The Malawian community in the UK have yet again faced another sad moment . It has been reported that a Medical Doctor based in the city of Manchester, Dr Austin Gunda has succumbed to the virus .
Dr Austin Gunda
According to report reaching us Dr Gunda was admitted a few days ago . His condition worsened and he was put on the ventilator as he was having breathing difficulties. He finally died in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Dr Gunda was well known among the Malawi community. He was a general Practitioner. Details of his funeral are yet to be announced
The UK has been one of the worst hit countries with over 22000 people dead so far .
The President of Malawi Congress party Dr Lazarus Chakwera has today hit out a Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC)of running a criminal syndicate to manipulate the forthcoming elections
He was speaking at a press conference that he conducted at the party’s headquarters in Lilongwe. Chakwera began by telling the nation that their vote is not protected. He went on to reveal that MCP has established that Malawi electoral commission is not doing enough to protect the people’s vote.
The MCP leader said the party has established that MEC voters roll has been greatly compromised. He highlighted that the National Registration Bureau (NRB) is working with MEC in registering minors to vote in the next election. He also pointed out that DPP has been sending people to buy national identity cards which in the end they are working with NRB to compromise the system and create fake and ghost voter roll.
Chakwera :MEC compromised
Chakwera justified his claims by announcing that a team of investigators from the party conducted an investigation where they followed a voter registration exercise in Chikwawa
“ In the investigation, we found out that a young man in Chikwawa by the name of Ephraim who will be 18 in 2 months took his ID to the centre to register. However it was established that his name was already on the roll and was registered back in 2018” said Chakwera. He went further to say , more cases have been established where by over 7000 cases of minors being registered and their IDs being stolen and comprised going back to 2018 NRB database.
Chakwera finally issued a strong warning to MEC to put their act together. He announced that he has advised his legal team to begin court action to demand that NRB and MEC clean up their database.
He promised Malawians that he will always tell the truth no matter how hard it might be and that it is his intention to fight for Malawians.
Secretary for Health Dr Dan Namarika on Tuesday visited the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) to appreciate its innovation efforts in the fight against Covid19
In his remarks, Dr Namarika said universities should be a source of solutions in this time of the Covid19 pandemic and asked the university to showcase innovations that have been developed and finalized and can be used; those that are still under development but have gaps so his ministry can see how best to support and those that are at concept level and need support to implement.
In response, MUST Vice Chancellor Professor Address Malata said the university learnt about the challenges that come with Covid19 earlier on through its two staff members who are doing further studies in Wuhan, the city where the pandemic started in China. “As such, we realized that we needed to start preparing so that when the disease reaches Malawi, we should have something to fight it with. As we speak, we have various innovations at various stages of development,” she said.
In line with the Health PS’s plea that innovations should mostly focus on prevention as that is where Malawi’s health systems are stronger, MUST showcased innovations that support prevention and provision of personal protective equipment (PPEs).
The first was the automatic water and soap dispenser which has been transformed from the initial prototype is now ready for use. And to show this, the university donated the first automatic water and soap dispenser to the ministry.
Other innovations included reusable face masks that are printed in 3D, face shields of different designs and costs. Some of these, the university will only come up with designs and engage industrial partners to mass produce. “For the face shields, we have produces more than 1000 already but the ones that require 3D printing are slow to produce because the printers we are using are not heavy duty. If we can get funding to purchase a heavy duty 3D printer, we can increase production and be able to supply across the country,” said Richard Chilipa, a lecturer and one of those involved in the project.
The university also indicated that it is developing a low cost ventilator that would go at only US$350. It is also developing disinfectors for both people and PPEs. The university is also producing alcohol based hand sanitizers but it was also exploring production of non-alcohol based hand sanitizers, which will require certification from regulators. “We also have developed a disposable gown that can be used as PPE by health personnel. This is also low cost and we can produce large quantities if we were to get the orders,” said Kent Kafatia, who is working on the gown.
Some of the university’s students also showcased a mobile application they have developed that is able to trace contacts of patients and suspects, self-test by focusing on symptoms and one’s network of exposure, geo-fencing of patients and people on self-quarantine in addition to providing general information on Covid19. However, this application can only be accessed or utilized on smart phones.
The students have also developed a WhatsApp bot that is able to respond to most questions around Covid19 thereby providing reliable and verifiable information to the public. The bot also incorporates aspects of self-testing. “Both these mobile facilities are ready except for the information on Covid19 which we would like to request the Ministry of Health to provide to us so that we can share. We want to have a credible source of our information. Another area of support is on making the Apps run on toll-free connectivity. We will also need to register the innovations, especially the WhatsApp bot,” said Madalitso Nyemba, one of the students developing the Apps. The Secretary of Health was also briefed on what MUST is doing on treatment and other areas of the Covid19 fight. “We were interested in opening a testing centre and we talked to various partners to understand what it would take in terms of equipment and skills. We are happy to report that one partner in America has donated to us equipment that will be able to run tests with huge capacity and the equipment will be ready for dispatch in a week’s time. However, our challenge is to have the equipment transported from Boston, USA, to America, especially now when flights have been grounded. “We would appreciate if the Ministry, through its various partners, can help by transporting our equipment together with any humanitarian supplies that would be coming from America so that we can join the fight through testing,” said Dr Gama Bandawe, Head of Biological Sciences Department which will be doing the tests.
As an education institution, the university has also come up with an e-learning platform that can be used to deliver lessons to students during this time when students are not in school. After the presentations, Dr Namarika and his team that comprised, among others, Director of Planning Kettie Langwe and Deputy Director of Clinical Services Dr Nedson Fosiko, was taken to appreciate work in the MUST design studio where the face masks and face shields are being produced and the laboratories where tests will be done. At the end of the day, some of the innovators have been linked to some technocrats at Ministry of Health to continue with discussions on how best the two can work together in the fight against Covid19. As of April 28, Malawi had registered 36 cases with three deaths.
The Secretary General of UTM Patricia Kaliati has continued her tour of the Southern Region where she has urged women to register in big numbers. The firebrand Kaliati was speaking in Monkey bay .
She has urged the women to secure their vote and not be tempted to sell their voter cards or let anyone get their cards in the name of Madef loans. With strong rumours that some suspected DPP cadets are going round buying voter cards in the promise of Madef loans, Kaliati said no any finance organisation walks door to door and demand ID cards as a collateral for loans.
Kaliati also took time to sensitise the locals of the dangers of Covid19. She distributed hand washing soap so that the locals can use to wash their hands and minimise spread of corona virus.
Kaliati in Monkey Bay
New Members
Kaliati has travelled extensively in the region. On Friday she was in Thyolo district where she met the ex DPP and UDF members who have joined UTM.
The new members include DPP former youth chairman for Thyolo East Mr Evance Siposi , DPP area chairman Mr Mawaya , DPP’s campaign chairman Mr Rodrick Lutu and the UDF district Governor Arson Magulura
In his speech Evance Siposi emphasized that time for voting a president because he comes from the same village with him is over, he further said that he and colleagues have opted for UTM because of its manifesto especially the missile that highlights a 50 KG bag of fertilizer at MK 4,495 .
UTM has seen a wave of new members joining the party recently with many coming from UDF and DPP. Kaliati said she is happy the party is making big strides in the region.
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) says it will go ahead to hold its quarterly executive committee meeting through video technology slated for Monday as a precautionary measure in light of Covid-19.
As football is halted, the association also shut down its offices at Chiwembe Technical Centre in Blantyre last week and the staff is working from home.
But Fam is expected to hold its first virtual Executive Committee meeting on Monday.
Among the agenda item is impact assessment of Covid-19 on Football and Response Plan.
Fam president Walter Nyamilandu confirmed yesterday that the first virtual Exco meeting will take place on Monday which will also save a lot of costs such as fuel and accommodation
“In the spirit of enforcing social distancing, the executive committee will hold its first virtual meeting through ZOOM which is the fastest growing application for video conferencing. We have embraced technology to demonstrate that it is possible to stay at home and work at home during these difficult times. Physical location should not be a barrier to getting things done,” Nyamilandu said Friday.
“Though it is not business as usual, life can continue and we can still achieve a lot. We just have to change our habits and adapt to new ways of working. The added benefit is that we will save a lot of costs as we won’t have to pay expenses related to accommodation and fuel.”
However, the Fifa Council Member said the executive members will only be provided with a small amount of money for data to use during the meeting.
Fam also set up a task force to look into the impact of Covid-19 on football. Fam Executive Member Chimango Munthali is heading the task force while fellow executive members Felister Dossi, Madalitso Kuyera and Fam General Alfred Gunda are committee members.
The association submitted a K3.6 billion budget to Fifa after all 211 member associations were asked to provide data on financing of football, support systems, sponsorship values and the revenues that the game registers.
Local football analyst, George Chiusiwa said the meeting should brainstorm on key issues including the impact of Covid-19 on football.
“It is a great idea and I believe at the end of the meeting they would come up with a plan as a response to the Covid-19. I think, clubs will be assisted in one way or another through the meeting,” he added.
Fifa president, Gianni Infantino announced recently that in order to alleviate immediate financial problems, subject to relevant committee approval, member association operational costs from the Fifa Forward Programme will be paid in advance.
Infantino said a consultation process was already underway to assess the financial impact across football in order to prepare the right response based around a fund with an independent governance structure.
Football across the world faces uncertain future due to Covid-19 as all major football leagues have been suspended.
