The Ministry of Homeland Security has condemned protesters in Karonga for beating and injuring three police officers during the Tuesday demonstrations.
The demonstrations were held against road blocks the police erected between Songwe boarder and Karonga boma.
Speaking in an interview, Minister responsible Nicholas Dausi said the behavior is uncalled for since people rely on the same police to provide security. He therefore called upon the public to refrain from such acts for peace and unity to prevail in the country.
However the Protestors Spokesman Goodwin Ghambi , said they took the drastic action after seeing that Malawi Revenue Authority and police failed to address their concerns
The ugly scenes started at Rukuru Roadblock, the protestors snatched four riffles and tearsgas cannisters from the police.
Mobile operator Airtel Africa PLC is to list its Malawi business on the local stock exchange, it said on Wednesday.
Airtel Malawi PLC will carry out an initial public offering on the Malawi Stock Exchange, with the price range to be determined in due course. The company did not say what use would be made of any funds raised.
Charles Kamoto, MD of Airtel Malawi, stated the planned IPO would enable citizens to “share in the growth of the company”, which had become “ingrained in the fabric of the country”.
Malawi makes up a part of Airtel’s East Africa segment, which made up around a third of the company’s revenue in interim results to September. Other nations in the segment are Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia.
The company engaged Standard Bank (Malawi) to act as its lead adviser, Airtel Africa said in a related statement.
Airtel itself is relatively new to the London market, having floated in June in 2019’s biggest IPO so far in London. It is a subsidiary of India’s Bharti Airtel, operating in 14 countries across Africa.
It placed shares in its initial public offering at 80 pence per share. Shares were up 1.5% on the day Wednesday morning at 80.45p.
LILONGWE, Dec. 11 — Police have arrested a Zimbabwean national and two Malawians for allegedly possessing three live pangolins, an endangered animal species in Malawi.
The three were arrested on Monday in Limbe, the center of the commercial capital of the country, Blantyre, according to a police statement on Tuesday.
“The officers from the Wildlife Crime Investigations Unit in Lilongwe and their Limbe counterparts organized an operation which led to the suspects’ arrest and seizure of the animals on December 9, 2019,”read the statement signed by Limbe Police Public Relations Officer, Inspector Patrick Mussa.
Pangolins
“This was after our detectives were tipped off by some patriotic citizens that the three were possessing the said pangolins which they were offering for sale,” it said.
Musa said the three have since been charged with an offense of being found in possession of specimen of listed species.
Meanwhile, the protected species have been released back into a wildlife reserve about 50 kilometers from Blantyre City upon a court order.
In September this year the country’s court also sentenced two Malawians to three years imprisonment for their involvement in a largest transnational wildlife trafficking syndicate that included pangolins.
Malawi is “making strides in developing regulations” on persistent organic pollutants (POPs), according to a government assessment carried out for the UN’s treaty aimed at eliminating the toxic and long-lasting chemicals worldwide.
The southern African country last week published an updated national plan for implementing the UN’s Stockholm Convention on POPs. Since its first plan in 2005, according to the country’s energy and mining secretary Patrick Matanda, the country has:
developed regulations on chemicals and toxic substances;
published a national waste strategy;
developed a strategy for compliance and monitoring; and
recruited more staff to cover the sustainable management of POPs, pesticides and other hazardous chemicals.
The 2019 plan assessed the country’s regulatory situation on POPs and found that Malawi has several sectoral legislations that cover “specific areas of chemicals management in the country.” These include acts to control and monitor POPs in sectors including pollution and waste control, pesticides, occupational health and safety, and fisheries.
But challenges remain. The plan highlighted that a lack of knowledge by customs officers leads to a failure to stop the import of products containing POPs and that there is weak enforcement of existing legislation.
PCBs
Another major problem is the issue of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a class of POP that is widely present in old power generation equipment. Manufacturing of PCBs was banned in 1979, but the assessment found that they are present in much of the equipment owned by its national power supply company, which was largely installed before that date.
There is no legislation specifically focused on PBC management in Malawi, but its power supply company uses guidelines published by other African institutes to manage PCBs.
Along with 11 other southern African countries, Malawi is implementing a $34m project funded by the Global Environment Facility – which assists in the protection of the global environment and promotes environmental sustainable development – to eliminate use of PCB-containing equipment in the region. It hopes to have achieved this phase-out by 2025, the plan says.
However, even when use of the equipment has stopped, destroying PCB-containing equipment without releasing them into the environment requires advanced technology not present in many developing countries. This often creates stockpiles of obsolete equipment, which it is sometimes then stolen and re-sold. This issue has been highlighted in North African countries as well.
Other issues
Malawi’s updated plan also includes inventories for the substances that have been classified as POPs under the Stockholm Convention since 2009, including PFOS.
It highlights e-waste as a growing problem, estimating that in the period 2018-2022 between 8.69 and 11.66 million devices, primarily mobile phones, will become e-waste in Malawi and need to be disposed of.
Additionally, POPs pesticides are a significant problem in the country, as approximately 80% of Malawi’s 19 million people live in the rural areas and carry out subsistence farming. The assessment found low public awareness of what pesticides are banned or approved, and of the effects of using obsolete POPs pesticides.
Following a strategic review by Nedbank Group the financial services provider will dispose of its Malawi operations.
The financial institution made the announcement in a shareholder notice issued on Monday. The Malawi subsidiary of African banking group MyBucks will acquire Nedbank Malawi, according to the notice.
“Nedbank Group and Nedgroup Investments Africa have agreed to dispose of, and MyBucks Banking Corporation Limited has agreed to acquire, in one composite, indivisible transaction, 100% of the issued shares of Nedbank Malawi and the cession and delegation of a term loan from Nedbank Limited to Nedbank Malawi,” the notice read
Nedbank CEO Mike Brown
“The disposal follows a strategic review by Nedbank Group. As at 30 June 2019, Nedbank Malawi contributed less than 0.1% to Nedbank Group’s headline earnings and total assets and its market share in Malawi was approximately 1%,” the notice read.
Nedbank said it is still committed to growing operations in the Southern African Development Community, as well as exploring opportunities in East Africa and to strengthen its alliance with Ecobank Transnational Incorporated in Central and West Africa.
So far, the Reserve Bank of Malawi has approved the transaction, which is still subject to approval of the competition authority, namely Common Market of East and Southern Africa.
