First Lady Madame Monica Chakwera has presided over a High-Level Advocacy Dialogue on Elimination of Infertility Stigma and Associated Gender-Based Violence in Malawi at Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe on Wednesday afternoon
In her remarks, the First Lady said there is a need for psychological and financial support for Gender Based Violence (GBV) survivors to empower them to be independent.
Madame Chakwera underscored the importance of engaging young girls in issues of Infertility and GBV for prevention. She further appealed to various stakeholders present to join hands in the implementation of programs that support GBV Survivors.
Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Patricia Kaliati emphasized on the need for a mindset change amongst men and women to work together in fighting infertility stigma and gender based violence.
She said strengthened stakeholder relations, policies and programs being implemented in the country are key to ending GBV. Kaliati urged more women and men experiencing violence to report so they can be assisted accordingly.
In her statement, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Representative, Nelida Rodriguez reaffirmed their commitment towards holistically destigmatizing infertility and integrating it into Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) programmes.
The Dialogue brought together various stakeholders including Traditional leaders, Religious leaders, Policy makers, GBV survivors and partner organizations.
Malawi Police in Kanengo, Lilongwe are keeping in custody a 29-year-old man, identified as Annock Mbendera for allegedly stealing five bags of NPK fertiliser worth K375,000 from a moving vehicle.
According to Sam Anusa Mkwanda of Peace Transport, on Saturday morning, December 3, 2022, he was driving a Truck heading Jenda in Mzimba, carrying bags of fertiliser under the Affordable Input Programme (AIP).
While passing by Malawi Institute of Management (MIM) in Lilongwe, a tipper overtook his vehicle and stopped in front to inform him that three people have stolen bags of fertiliser from his Truck and that they were sharing.
Hearing this, Mkwanda turned back but as soon as the people saw him, they escaped abandoning the fertiliser bags. However, Mkwanda ran after them until he apprehended Mbendera, one of the suspects.
Kanengo Police Station Public Relations Officer Sub Inspector Gesham Ngwira told local media that after receiving the information, police rushed to the scene where they arrested Mbendera and recovered the stolen items.
He will appear before court soon to answer the charge of theft.
Malawi’s award-winning musician Piksy, has been invited to perform at this year’s Association of Malawians in Ireland (AMAI) Gala Awards expected to take place in the Irish capital city, Dublin, this weekend.
The event will take place on 10th of December at the Maldron Hotel and the _Anana_ hit maker will be among the artists to perform.
The musician, real name Evance Zangazanga has since expressed excitement with the invitation and promised to give out his best performance.
Other artists who are also expected to perform include Mike Akitivi, Bingolingo and Brayside Boys. Dj Ovie2Nyc and Dj Primill of Primill Entertainment will also showcase their djeeying skills on the night.
The red carpet event is expected to start at 6 o’clock in the evening and is going to be hosted by Faith Queen Mother Alufandika and Tamara Harawa
Recently, the representatives of AMAI were in the country where they handed over a house worth K2.9 million to an 82-year-old woman in Mangochi district.
Mtambo continues to defy the odds in leading the struggle and pursuit for a better Malawi. While many would only expect Mtambo to talk about peaceful coexistence, national unity and demonstrations as these directly fall under the Ministry of National Unity, has challenged Malawians to consider extremely cutting down on unnecessary imports in order to reduce on the negative trade balance Malawi has been suffering from for the past five plus decades.
Mtambo was speaking on Saturday evening at Capitol Hotel where he was a guest of honor at Product Magazine 2022 edition launch. The event was organised by Product Magazine in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and Malawi Export Promotion to award the best local product exporters to international markets. Mtambo said both the event and participants were the champions of the Malawi Export Strategy which is key to the Mw2063 as recently launched by Chakwera.
“This is killing our industry, creating a forex shortage and suffocating the economy. Why do we like importing everything and anything, including what we could locally produce even cheaper and at a much better quality?” retorted Mtambo. “Malawi is a nation nearing extinction if we can’t feed our own people; if we can’t produce more than what we consume, if our trade balance remains negative, if we can’t generate enough forex to sustain our demand,” warned Mtambo.
Hon Mtambo
“When I had heard of the ‘Buy Malawi Campaign’ I felt this was the moment for Malawi’s economic and industrial revolution, but now I know the campaign alone is not enough,” Mtambo said. He said that Malawians need a change of mindset to overhaul this deeply entrenched inferiority complex that compels most to think that everything from outside Malawi is better.
Mtambo reported that his Ministry runs the Pabwalo Citizen Engagement program which aims at bringing people closer to the Government and vice versa. He committed to engaging all stakeholders through this program in order to inculcate mindset change among the citizenry, which is a crucial enabler for the Mw2063. The Ministry for National Unity and Civic Education was mandated to implement this crucial pillar in the development agenda.
“Let me ask our business colleagues who import everything even toothpicks, brooms, cane chairs, sofa sets, school uniforms, mangoes, potatoes, vegetables and many more to consider taking advantage of the Malawian industry and supply chain,” Mtambo pleaded. He further said Malawi must import petroleum products because there are no oil wells, but agriculture products must be cultivated locally, processed and even exported instead of importing.
The Minister has highly commended the event organizer, for putting Malawian business owners and their products on the international market map through the Product Magazine, a local private organisation, which promotes products not only from Malawi and SADC region but also beyond. “This is what it will take in order for Malawi to create global competitive business advantages,” Mtambo reiterated. The organizers also expressed gratitude for the Government’s support to the Product Magazine and all business participants to the competition.
Though majority citizens welcome the idea to extremely cut down on imports, some members of the society have received this demand with reservations, citing poor quality and desire for status symbol as reasons for importing what could already be locally produced.
Malawi’s urban musicians Provoice and Macelba sustained injuries while two others died in a road accident that happened on Sunday in Dedza district.
According to Dedza Police Deputy Public Relations Officer Cassim Manda, the accident happened at Hinda Turnoff after Chimbiya Trading Center when the driver Lapieni Malivenji lost control of the vehicle (Honda Fit, BY 1692) which swerved to the extreme verge of the road before hitting a male pedestrian John Namagunda who was coming from the opposite direction.
“The vehicle later overturned several times and rammed into an earth wall.
Following the impact, the driver and the pedestrian sustained severe head injuries and were pronounced dead upon arrival at Dedza District Hospital,” he said.
Manda further explained that Macelba escaped with minor bruises and was treated as an outpatient while Provoice sustained a fractured pelvic and was referred to Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe for further treatment.
Macelba, real name Smart Mazaka Banda who was coming from a music performance in Zomba, was heading to Lilongwe where he was expected to partake in the bridal shower ceremony of his fiancee.
For Provoice, real name Lameck Mwenewanda this is not the first time to be involved in a road accident as he survived another serious road accident just a year ago when he was coming from Hangout Festival in Salima.
