Nyasa Big Bullets have won the Airtel top 8 cup after beating Silver Strikers 5-3 on post-match penalties in Saturday’s final at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre.
The game ended 1-all in regulation time and it had to take penalties to separate the two and for the Peoples team to win the Airtel top 8 cup for the first time.
Silver’s Stain Davie opened the scoring just nine minutes into the game with a cool finish past Bullets goalie Ernest Kakhobwe.
However, Lanjesi Nkhoma cancelled Silver’s lead seven minutes later to give the Blantyre giants hopes of winning a double this year.
Chiukepo Msowoya nearly increased Bullets’ lead in the 23rd minute but his header went up the cross bar
In the 28th minute there were penalty shouts after a Silver Strikers player fouled Hassan Kajoke in the penalty area but referee Newton Nyirenda waved play on.
The second half saw the Peoples team bringing in Zicco Mkanda and Eric Kaonga for Chiukepo Msowoya and Alick Lungu while the central bankers brought in Innocent Shema for Mike Roberts and Chokondi Kamanga for Tawonga Chimodzi. Blessings Tembo and Patrick Macheso also paved way for Maxwell Phodo and Levison Maganizo.
Bullets also brought in Precious Phiri for Hassan Kajoke and penalty specialist Yamikani Fodya for Charles Petro towards the end of the match.
Despite the changes there were still no goals from either side and the match went straight into the penalty shootout.
Bullets scored all their five penalties through Yamikani Fodya, Zicco Mkanda, Chimwemwe Idana, Gomezgani Chirwa and Nickson Nyasulu
On the other hand Silver scored their penalties through Frank Banda, Stain Davie and Innocent Shema. Levison Maganizo missed his spot kick for Silver Strikers.
The victory means Bullets have secured a double this season, having won also the TNM Super League.
Opponents Silver Strikers are the Airtel top 8 most successful side, winning it on 2 occasions since its inception in 2017.
The 2021 champions have received K17 million while Silver have received K5.5 million for being runners up
Bullets’ Babatunde won the golden boot award with 8 goals and went home with K500, 000 from Airtel
In order to support the Malawi Government in intensifying its response to the 4th Wave, the Malawi International Covid Response Group is organising a Virtual panel discussion which will be held via Zoom this Sunday, 19th December 2021.
The group which is comprised of Malawians living in the diaspora working alongside various stakeholders in Malawi has been at the forefront of helping the government in its effort to combat the pandemic.
The Sunday event will be held on Zoom Platform and people are encouraged to attend. The Zoom details are
Meeting ID: 838 7083 6801- Passcode: 661713. The panel discussion will start at 3.00pm Malawi Time and 1.00pm UK Time.
Recently the group has embarked on Vaccination Acceleration Programme in rural communities, an initiative that has been hailed by Chiefs and political leaders .The Programmerolled out in October and is being done in partnership with the Society of Medical Doctors of Malawi (SMD) and NBS Bank
The districts so far reached include Neno, Nkhotakota and Mzimba where over 200 leaders were reached out and given the platform on community radio stations to communicate and influence rural communities in order to accelerate uptake of rural communities CoVID-19 vaccination.
Speaking to 247Malawi News Tikhala Chimpango, PR & Comms Lead for the group said the group is pleased with the progress of the vaccine acceleration programme “We would like to appeal to all Malawi to continue getting vaccinated”, she said.
MICRG is an initiative that was initiated by the Malawi Diaspora Network (MDN) and taking cognizance that the vaccination uptake awareness was not reaching out to the rural communities, the group decided to join the campaign.”We are working tirelessly to save the lives of our families in Malawi and we are urging every Malawian to play their role in the battle against this pandemic” explained Edith Chikago-Parker ACMA, Chairperson MICRG. She also emphasized the importance of adopting a multi-stakeholder partnership and collaboration approach which has been vital for the success of the Rural Communities Covid-19 Vaccine Acceleration Programme.
The initiative has been endorsed by the Malawi Government, during its meeting with Dr. Nkhoma (Co-chairperson, Malawi Presidential TaskForce on Coronavirus), who commended the group on its strategic approach and informed the members that the Ministry of Health has asked all the districts DHSSs in Malawi to submit their plans and budget on Covid with an intention of increasing vaccination rates in the districts. Therefore Dr. Nkhoma urged the members, to relay this message to key district representatives requesting them to incorporate the initiative in their plans.
The initiative got support of NBS Bank, which sponsored MICRG with MK9.6 million — gesture that showed the Bank’s willingness and determination to adhere to their strong Corporate Social Responsibility.
SMD President Dr. Victor Mithi, who is the leading the delivery team on the ground, reports that they have been working in close partnership with the Presidential Taskforce on CoVID-19, he explained that through the Presidential Taskforce, they have also managed to link the programme to the government mobile vaccination clinics. He explained that the response has been encouraging, we have discovered that through the community influencers many people are positively coming out for their jabs — which is a plus in balancing up the uptake of information between the urban vs the rural.
Dr. Mithi also took cognizance that community radios play a huge part in influencing people in matters of national importance — thus MICRG applauds all who accepted to be community influencers in this initiative.
Staff Sargeant Chim Musicha, Programme Delivery and Quality Assurance Lead, MICRG explained that the group has limited funding covering 6 districts currently, so far we have reached circa 200+ community leaders in Neno, Nkhota-kota and Mzimba. We have also recently joined forces with our colleagues from Malawians Health Initiative (USA) and have agreed phase 2 of our strategy which will focus on intensifying fundraising activities in order to raise MK40,000,000 required to deliver the programme in the remaining 21 districts in the Malawi.
The Rular District Programme sees SMD deploying its doctors nationwide to sensitise the rural districts to increase vaccination uptake. MICRG was launched in January 2020 to support Malawi Government in implementing sustainable CoVID-19 management strategies.
Its aim is to coordinate the diaspora resources including knowledge, skills and abilities in supporting sustainable CoVID-19 Management strategies and to date, MICRG has contribute towards Malawi’s Covid-19 management strategies through presentations during high-level national vaccination roll-out and planning meetings, delivering virtual panel discussions, publications, disseminating information and advising on Malawi’s corporates social responsibility strategies.
The Urban Research and Advocacy Centre (URAC), on thursday the 16th of December 2021, donated assorted items worthy tens of thousands to victims of floods which took place last weeks at the Mzuzu University (MZUNI).
The donation comes barely weeks after heavy rains affected a number of students who reside at St. Augustine area, outside the university’s campus which left the students handless.
Speaking during the donation, the executive director of URAC, Prof. Mtafu, said that its their social responsibility to help hopeless victims of such natural disaster and promote them materially for the betterment of their lives. He added that the centre thought it wise to weigh in with material support to the students thus basic needs as they are sourcing other funds to supplement the donation.
On his part, Dean of students at the green campus, Mr Fiskani Ngwira, thanked the URAC for the timely donation and hoped that the organisation will keep on bailing as many students as possible in consideration that there are many other needy students who are lacking basics whilst studying at MZUNI.
Representing the students, Face to face Social welfare director, Mr Isaac Lalama, was quick to denote his gratitude towards the donation. He further extended appreciation note to URAC for the items which have been served to the victims. Lalama has since appealed to the general public to consider, financially and materialistically, helping multitude of needy students who are struggling to make it on daily basis at Mzuni.
At least 18 students have benefited from the donation which include cooking oil,10 kgs bags flour and rice, parked chicken,writing pens and note books.
Introduced in 2016, URAC is a research centre which aims at promoting evidence based economic planning, development, service delivery and accountability. It has its main station in Mzuzu and sub-stations in Chintheche, Chilumba, Lilongwe, Blantyre, among other districts.
The State Vice President, Right Honourable Dr. Saulos Chilima has called on faith leaders to champion mindset change through transformative leadership
Chilima made the call at Sun bird Nkopola in Mangochi on Thursday when he opened a two days Faith Based Organizational (F.B.O.) Leadership Conference.He therefore described faith groups as largest and best organized civil society in Malawi capable of contributing to transformative development that will contribute towards attainment of the Malawi 2063 agenda.
File Photo: Chilima in one of the religious meetings
“Im very passionate to mind set change,” Chilima expressed his commitment towards all efforts that are meant to see Malawi going forward.Malawi Institute of Management (MIM) Board Chairperson, Professor Lewis Dzimbiri said MIM has the obligation to offer managerial and leadership conferences for effective functions of various public, private sectors towards Malawis development aspirations.
President Chakwera’s Malawi Vision 2063 aims for the country to reach upper-middle income status by 2063 by investing in physical and human capital. Under announced policies, which aim to implement a gradual pace of adjustment and maintain fiscal and current account deficits over the medium term to meet substantial development and social spending needs, the economy is projected by staff to recover gradually to reach 4.5 percent growth by 2023.
The outlook is predicated on the assumption of continued domestic and external financing. It assumes Malawi will be able to sustain higher public investment than experienced in the past decade, have strong fiscal multipliers, maintain fiscal and external deficits on the order of 10 percent of GDP over the medium term, and continue to access sizable financing from regional development banks and domestic borrowing to close an estimated financing gap of about 4-5 percent of GDP each year. The growing debt burden is, however, projected to crowd out private sector investment and hinder medium-term economic prospects. Moreover, in spite of emergency COVID-19 assistance in 2020 and SDR allocation in 2021, the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM)’s gross reserve assets are projected to decline to 1½ months of next year’s imports by end-2021, leaving the economy vulnerable to shocks.
Uncertainty surrounding the outlook remains high, and risks are tilted to the downside. The main risk to the outlook is a sudden stop of available financing especially from regional development banks. If this risk materializes, it could lead to an abrupt real exchange rate adjustment, import compression, significant impacts on growth and financial stability, and an adverse effect on the most vulnerable.
Executive Board Assessment
Executive Directors agreed with the thrust of the staff appraisal. They noted that Malawi’s economy has been severely affected by the pandemic and commended the authorities for their efforts to support the economy. Despite signs of gradual recovery, downside risks to the outlook persist. Directors stressed the need for determined implementation of policy adjustments to address Malawi’s macroeconomic imbalances, restore debt sustainability, rebuild external buffers, and reduce poverty and inequality to improve social outcomes.
Directors underscored that restoring debt sustainability requires both addressing the legacy debt burden and adopting a strong fiscal adjustment program. While expenditures on containment measures and vaccine administration remain important in the near term, redoubling efforts on domestic revenue mobilization, curtailing and prioritizing current spending, and public financial management reforms are critical. Directors expressed concerns over Malawi’s high risk of overall and external public debt distress.
Directors noted that a tighter monetary policy stance would be needed if inflationary pressures materialize. In this regard, they encouraged careful monitoring of money growth and pressure on the exchange rate. Directors also underscored the importance of vigilant financial sector supervision, through close monitoring of potential risks to financial stability and the development of prudential policy tools.
Directors noted potential noncomplying disbursements during the 2018 Extended Credit Facility arrangement with the IMF and the need for resolution of this case of potential misreporting ahead of a new program. They urged the authorities to deliver on their commitment to conduct a special audit of foreign exchange reserves and improve the frequency and quality of data reporting.
Directors called for further efforts to strengthen public sector governance and institutions to safeguard scarce resources, strengthen policy effectiveness, and improve transparency and data provision, including on commitments and payments of COVID-19 related spending. Enhancing a robust cash management and control system of the national budget and strengthening the Board’s oversight of foreign exchange reserve management at the RBM are important.
Directors noted the catalytic role that an IMF arrangement could play to support the adjustment effort and mobilize donor financing. They emphasized that progress towards an arrangement would depend on strong commitment to an adjustment program, sizeable financing support from the international community and Regional Development Banks in the form of nondebt creating flows.
While Malawi remains current on its payments to the IMF, Directors concurred with the post-financing assessment (PFA) conclusion, including with respect to Malawi’s capacity to repay the IMF.
It is expected that the next Article IV consultation with Malawi will be held on the standard 12-month cycle.
Debt stock and service (percent of GDP, unless otherwise indicated)
External public debt
32.9
34.4
24.1
31.9
34.7
36.3
37.6
39.5
41.5
Total public debt
54.8
78.2
54.2
59.0
64.3
68.9
74.4
80.4
85.7
Ext. debt serv. (% of exports)
7.2
8.8
8.8
47.2
44.1
40.8
35.7
28.1
33.3
Sources: Malawian authorities and IMF staff estimates and projections.
1 The current financial year, 2021, runs from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. FY2021/22 covers 1 July 2021 to 31 March 2022, to accommodate the transition to an April – March fiscal year starting from FY2022/23.
2 Please note that government fiscal statistics are reported following the Government Finance Statistics Manual (2014) starting 2020 projections and going forward.
3 Domestic primary balance is calculated by subtracting current expenditures (except interest payment) and domestically-financed development expenditures from tax and nontax revenues.
