International author and renowned Malawian poet Tendai M. Shaba says all is set for the release of his highly anticipated second book titled ‘A lady in A Yellow Dress’ on Tuesday 5th September
Currently, the book which has 200 pages is available in all the major book retailers worldwide.
The book continues to receive more support from various women in leadership in Malawi including Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Director General Martha Chizuma, Edith Jiya (Group CEO Old Mutual), Zandile Shaba (Managing Director Centenary Bank)and Dr. Margaret Chaika, PhD Charity C. Mughogho (Bank Executive, Standard Bank Malawi).
The key theme in the book is to manifest emotional, mental and spiritual wellness.
It explores the significance of the color ‘yellow’ which is the color of healing and happiness.
The lady in the book signifies the feminine qualities of a woman and how she presents her thoughts and feelings.
To be launched in November this year, ‘A Lady in A Yellow Dress’ is a must read book, suitable for both adults and the youth (adolescents).
Malawi President Dr Lazarus Chakwera will on Tuesday meet International Monetary Fund (IMF) Deputy Director Ms Gita Gopinath.
A statement which the State House has released indicates that the two will hold discussions on various issues at Kamuzu Palace on Tuesday, 5th September 2023.
“Ms. Gita comes to Malawi to appreciate first hand the challenges facing the economy in the face of recent external shocks, as well as to hear directly from His Excellency about Malawi’s development priorities and reform programme that require support from the IMF.
“She will also hold discussions with officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs and the Reserve Bank of Malawi on the Extended Credit Facility Programme. His Excellency warmly welcomes Ms. Gita’s visit to Malawi and the IMF’s commitment to Malawi’s economic progress that this high-level visit represents,” reads the statement.
Recently the IMF Board meeting in Washington approved Malawi’s First Review Under the Staff Monitored Programme with Executive Board Involvement, which was entered into last November.
The board’s approval follows an IMF Mission Team that visited Malawi between May 16 and 22 this year, which rated Malawi’s performance under the program based on end-December 2022 targets as mixed.
Finance Minister Sosten Gwengwe was quoted saying Malawi now awaits a second IMF assessment in September which would determine the country’s readiness for an Extended Credit Facility programme with the Fund.
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) discussed the first review of the Staff-Monitored Program with Executive Board Involvement (PMB) for Malawi.
IMF acknowledged that Malawi has been affected by a series of shocks— including an outbreak of cholera and Cyclone Freddy, which caused significant loss of life and damage to infrastructure—since the approval of the PMB on November 11, 2022.
In this context, growth has been weaker and inflation higher than expected. The fiscal deficit in FY2022/23 (April/March) was larger than expected at the time of the PMB. Meanwhile, external strains—including shortage of foreign exchange, difficulties securing trade credit, and a widening spread between official and bureau exchange rates—have heightened.
Despite a sharp reduction in the current account deficit, accumulation of foreign exchange reserves has been slower than expected, implying an increase in informal trade.
Cyclone Freddy has weighed on the outlook for 2023 and led to a lower growth forecast and a higher inflation forecast. Key downside risks include slippages in program implementation, delays in the ongoing external debt restructuring process, and further external shocks.
Performance under the PMB has been mixed, but the authorities are addressing challenges and continue to commit to the PMB’s agreed macroeconomic adjustment path and policy reforms.
IMF says authorities are taking corrective actions necessary to demonstrate their capacity to implement the agreed macroeconomic adjustment and reforms, as well as to build the policy track record needed to support their prospective request for an Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement.
“Steadfast implementation of and unwavering commitment to this Staff-Monitored Program with Executive Board Involvement (PMB) will be critical to restore macroeconomic stability and establish a track record to support a prospective request for an Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement,” said the IMF.
One of the world’s leading conglomerate Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Malawi is marking the one-year anniversary of its operations as a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa with the official change of the local entity’s name to Coca-Cola Beverages Malawi Ltd (CCBM) and notching up significant milestones, including a move to clear Sprite packaging which makes the bottles easier to recycle, and an investment in its glass bottle production line to increase capacity.
The move to Sprite clear is a precursor to the company ramping up its plastic waste collection and recycling efforts. Clear PET plastic bottles have a higher value as a recyclable material as they are easier to recycle than coloured packages.
The company has also refurbished its office in Lilongwe as a further investment in the business.
“CCBA’s strategic intent is to be the anchor bottler in each of the markets within its footprint,” said Seutloadi Thaanyane, managing director of CCBM.
“CCBA made a significant investment in Malawi through the purchase of the soft drinks beverages business from Castel (Southern Bottlers Limited) in 2022. We see a compelling long-term growth opportunity in Malawi that will benefit our business as well as consumers in this market.
“Our recent investments in increased production capacity and the refurbishment of our Lilongwe office further cement our commitment to growing our business and the local economy,” said Thaanyane.
Public Affairs, Communication and Sustainability Director Head: Reputation & Communication CCBA is the 8th largest Coca-Cola bottling partner in the world by revenue, and the largest on the continent.
It accounts for over 40% of all Coca-Cola products sold in Africa by volume. With over 17,000 employees in Africa, CCBA services more than 680,000 customers with a host of international and local brands.
The group was formed in July 2016 after the successful combination of the southern and east Africa bottling operations of the non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages businesses of The Coca-Cola Company, SABMiller plc and Gutsche Family Investments.
CCBA shareholders are currently: The Coca-Cola Company 66.5% and Gutsche Family Investments 33.5%. CCBA operates in 15 countries, including its six key markets of South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Mozambique and Namibia, as well as Tanzania, Botswana, Ghana, Zambia, the islands of Comoros and Mayotte, Eswatini, Lesotho, and Malawi.
The opposition has previously considered the Eastern Region its stronghold – _’kuchipinda/kuchimbundi’ An MCP victory in Mwasa Ward would be devastating to the opposition and contrary to the false narrative that the opposition has been spreading that they only somehow own the exclusivity to the Eastern Region voters, which according to Kazembe is both nonsensical myth and a lie.
The allegations of registration of underage voters or minors are categorically false and without merit. The opposition knows and we know that they are simply scared of an election in Mangochi M’Baluku’s Mwasa Ward. An MCP victory in Mwasa Ward now would mean a serious political breakthrough leading to a landslide victory in the next general election in 2025.
It is not against the law to mobilize would be first time and new voters to register and participate in an election. This is common practice in all democracies all over the world. According to electoral laws of Malawi, anyone who has attained the age of 18 years and above can be legally wooed to register to vote. As a matter of law, legal registration starts at 16 years old but only an 18 year old is eligible to vote. Noone is delusional enough to believe that an underage can stand in line and attempt to vote in M’Baluku without causing alarm.
As a ruling party one of our strategies but not the only strategy, we publicly proclaimed in broad daylight and encouraged potential would be new voters who have reached the legal voting age of 18 years to go and register and vote for our candidate in the said by-election and there is absolutely nothing illegal about that. Infact we also know as a matter of fact that the UDF MP Idi Kalosi was also actually mobilizing new voters allegedly from outside Mwasa ward but the numbers on the ground were still not on his side. We strongly believe that we have simply out-manoeuved the opposition on the ground game in relation to both sealing the old voter demographic and in wooing the new ones in Mwasa Ward.
It is the people of Mwasa Ward who will decide their fate and future not some old and tired politicians and a few vigilantes who have nothing to offer. The opposition should stop taking eastern region voters for granted, go and campaign and offer solutions stop whining and throwing vigilante tantrums. When the voters previously voted for the opposition at the local level they expected proper representation but the opposition didn’t produce anything for the people’s lives.
Does the opposition expect the voters to eat the hate that they are spreading? We, as MCP have been heavily but subtly campaigning this ward for over one year, our request to voters has been simple, give us the mandate through this by-election vote as pawn for development. Moreover we have recruited a great candidate who has preemptively built a brand new mosque and has drilled three boreholes in the ward among many many other things, and has evidently captivated the imaginations of the M’baluku voters to the chagrin of the UDF and the DPP elites. The opposition were ignoring MCP’s campaign efforts, they actually didn’t meaningfully campaign in the ward and only two weeks ago scrambled to feature handpicked candidates and somehow they expected people to be on their side. What finally got their attention was when they witnessed in awe the recent August 20, 2023 historic and electric MCP rally in
Mangochi M’baluku that was attended by over 5000 strictly and only M’baluku walking residents no trucks, understandably this rally has caused chills in their spines, they have been caught pants down. Now after realizing that the politics on the ground is not on their side as a matter of a misguided strategy and to avoid political embarrassment they resorted to vigilanteism during the registration process by intimidating and harassing would be voters and that is simply the reason MEC has suspended the election to a later date few weeks from now, they are simply scared of an election nothing else.
We will not be deterred by the vigilanteism orchestrated by few scared opposition political elites, we are moving forward with our Eastern region attack, we have been encouraged by the cozy reception that thousands of people of Mangochi M’baluku have shown us this past year. Against all odds the voters of Mangochi M’baluku are willing to give MCP a benefit of a doubt. They are simply tired of politics of hate and tribalism. MCP Will contest everywhere including even in Chiradzulu and Phalombe. Lets meet at the poling station in Mwasa Ward.
A certain MCP victory in this ward is a real scare for the opposition for it will certainly open floodgates for an MCP landslide victory in 2025. _This is scary to some._ Gerald Kazembe Second Deputy Secretary General Malawi Congress Party
Minister of Local Government Unity and Culture Richard Chimwendo Banda has sounded the warning against Councils’ management over their underperformance in implementing various projects.
Chimwendo Banda sounded the warning a while ago during the on-going quarterly coordination meeting currently being held at Golden Peacock Hotel in Blantyre.
Local Government Minister Chimwendo
The Minister sounded the warning with reference to the three Councils which did not qualify to access resources in 2023/2024 financial year under the World Bank funded GESD programme, that issues Performance Based Grant cheques to Councils with outstanding performance.
Honourable Banda, who is in a company of his deputy Honourable Owen Chomanika, spanned his speech on issues such as laxity in implementing projects for the local people, corruption and abuse of funds as some of factors leading to Councils’ underperformance.
He then further warned that his administration does not want to see any Council fail to perform again this year.
Traditionally, the performance of councils are assessed annually to see how they are progressing in terms of executing development projects.
At least a total of nine councils have been recorded as the underperformers for the past three fiscal years according to the recent Local Authorities Assessment Report (LAPA).
The development according to Honourable Banda is a move that is denying people in the respective authorities their right to development.
Said Banda :”So far nine councils have failed to perform and they did not access the grant. I don’t want to hear that councils have failed to access the grant this year. The song should not be repeated this year.”
Speaking further, Honourable Banda, who is also the leader of the House in Parliament issued a stern warning against the Councils’ controlling officers and council chairpersons over abuse of the Connstituency Development Fund (CDF).
“CDF is not for individuals.It is for poor people. …if you are not happy with the projects say that you don’t like the project. The performance of the Council will be judged by how you as the District Commissioner has performed. Councillors too should not force the DCs to what what they personally want to do.”
In February this year, Honourable Banda said his administration will ensure councils are executing development projects for the goodness of people in the country in line with the expectations of His Excellency President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera whose vision is to make Malawians prosper together in various sectors that include development.
Today’s meeting has drawn together District Commissioners and Council chairpersons from the Southern Region.
The aim of the meeting is to identify strategies that could help councils meet the aspirations in the Malawi Vision 2063 (M2063).
