Wyson Bushi,a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Councillor for Mwamphazi Ward in Chikwawa North Constituency has on Friday been elected Chairperson for Chikwawa District Council during the full council meeting.
Bushi secured the seat after going unoppossed as his competitor Amos Chabe, Councillor for Kawanda Ward withdrew from the nomination list.
Bushi on Centre
Ironically, Councillor for Chimwanjale Ward in Chikwawa West Constituency, Alexander Shawa’s, who was also on the nomination list for Vice Chairperson seat was not comfortable for the seat to go unopposed.
District Commissioner for the district Nardin Kamba allowed Shawa to contest and finally got one vote against 11 votes for the Bushi.
Meanwhile, independent Ward Councillor for Chibisa Ward Joe Gwanda in Chikwawa West was declared the winner as vice chairperson after scooping 8 votes against Shawa’s 4.
Chikwawa district has 6 constituencies and 12 wards.
Minister of Homeland Security Ken Zikhale Ng’oma has on Friday announced that the government has suspended expiry dates for National Identity Cards (IDs) and processing fees which Malawians were paying to replace their IDs until January 2026.
He made the announcement in the National Assembly where he was presenting a ministerial report on National IDs following concerns from various Parliamentarians.
Ng’oma admitted that National IDs’ renewal has proven to be a burden to the citizens in the country, hence the decision to suspend the expiry dates.
Ken Zikhale Ng’oma
The minister said President Lazarus Chakwera has made two directions to National Registration Bureau; first to waive K2, 500 fee for lost or damaged IDs until 5th January 2026 and that Police should not incur fees on lost IDs report issuance.
He added that the move is also meant to allow every eligible voter to register and vote freely in the 2025 general elections.
This comes as Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) is expected to start voter registration next year for the 2025 Presidential Elections where the national ID is the only ID that a person can use to register for elections.
In recent weeks, there have been concerns from various stakeholders that millions of Malawians whose IDs expired or got lost would not be able to register for the elections considering the costs attached to renew or replace IDs.
Reports reaching this publication indicate that one of the prominent journalists at Malawi’s public broadcaster Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) , Chawezi Banda,has been kicked out of his position.
According to information in circulation on social media,Chawezi is said to have been dismissed following allegations that he has been engaging in business activities and seeking funds from parastatals in the name of MBC, something beyond the scope of his responsibilities.
Chawezi Banda
Ironically, this is the same offense that led to his previous dismissal during Aubrey Sumbuleta’s tenure at MBC.
Despite his talent and skills, Chawezi Banda enjoyed certain privileges at Malawi’s public radio station, including a promotion to Chief Producer and accompanying President Chakwera to UNGA, even though he was not a news reporter.
Official sponsors of the Malawi National Netball Team, FDH Bank, have travelled to Capetown in South Africa to offer their support to the girls as they kick start their Netball World Cup finals tonight.
The Queens will open their group B with Scotland in the first Netball World Cup in Africa.
FDH Bank Public Relations Manager Lorraine Chikhula said they felt the need to follow the Queens and give them support to power them up for the competition.
“As a sponsor, we are very excited about the start of the Netball World Cup and The Queens’ participation. We are in Capetown offering them full support, and we wish them all the best as the games start. Our expectations are very high, and we believe The Queens will give a world-class performance and bring back the cup,” she said.
The Malawi Queens interim coach Samuel Kanyenda commended FDH Bank and all Malawians for the support, saying they feel charged up and ready to burn Scotland.
“The good thing is that we prepared well for the competition. We know we are not facing Scotland alone, but we just want to make sure that we start on a high note with a win against Scotland. They are not a new side, and we know them,” he said.
The Queens, ranked sixth in the world, will face third-ranked England on Saturday before playing Barbados on Sunday.
Tonight, Australia will play Zimbabwe, while South Africa battles out with Wales, and Uganda is facing Singapore.
On 21 April, 2021, President Lazarus McCaryhy Chakwera left Lilongwe for Maputo for the Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) Extraordinary Double Troika Summit which was organized to seek a lasting solution to the Islamic insurgency in Mozambique.
After the meeting Malawi President Dr. Chakwera and his Mozambican counterpart Filipe Nyusi agreed to strengthen their cooperation with a special focus on trade, security, transport, energy, and diplomacy.
The agreement heralds a new dawn for Malawi and Mozambique, which have been at a spat over decades.
Nyusi and Chakwera
The spat got worse during the time of late President Bingu Wa Mutharika when Malawi was trying to find a direct route to the Indian Ocean through the Shire-Zambezi Waterway Project.
Since Chakwera visit to Mozambique, Malawi has enjoyed direct and indirect benefits.
One of the such many benefits is that Maputo has granted land at Nacala Port for Lilongwe to build its own infrastructure to handle cargo.
“This is very true. President Felipe Nyusi granted a plot to His Excellency Lazarus Chakwera in Nacala in which Malawi should develop facilities for processing of liquid and dry cargo,” confirmed Alfonso Chikuni, Malawi’s Secretary for Energy.
“We are visiting the plot tomorrow [today],” he added in an interview yesterday.
It is a diplomatic groundbreaking development that not only strengthens the two countries’ bilateral ties, but could also help Malawi cut transport costs and reduce prices of goods, including fuel, fertilisers and other imports.
The development could also boost Chakwera’s strong standing on foreign policy for pulling off a feat that five of his predecessors failed, including the late Bingu wa Mutharika whose Nsanje Inland Port dream turned into a nightmare after diplomatic missteps with Maputo.
“This has not happened by accident. It has happened because relations between Malawi and Mozambique have improved tremendously over the last three years,” said Malawi High Commissioner to Mozambique Wezi Moyo in an interview this week.
She added: “From the word go, President Chakwera was very intentional about improving relations with Maputo, so he put a lot of attention on Mozambique.
“He has travelled to this country more than any other Malawian President. Those efforts have now started bearing fruits for us Malawians.”
On the Nacala land, Lilongwe plans to build a version of Malawi Cargo Centre (MCC) in Tanzania.
Under the Malawi-Tanzania Corridor Transport System Agreement, Malawi was granted land to lease in Dar es Salaam and Mbeya where an inland port and port handling facilities were constructed and installed to facilitate movement of goods destined to or originating from Malawi.
The facilities are designed to handle both dry and wet cargo and include rail sidings, rolling stock, locomotives, warehouses, cargo handling equipment, fuel farms, fuel pipelines and housing, among others.
The facilities operate as independent units and are collectively known as Malawi Cargo Centres.
Malawi Cargo Centres Limited (MCCL) was established to manage, promote and market the assets and facilities of the MCCs. They operate as dry ports where they are a one-stop shop for the clearance and consolidation of goods. Within the premises of the MCCs are customs officials while MCCL acts as clearing and forwarding agent.
Government will have to decide on the Nacala facility’s operating model, whether to go for a public-private sector partnership or set up a fully-fledged State enterprise to optimise the direct port-rail link that Nacala provides to Blantyre and later to Lilongwe through Liwonde.
National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma) director of operations Micklas Reuben said in an interview that the parastatal will take the lead in moving goods, fuel in its case, from Nacala via rail, having already identified Geneva-based Augusto Energy to lift 83 000 tonnes (196 million litres) of fuel through Nacala.
As a starting point, he said Nocma is currently processing 2.5 million litres in roughly 56 wagons from Nacala to its depots at Matindi in Blantyre.
“Since our rail can support 16 wagons, it means that we can offload the 56 wagons carrying 2.5 million litres within a week,” Reuben said, emphasising the efficiency of the Nacala route.
Filomene Bene, a senior executive at the Mozambique company CFM that runs railways and ports, urged Malawi to diversify port usage to Nacala because unlike Beira, which they also manage, Nacala is not very busy.
In addition, she said, Nacala’s harbour is so deep that it does not require the constant dredging that Beira, the current port of choice for the Malawi market, needs.
