for the country, through the ministry of unity.
“We stand to benefit technically and financially to support our peace and unity efforts. The other benefit is that The Universal Peace Federation has a comprehensive curriculum on Civic and Character Education and Malawi is on an advanced stage in the development of Civic and Character Education curriculum through the ministry of unity and education.”
He said the world has become a global village as such peace in the world is peace everywhere and important for development. “As you have seen the war in Russia and Ukraine has heavily affected us economically, world peace and peace in any country is fundamental for Malawi. We are in a global village” said Mtambo.
The Chairperson of Malawi Congress Party Diaspora Network (MCPDN) Chalo Mvula has commended President Chakwera for accepting the invitation to attend the coronation of King Charles the third scheduled for this Saturday. Mvula made the call after certain voices were questioning the wisdom of attending this historic event.
Speaking to 247Malawi News, Mvula who is also UK based said rich history between Malawi and the United Kingdom is a strong reason enough for the President not to miss this event. According to Mvula , United Kingdom has always been a strong ally for Malawi and the country has stood with Malawi through thick and thin “ The UK has been with Malawi in good times and in challenging times, they have always been among the first to come to our rescue when our country faces challenges and this has gone on for years. It is only worthy that we repay back this good gesture with our President attending King Charles coronation as United Kingdom is that true friend of ours” said Mvula.
President Chakwera arrived in the UK on Thursday Morning. Writing on his social media handles, the president said he was looking forward to his trip to the UK
“As a Commonwealth member and long-time-bilateral ally of the UK, Malawi joins the British people as they celebrate this longstanding tradition and symbolic ritual around their monarch” The President wrote
President Chakwera has also promised that he will take the opportunity to hold a number of bilateral talks with some of the global leaders who are also heading to London for the same purpose.
The UK has a strong historic relationship with Malawi. The former Malawi President Dr Hastings Banda had very good relationship with the British Monarchy. Queen Elizabeth famously visited Malawi in 1979, about 15 years after the country gained its independence from British colonial rule. King Charles, then Prince also visited Malawi in 1987.
Mvula highlighted that despite the global economic challenges which has been the argument of those opposing the trip, there is still room to cement strong international relations. “Lets not forget that President Chakwera will also use this trip to meet business leaders which will end up benefiting Malawi in the end “
More than 2,000 people have been invited to witness the crowning of King Charles and Queen Camilla on May 6, a dramatically slimmed-down ceremony compared to the roughly 8,000 who attended the Coronation of the late Queen Elizabeth II in 1953
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Malawi Chapter has officially announced Golden Matonga of Platform for Investigative Journalism (PIJ) as the new MISA Malawi Chairperson.
Matonga replaces Teresa Ndanga who has been on the position for some years.
According to the country’s media body, Matonga amassed 251 out of 363 ballots cast in Lilongwe, Blantyre and Mzuzu.
Matonga celebrating the win
He was competing against Wonder Msiska who got 112.
While the position for Vice Chairperson has gone to Chisomo Ngulube who was competing against Blessings Kanache, Joseph Mwale and Alick Ponje.
Chisomo amassed 179 out of 363 ballots cast.
Alick Ponje got 92, Joseph Mwale 48 and Blessings Kanache 43.
The Executive Member position has gone to Nathan Majawa who got 140 ballots out of 363 votes cast.
Steven Zimba 128, Cathy Maulidi 92 and Luciano Milala 3.
The New Governing Council (NGC) will be unveiled officially at the MISA Malawi Awards Gala Dinner at Crossroads Hotel on Saturday May 6.
Meanwhile,MISA Malawi has thanked the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) official who were part of the voting process for their professionalism and dedication in managing the elections.
“The support from MEC has greatly contributed to the credibility and successful conduct of the polls.
“The Chapter would also like to express its gratitude to the monitors, candidates and the membership for the high level of professionalism and maturity shown to ensure the elections were a success,” reads the statement MISA has released.
MISA Malawi is one of 11 chapters of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, which promotes and defends media freedom and freedom of expression across southern Africa in line with the Windhoek Declaration of 1991.
The organisation’s National Governing Council, which is elected by members, provides policy direction to the Secretariat.
Reports reaching 247 Malawi News indicate that a Platform for Investigative Journalism (PIJ) journalist Golden Matonga is leading unofficial MISA Malawi Presidency results against Wonder Msiska of Times Group.
Matonga is unofficially winning the votes in all three regions.
The unofficial results also show a win for his vice Chisomo Ngulube.
There is also a poise for a win for independent Nathan Majawa.
Other contestants in various posts were Alic Ponje, Blessings Kanache, Nathan Majawa and Luciano Milala.
The Malawi Electoral Commission(MEC) and MISA will be making the official communication later as journalists proceed with other events marking the World Press Freedom Day including an awards ceremony over the weekend in Lilongwe.
