The Minister of Homeland Security Honourable Richard Chimwendo Banda has ordered the deportation of two Nigerian nationals for being found with dangerous drugs and a Pakistani for operating business illegally in Lilongwe.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Andrew Nyondo, identified the two Nigerians as Chinesi Omuka, aged 35, and Ejike Enebenchu, who is aged 27, while the Pakistani is Yasir Ilyas.
Omuka and Ebebenchu were arrested for being found with 11 grams of cocaine. On the other hand, Ilyas was operating a business using a Temporary Residence Permit (TRP), which is against the laws of Malawi.
Chinesi Omuka and Ejike Enebenchu deported
“The Minister described the behaviour of the the two Nigerians as persona non grata, hence the decision to deport them,” he said.
He said the two will be handed over to the Nigerian Government upon arrival.
Some weeks ago, the minister ordered the Malawi Police Commissioners to crack down the drug syndicate in the country in a bid to creating a drug free nation.
Lilongwe is City believed to have a highly organised syndicate of drug dealers.
Nyondo said the Chimwendo Banda has further told Police Commissioners that President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera’s government will not entertain drug dealers in the country; hence, the order made to break the syndicate.
“The President has persistently said that every person living in the country should observe the Rule of Law if the country is to register progress,” Chimwendo Banda was quoted by Nyondo as saying.
The Southern Region Football Association (SRFA) has given Nyasa Big Bullets up to Monday to decide whether their reserve side will stay put in the second-tier ThumbsUp League or play in the TNM Super League next season.
The People’s Team’s feeder side earned promotion to the top-flight league after winning the ThumbsUp League title and the club is waiting for its board’s determination on the matter.
In an interview, SRFA chairperson Raphael Humba said they wrote Bullets last Monday, giving them a seven-day ultimatum to decide on the issue.
He said: “Initially, we wrote them through FAM [Football Association of Malawi] about two weeks ago, but they did not respond. So, on Monday we wrote them a reminder and this time, we gave them a cutoff point.
“We hope they understand the urgency of the matter because there are issues of logistics that we have to deal with and they require ample time.”
Nyasa Big Bullets reserves
On what will happen should Bullets not decide by the set period, Humba said: “I do not think we will reach that point. As a company, we expect them to be professional, failing which then we will determine the way forward.”
Bullets chief administration officer Albert Chigoga said while the board was yet to decide, they are optimistic of beating the deadline set by SRFA.
He said: “We are indeed in receipt of their letter, but we are not pressing the panic button because by then, we would have come up with a position.”
On whether there are possibilities of having two clubs in the elite league, Chigoga said: “Let me not pre-empt, it’s neither here nor there.”
Two seasons ago, Bullets Reserves also won the league, but surrendered their slot to Ntopwa FC, who were their runners-up.
But last month, Chigoga said while there was a possibility of a repeat of their previous decision, there was also a chance that things could turn out differently.
Sable Farming finished as Bullets Reserves’ runners-up and are waiting in the wings should the champions give up the Super League slot.
First Lady Monica Chakwera has hailed Kenya’s First Lady Margaret Kenyatta’s “Beyond Zero initiative” for its creative healthcare delivery model that has expanded access to medical services for vulnerable groups.
Madam Chakwera who together with State President Dr Lazarus Chakwera have been on a 3 day state visit spoke during a guided tour of an ongoing Beyond Zero medical camp dubbed mini-medical safari at the ‘Nyumba ya Wazee’, old people’s home in Kasarani by her host First Lady Margaret Kenyatta.
Mrs Chakwera said she was impressed by the Beyond Zero’s concept of mobile clinics and medical safaris, and wished to replicate the same in her country.
Beyond Zero Coordinator Ms Angella Langat briefed the two First Ladies on the free medical services that were offered to the senior citizens and the staff of the old people’s home run by nuns from the Catholic Church’s Little Sisters of the Poor.
Madam Monica Chakwera and Madam Margaret Kenyatta
The Kasarani-based Nyumba ya Wazee, a charitable home, caters for the elderly of all faiths from poor families in Kenya and neighbouring countries. The Beyond Zero mini medical safari was held at the home to give the elderly, whose access to healthcare services was hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic, an opportunity to receive quality medical services.
Among the organizations that partnered with Beyond Zero at the medical camp included the Beth Mugo Cancer Foundation which provided screening for prostate cancer and Women4Cancer that screened for cervical and breast cancer as part of activities to mark October as a month for breast cancer awareness globally.
Others were VisionSpring which provided reading glasses while Lions SightFirst Eye hospital conducted comprehensive eye and diabetes screening as well as Covid-19 vaccination.
During the visit, First Ladies Margaret Kenyatta and Monica Chakwera also presented to the senior citizens 10 wheelchairs donated by Beyond Zero.
Kenya and Malawi have ushered in a new dawn in their bilateral relations by signing eight new agreements designed to strengthen socioeconomic bonds between the two nations.
At the agreements were signed Thursday afternoon at State House, Nairobi at the end of bilateral talks between Kenyan and Malawian delegations led by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Southern Africa counterpart Lazarus Chakwera.
The eight agreements covered broad areas of cooperation between Kenya and Malawi in politics, diplomacy, defence, fisheries and aquaculture as well as cooperatives development. Others are technical cooperation in health and tourism.
Earlier, President Chakwera, who was accompanied by Malawi’s First Lady Monica Chakwera, was received at State House, Nairobi by their hosts President Uhuru Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta in an elaborate state reception ceremony that included a guard of honour mounted by a detachment of the Kenya Army and a 21 gun salute.
President Chakwera and President Uhuru Kenyatta
In a joint press address, President Kenyatta said collaboration and consolidation of ties between the two countries would guarantee socioeconomic growth of their citizens and the African continent as a whole and called for effective implementation of the newly signed agreements.
Noting that the founding fathers of the two countries were committed to and envisioned a truly free Africa, President Kenyatta said subsequent generations were required to innovate and transform their societies through economic emancipation and genuine political independence.
“Through the years, Kenya and Malawi have maintained a strong bond of friendship that has seen the two countries collaborate in initiatives aimed at securing the prosperity of our peoples.
“Your Excellency, our Founding Fathers were visionaries. In their foresight, they prophesized a totally liberated Africa, supported the liberation movements across the continent, and midwifed the establishment of the Organization of African Unity,” President Kenyatta said.
He noted that a strong Kenya-Malawi partnership would enhance the two nations competitiveness saying Nairobi was committed to working with the Southern Africa nation to ensure that the EAC-COMESA-SADC Free Trade Areas and the Africa Continental Free Trade (AfCFTA) arrangements succeed.
“Kenya believes that these arrangements, if well implemented, hold the answers to our continent’s African Solutions to African Problems doctrine. Through these multilateral platforms Kenya, Malawi and other African countries have an excellent opportunity to explore tangible approaches to build strong and resilient African economies, post Covid-19,” President Kenyatta said.
At the same time, President Kenyatta expressed concern over the terrorist threats facing Mozambique saying Kenya fully supports the steps taken by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) towards addressing the challenge.
On his part, President Chakwera regretted that the strong historical ties between Nairobi and Lilongwe had been dormant for a long time and expressed confidence that the signing of the eight agreements would help reignite mutually beneficial relations.
“I personally felt that bond of kinship when Your Excellency and I met on the sidelines of the Global Education summit in London of which Your Excellency was a great co-host. I also felt the same bond of kinship when I interacted with your Excellency and other Kenya officials at various forums,” President Chakwera said.
Minister of industry Roy Kachale Banda says his ministry is going to take deliberate steps to ensure that all factory shells provided to communities under cooperative initiative are operating to fulfill objectives the facilities were established for.
Kachale said the Tonse government administration is concerned that some factory shells provided to cooperatives under programs One Village One Product remain idle, years after they were constructed hence the decision to push for their operationalization.
He made the remarks in Blantyre on Wednesday when he toured Mankhamba Bee Keeping and Kunthembwe Producers and Marketing Limited Cooperatives to appreciate the progress of activities at the two institutions which despite having the facilities to enable them add value to agricultural products before selling, they are yet to start using the facilities due to absence of electricity and reliable water sources among other challenges. ” We will invite Ministry of responsible for energy and ESCOM to a roundtable discussion on what we can do to expedite the process to bring electricity to the facilities”, said Kachale.
The minister has also disclosed that soon, his ministry will identify experts to train cooperatives on how best they can process their products to meet the desired quality as well as imparting them with business business management skills which seem to be a common challenge among cooperatives. Mankhamba Bee Keeping has a warehouse but need machinery and electricity to start processing and add value to honey they produce while Kunthembwe despite having a warehouse and equipment for processing groundnuts into cooking oil and groundnuts flour, processing is not taking place due to absence of electricity at the facility years after applying to ESCOM.
Value Addition has been put as one of key areas of focus for the attainment of the country’s long-term objective of ” an inclusively wealthy nation” under the Malawi 2063 agenda.
