Celebrated Uk based music artist Nic Thindwa has finally a dropped a music video for his hit single Yalira Ng’oma. Th artist made the announcement on Wednesday morning when he premiered the new video.
Birmingham based Thindwa has stuck to his new political activism path by dropping another heavily political song that endorses the candidacy of Dr Lazarus Chakwera and Dr Saulos Chilima of Tonse alliance . The artist is not new in expressing his political allegiance after releasing hits like osaopa and wam’boma in the past .
Born Nicholas Thindwa, the artist is a singer, rapper, songwriter & a business man. He was born in Nsanje but raised in Lilongwe where his interests in music grew at the very young age when he joined CCAP choir at the age of eight. A famous performer among the Malawian community in both UK and Ireland and a social media influencer, he has performed at most shows in UK, sharing stage with more local performers.
Yalira Ngoma single was officially released in March this year, however they were delays in releasing the music video ” I am happy that finally we have released the music video for this song, most of my fans know that my singles are usually accompanied by music videos ” said Thindwa . The music video was produced by Gani Chapotela productions
The song Yalira Ng’oma was done alongside Pon G. In the song Thindwa declares that time has come that Tonse alliance candidates Dr Lazarus Chakwera should rule Malawi. When asked why he had chosen to a political song that endorses the candidacy of Dr Chakwera and Chilima, Thindwa said as a Malawian he feels he needs to have a voice “Malawi has rapidly gone downhill, there is increasing levels of corruption, the youths cant find jobs , there is is no infrastructure development so enough is enough, Malawians need change and thats why i endorse Tonse Alliance as they are the change that we need now ” argued Thindwa.
Malawi Congress Party Spokesperson for the Diaspora Chalo Mvula welcomed Nic Thidwa contribution to the campaign ” it is great when artists are bold enough to endorse a candidate , and as Tonse alliance we value the endorsement of Dr Chakwera and Dr Chilima by Nic. it is a great music video and the song is catchy ” said Mvula . H went further in describing Thindwa as an artist who is passionate about issues affecting Malawi, be it political or other issues.
Over the weekend students from New Zealand will be taking part in the World Vision 40 Hour Famine. They will give up something for 40 hours, fighting for children and their communities in Malawi.
Paraparaumu College student leaders Cassie Tauro and Abi Bertham are determined not to let coronavirus stop them helping others.
“The whole coronavirus situation has changed the way we have gone about things this year,” Cassie said. “It’s made it hard for organisations that require fundraising to help other people.”
Abi added: “We are worried about World Vision and how much money we are going to be able to raise for them because we want to help the people in Malawi as best we can.”
40 Hour Famine funds are due back to the charity at the end of term two, but the students are keen to continue raising funds throughout term three. Droughts, cyclones, flooding and other extreme weather-related destruction have displaced many people in Malawi from their homes.
Paraparaumu College World Vision 40hr Famine group. Photo / Rosalie Willis
Floods have changed where and how crops are grown and with agriculture and farming being a main source of income and food in Malawi “it’s pretty much ruined the whole area”, said Cassie.
Abi said World Vision is trying to help create a more sustainable way of living and ways of growing crops that won’t be affected by climate change. Some of the money will also go towards learning spaces for youth children.
“It’s not just about poverty and refugees, like it has been in the past, but about feeding into the whole community and economic situation.”
Cassie continued: “Rather than putting a bucket under the tap of all their problems, they are closing the tap by providing sustainable solutions.”
Moving to New Zealand from Africa when she was 6 years old, Cassie has a sense of “this could have been me”. “If I hadn’t had this lucky upbringing that has led me to where I am, I could be one of the people these funds are going to.
“I can’t just sit here and go la-di-da I’m in New Zealand, I’ve got to do something.”
Famine Week activities include a bake sale and sausage sizzle, staff verses student quizzes.
South African law firm Bowmans is opening offices in Zambia and Malawi as its march across the continent continues despite the economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
In Lusaka its office will take the shape of standalone firm B&M Legal Practitioners — which has been set up by two former partners at Corpus Legal Practitioners — while in Lilongwe it has allied with boutique PFI Partnerships.
The latest expansion efforts come less than a year after Bowmans opened an office in Mauritius and launched an alliance with Ethiopian firm Assefa & Associates Law Office.
The Malawi and Zambia outposts take Bowmans’ office count up to nine across eight African countries.
Robert Legh, chairman and senior partner of Bowmans, said: “Now, more than ever before, we are focusing our vision of being the pre-eminent African law firm serving our clients wherever they are on the continent.”
Legh said the firm was pressing ahead with the openings so it is poised to take advantage of new opportunities when the pandemic eases and local trade and investment starts growing again.
ELTON JANGALE
He added: “Another consideration in our decision was the important roles that both Malawi and Zambia play as part of COMESA [the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa].”
In Malawi, the firm is teaming up with Elton Jangale, a barrister and chartered accountant who manages PFI Partnerships, a transactions advisory firm focused on corporate, finance and competition law, M&A, project finance, public-private partnerships and regulatory compliance.
Legh said: “The tie up will benefit our clients because it formalises an existing relationship and enables us to work together more closely to provide a seamless service in the competition and commercial law space, not only in Malawi, but in the region as a whole.”
In Zambia the firm’s office will be known as B&M Legal Practitioners to comply with Zambia’s practice rules and will be led by managing partner Mabyuto Sakala and partner Bwalya Chilufya-Musonda.
Sakala was previously managing partner at Zambian firm Corpus Legal Practitioners’ corporate advisory practice, based in Lusaka, and specialises in employment-related litigation and dispute resolution. Chilufya-Musonda also joins from Corpus, where she was a partner specialising in banking and finance. The pair will initially be supported by two senior associates.
Legh said: “We believe in Africa’s potential and are committed to supporting our clients and our people, as they seek to unlock opportunity, overcome challenges and realise the hopes that will shape the future of the continent.”
Last week, Italian firm BonelliErede’s Ethiopian partnership, Tameru Wondm Agegnehu, announced the addition of two new partners
The Malawian forward got to work officially with her Chinese teammates and coaching crew for the first time
Temwa Chawinga has resumed training for the first time with her new teammates at Chinese club Wuhan this week since signing in January.
Temwa joined the Chinese Women’s Super League (CWSL) outfit on a two-year deal after mutually parting ways with Swedish side Kvarnsvedens with 18 months left on her deal.
On arrival in China, she became the second Malawian to move to the Asian nation after her sister Tabitha, but normal life soon disappeared in Wuhan as the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Despite the lockdown easing after nearly three months in April, the striker was still worried about going out, having been indoors for 76 days, but insists she has not regretted joining the Chinese club.
Since mid-May, Chinese authorities granted clubs permission to resume training for the first time after the lockdown restrictions were eased.
Hopes of the league season kicking off in the coming weeks are now increasingly likely, with Guangdong, Changchun, Jiangsu Suning and now Wuhan resuming training.
“Wuhan Jiangda are back to the training sessions!,” the Chinese women’s team confirmed via Twitter on Tuesday.
“For this busy first day of June, the club had the return of seven players who were part of the #SteelRoses training camp in Suzhou last month.”
The 21-year-old shot into the limelight in Europe since joining Swedish club Kvarnsvedens in 2017, scoring 59 goals in 57 matches, including 35 in 28 games in all competitions last season.
She was impressive on her continental campaign with the She Flames, scoring six goals in four games and finished joint-second top scorer with her sister Tabitha in the Caf Women’s Olympic qualifiers.
Wuhan will be hoping to improve on their rankings and challenge for glory this season with the acquisition of Chawinga after they finished fourth last season with 19 points from 14 games.
Malawi authorities should ensure a free and fair, as well as safe, vote during upcoming presidential rerun elections amid the Covid-19 pandemic. On May 8, 2020, the country’s Supreme Court upheld the Constitutional Court’s February order nullifying President Peter Mutharika’s narrow victory in the May 2019 elections, citing serious irregularities, and ordered new elections within 150 days.
The rerun election, scheduled for July 2 pending parliamentary approval, sets Mutharika, from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), against Lazarus Chakwera, a candidate supported by an opposition coalition, including the Malawi Congress Party and the United Transformation Movement. Since May, there has been a spike in politically motivated violence against opposition politicians, human rights activists, and journalists, with no arrests of those allegedly responsible, the Malawi Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) reported.
“Malawi authorities should immediately develop processes that will ensure free, fair, and safe elections,” said Dewa Mavhinga, southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “They should enforce a range of measures to safeguard citizens against violence, and appropriately prosecute those responsible.”
The campaigns for the presidential rerun vote are taking place within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, with 284 confirmed coronavirus cases in Malawi as of June 1. The government said that the virus will not interfere with the election.
On the night of May 4, unidentified people threw a Molotov cocktail into the office of the United Transformation Movement, led by Vice President Saulos Chilima, in the capital, Lilongwe, causing the deaths of three people and severely injuring three others.
Last week, videos went viral on social media showing groups of men dressed in Democratic Progressive Party regalia threatening violence and declaring Mangochi, a township in eastern Malawi, a “no-go area” for opposition parties.
On May 24, the Catholic Bishops in Malawi issued a collective pastoral letter outlining eight issues of concern in the country, including “increased acts of political violence,” which they condemned “in the strongest terms possible.”
On May 29, the campaign convoy of Vice-President Chilima, who had fallen out with President Mutharika and is Chakwera’s running mate, was stoned in Phalombe, Mutharika’s home area in the country’s south. Zodiak, a private Malawian broadcaster, reported that several journalists traveling in a press bus with Chilima’s convoy were injured.
The HRDC reported that during the last week in May, 12 suspected ruling party supporters physically assaulted the HRDC leader, Timothy Mtambo, in Blantrye, Malawi’s second largest city. His official security detail apprehended the attackers and handed them over to the police, who allegedly promptly released them without charge.
An HRDC leader for Rumphi district in northern Malawi, Walita Mkandawire, told Human Rights Watch that on June 1, a cabinet minister threatened him on his mobile phone with violence and death if he did not stop his activism.
The Media Institute of Southern Africa, Malawi Chapter (MISA Malawi), reported that on May 30, a group of people assaulted Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) journalists with metal bars at Mponela in Dowa, central Malawi. The next day, MISA Malawi issued a statement expressing concern that “journalists are increasingly becoming victims of political violence as the country prepares for the fresh presidential elections.” The institute said that political party leaders and the Malawi Police Service should make a commitment to end political violence.
Under the African Union Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa, all African governments are committed to the responsibility to “safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens including the freedom of movement, assembly, association, expression, and campaigning as well as access to the media on the part of all stakeholders, during electoral processes.”
Malawi, as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is also obligated under article 25 to ensure that: “Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity … [t]o vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors.” This obligation requires governments to take positive steps to provide the services and infrastructure to ensure citizens can safely and effectively exercise their voting rights.
“Malawi authorities should fulfill their obligation to guarantee the rights of all eligible Malawians to vote in free and fair elections,” Mavhinga said. “Political violence needs to end to ensure a conducive environment for a credible vote.”
