Manchester United fans around the global have today been hit with the news that the club’s star Midfielder Nemanja Matic will leave the club at the end of the season.
In a statement posted on the club website Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic has announced that he will leave the club at the end of the 2021/22 season.
The 33-year-old has made 183 appearances for the Reds since signing from Chelsea in 2017 and is now set to depart.
Matic announced his decision on Friday evening via his official Instagram account, where he wrote:
“After a great deal of thought, I have decided that this season will be my last with Manchester United. I have informed the board, the manager and the players of my decision.
“It has been a huge honour and a privilege to play for this great club. A big thank you to the fans for their unwavering support.
“I will now give everything until the end of the season to help my team-mates finish as strongly as possible.”
Thank you for all of your efforts over the last five seasons Nemanja and here’s to a strong finish to your time at United, over the coming weeks.
The Dowa First Grade Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, April 13 2022, convicted and sentenced five people to pay a fine of K50 000.00 each or in default serve 12 months imprisonment with hard labour for trafficking and possessing forest produce without a permit.
State prosecutor Inspector Christopher Daluni told the court that the convicts, Thokozani Nthala, 25, Watson Josamm, 26, Henry Nthondola, 34, Vincent Dalison, 21 and Finius Jossam, 18, were arrested during the night of April 7 2022 at Chankhungu Trading Centre in Dowa District.
He said on the particular night, police officers were conducting night patrols and upon arrival at Chankhungu Trading Centre they found a motor vehicle Rhino Ranger Van registration number ( BY 1806) 4 tonner parked along the road.
This prompted the police officers to stop to check what had happened and this is when it was discovered that the motor vehicle was loaded with over 100 bags of charcoal. State prosecutor Inspector Christopher Daluni further narrated in court that this led to the arrest of the occupants including the driver and the motor vehicle was impounded.
Appearing before court, the convicts pleaded guilty to charges of Trafficking Forest Produce without a permit and Found in possession of Forest Produce without a permit. In his submission, state prosecutor Inspector Christopher Daluni asked the court to mete out a stiff punishment to the offenders as a warning to other would-be offenders, saying the behaviour of charcoal burning is affecting climate change.
Passing sentence, First Grade Magistrate Robert Botha concurred with the state’s submission and sentenced two of them (Thokozani Nthala and Watson Josamm) to pay a fine K50 000.00 each or in default serve 12 months imprisonment with hard labour for Trafficking In Forest Produce without a permit and while the other three (Henry Nthondola, Vincent Dalison and Finius Jossam) were ordered to pay a fine of K50 000.00 each or in default serve 12 months IHL for Found In Possession of Forest Produce without a permit while the charcoal has been forfeited to Malawi Government and the motor vehicle has been restored to the owner.
The convict have since paid the fines. In a related development, the same court has convicted and sentenced 23-year-old man, Chipambano Maxwell, of Makanjira Village in the area of Traditional Authority Msakambewa in Dowa District to 18 months imprisonment with hard labour for theft of goat.
Former Malawi national football team Coach Meke Mwase is demanding MK500 Million in compensation from the Football Association of Malawi over the termination of his contract.
This follows the decision by FAM to relieve Mwase of his duty as coach for the Flames and asking government to redeploy him for the reminder of his contract which will expire in 2023.
In a letter addressed to Alfred Gunda, secretary general of FAM, Mwase through his lawyer David Kanyenda says his client has always been willing to render his professional services to the Malawi National Team but FAM has been engaging in dubious actions designed to frustrate him.
The letter says the decision to relieve him of his duties as unconstitutional saying the constitution guarantees him right to fair and safe labour practices and fair remuneration.
He has argued that FAM is not party to the contract between his client and government therefore it lacks authority to terminate it.
In addition Kanyenda argues that Mwase has not been provided with any reason for the termination of his employment and has not been accorded an opportunity to be heard in relation to his dismissal.
With his Kanyenda has given FAM 48 hours to among others retract or withdraw a media statement announcing his termination of a contract and to apologize to his client.
In a addition, Kanyenda is also demanding all payments for full wages, salaries and monetization of all fringe benefits for reminder of Mwases contract.
He is also demanding damages for aggravated scale of defamation , embarrassment, loss of employment , anxiety, breach of contract, breach of constitutional rights and pain and suffering.
Kanyenda has since warned that his client will drag FAM to court , if it will not admit liability and make good use of Mwases claim for compensation.
The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has issued a press release to refute media reports that the Association is being extravagant by spending a lot of Money on national team coach, Mr. Mario Marinica’s accommodation at Amaryllis Hotel as reported by Malawi News of 9th April 2022.
The article claims that FAM has spent over MK17 million for the Coach to stay at the hotel. The figure reported is an exaggeration which has portrayed FAM as being extravagant and wasteful.
Mario
The truth of the matter is that since his arrival in the country in November 2021, Mr. Marinica has been staying at Hotel Amaryllis. Initially this was supposed to be a temporally arrangement for a month as he was finalising his employment and work permit documentation. Marinica had to accompany the Flames to Saudi Arabia for Pre- AFCON camping in December and Cameroun for the AFCON in January.
The Flames left Malawi on 23rd December 2021 and returned on 28th January 2022. Upon return from AFCON, Marinica was supposed to be provided with accommodation within Blantyre as provided in his employment contract.
As FAM was in the process of identifying the house, Amaryllis hotel offered special ‘long -stay – package’ which effectively addressed the accommodation needs of Mr. Marinica and was also found to be cost effective for FAM.
Amaryllis offered FAM a special rate of K900,000.00 per month including all services apart from meals (lunch and dinner). The public may wish to appreciate that the rentals for fully furnished houses being offered were in the ranges of K900,000 – K1.2 million per month. Apart from the monthly rentals FAM was expected to bear the following expenses:
• 24 – hour security services with alarms costing between K600,000 – K1.0 million • DSTV Services – MK90,000.00 • Internet Wifi – MK60,000.00 • Generator and fuel running costs – MK100,000 • Utilities and domestic workers – K300,000.00
This would cost the Association not less than MK2.4 million per month. The MK900,000.00 special package from Amaryllis hotel covers all these expenses which has helped FAM make significant savings of MK1.5 million per month thus amounting to MK7.5 million for the five months the Coach has stayed in the country.
According to FAM, they would like therefore to assure all our stakeholders and the public that FAM shall continue to exercise care, due diligence, and prudence in management of its resources at all times.
UK Minister for Africa Vicky Ford visited Malawi from 7 to 8 April 2022 to highlight a strong partnership on issues such as health and tackling corruption
On her first visit to Malawi since her appointment as Minister for Africa, Vicky Ford visited UK Aid-funded projects which support women and girls access health services, education and private sector development in the country.
She visited Mchedwa Primary School to learn how FCDO Education Programme was supporting girls by providing bursaries as well as psychosocial interventions and life skills training through Campaign for Female Education (Camfed). The UK is directly investing £36m into girls’ education to help ensure all girls can receive 12 years of education. The UK is also supporting the National Numeracy programme early grade learners build strong foundations in mathematics and sciences.
Vicky Ford and President Chakwera
During the visit Minister Ford also:
Visited Kanengo Industrial area in Lilongwe to see UK-Malawi partnership in promoting environmentally responsible investment in sustainable construction materials by British International Investment (formerly CDC group) and 14 Trees. BII’s $5m investment should unlock jobs, protect the environment and boost Malawi’s economic development.
Visited a family planning clinic to see how the UK is supporting to strengthen the health system and help young women access family planning services even in hard-to-reach areas. With a fertility rate of 4.4, rapid population growth poses a major challenge to Malawi’s prosperity. The UK has played a leading role in tackling this through making family planning services available and accessible, with real success: total fertility has dropped from 5.7 in 2010.
Met representatives from the business community, heads of Anti-Corruption Bureau and Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nancy Tembo, as well as the President of the Republic of Malawi, HE Dr Lazarus Chakwera where she commended Malawi’s strong ethical stance on Ukraine and Malawi’s commendable support of human rights in international fora.
During her meeting with President Chakwera, Vicky Ford underscored UK’s support for anti-corruption drive and the brave stance that the president has taken again the vice, a move which will free up resources for key services for all Malawians and unlock jobs.
Reflecting on her visit to Malawi, Minister Ford said:
I have been impressed by the strides that Malawi is making to turn around her economic fortunes through instituting wide-ranging public sector and economic reforms. Of course corruption continues to disrupt this process, but I commend the substantial strides taken to fight the issue through increased action, coordination and a whole-of-government approach.
The Malawi Government has effectively dealt with the severe impacts of Covid and the Tropical storms. Malawi is a strong democracy, and the UK remains a steadfast partner that will work together with Malawi to achieve growth, jobs and freedom, and in defending human rights at home and abroad.
The visit to Malawi was part of a regional visit by Minister Ford and includes visits to Zambia and Tanzania.
