Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda has thrown out the application for admission of the two South African Lawyers Dumisa Buhle Ntsebeza and Elizabeth Makhabani Baloyi-Mere to represent the Malawi Electoral Commission in the presidential elections case appeal.
The two South African lawyers did not arrive in the country due to public health concern. As a result they presented themselves to the Malawian Embassy in South Africa where they wanted to participate in the case through video teleconferencing .
Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda
According to Nyirenda it is against the law for lawyers to represent MEC when they are in another country. This means MEC lawyer Tamando Chokotho will represent the electoral body when the appeal case begins on Wednesday.
Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda has thrown out the application for admission of the two South African Lawyers Dumisa Buhle Ntsebeza and Elizabeth Makhabani Baloyi-Mere to represent the Malawi Electoral Commission in the presidential elections case appeal.
The two South African lawyers did not arrive in the country due to public health concern. As a result they presented themselves to the Malawian Embassy in South Africa where they wanted to participate in the case through video teleconferencing .
According to Nyirenda it is against the law for lawyers to represent MEC when they are in another country. This means MEC lawyer Tamando Chokotho will represent the electoral body when the appeal case begins on Wednesday.
It appears the leader of the United Democratic Front is
passing through a hard time. At a time when he hoped for resurgence due to the working
alliance that he signed with the ruling DPP, Atupele Muluzi seems to meet
misfortunes after another.
Video has surfaced on social media that shows UDF leader
addressing locals at his home village of Kapoloma. Atupele wanted to start by apologising for
not visiting the locals in long time. However, things got sour when the son of
former president Bakili Muluzi gave a statement that had no element of truth in it.
Atupele: Caught lying and booed
“Choyamba ndipepese
posakuyendelani kwa nthawi yayitali , ineyo ndinapita ku china komwe
President Xi Jinpin anandiyitana ( Sorry that I have been around to see you, I was
in China under the invitation of Chines President Xi Jinping)” said Atupele. At
this point the locals couldn’t stomach his lie and started booing him. Atupele told the nation when he left for China
soon after the general elections that he was going for a study trip
247Media checked with the Chinese Embassy In Malawi who
have denied the claims that Atupele was invited by the Chinese President. The
embassy said they have no record of President Xi Jinping inviting the young
Muluzi
Atupele is struggling to gather momentum and they are also
strong possibilities that President Mutharika is not going to pick him as his
running mate . Kapoloma Village was once the heartland of UDF and to see people
booing him shows how unpopular the young Muluzi is .
As the battle against the spread of coronavirus continues, Super League of Malawi (Sulom) intends to introduce mandatory test for all players and officials before the 2020 season starts.
Sulom President Tiya Somba-Banda said this was one of the safety measures which the body is planning to introduce to safeguard lives in wake of the pandemic.
“It will be necessary for our players to undergo Covid test a week before the league kicks-off as a precaution. Clubs should be encouraged on this so that once the league starts we should not have any case to do with Covid-19,” Somba- Banda said.
The Sulom President said they would engage Ministry of Health to provide guidelines and conduct coronavirus test.
“We are just making some plans in readiness of the new season. Once the suspension of all sporting activities is lifted we need to be cautious and not get too excited. We will still be required to follow the safety tips. This is why it is important to engage the Ministry of Health,” he said.
Ministry of Health publicist, Joshua Malango, said they were waiting for official communication.
“From there we can pick it up and offer tips on how best to handle the situation. But this could best be handled when everything normalizes. Otherwise at the moment the message is simple regularly wash your hands and keep social distance among others,” he said.
However, soccer analyst George Chiusiwa has asked Sulom to closely monitor players and teams operating from close to borders including Karonga United.
“You can you bear with me that players were released after government banned all sporting activities and it means that they are in different locations. This is why we need the test. All players should be required to undergo the test. Sulom should engage the Ministry of Health to acquire the Covid test machine as the process does not require much time,” he said.
Chiusiwa also asked clubs to take an initiative to enable their players to undergo Covid-19 test before the season gets underway.
“The onus is on the clubs as well. So it is everyone’s responsibility to make sure everyone is safe,” he said.
Football and other sporting activities are going through a dry spell after State President Peter Mutharika declared Malawi as a state of national disaster.
Following the declaration, public gatherings were restricted to less than 100 people. The same declaration also forced local sporting bodies including Football Association of Malawi (Fam) and Super League of Malawi (Sulom) to postpone the kick-off of the season which was due to start on March 21.
Similarly, Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) also barred athletes, teams and associations from travelling for international competitions.
This meant sporting events such as netball, athletics, handball and judo will not travel for international events that were scheduled for next month.
Malawi Tourism is currently under tight threat over COVID-19 as reports say over 35,000 people have lost their jobs due to closure of some hospitality businesses.
On April 7, Malawi registered three more cases of Coronavirus bringing the total number of confirmed cases to eight, with one death.
The presence of Coronavirus in the country has impacted so much on the tourism and hospitality industry leading to closure of some businesses premises to loss of employment.
Director for the Department of Tourism, Isaac Katopola Thursday said that the industry was arguably the hardest hit sector due the advent of the Coronavirus pandemic.
He said his office has received reports from the industry of both temporary and permanent closure of tourism and hospitality businesses and that employees in excess of 35,000 have been laid-off
Director for the Department of Tourism, Isaac Katopola
The Director said the reason is that they cannot make money because almost all local and international bookings are cancelled, similarly with Conferences and meetings.
“The tourism private sector players have since engaged Government for bailout packages to avoid having more facilities closed and retain some of the employees in the sector.
“On prevention of Coronavirus, we have developed robust guidelines which we have circulated to the tourism and hospitality players,” Katopola said
Manager for Chikale Beach in Nkhata Bay, Josephine Imani said things are not well with COVID-19 and they have been forced to trim number of workers from 29 to only 10.
He said they had a series of bookings but they have all been cancelled due to the pandemic.
“We feel like just closing the business but we still have hoped that may be getting a few clients to sustain our business. We have sent home about 19 workers on unpaid holiday because we can no longer make money to meet their wages,” said Imani
Green Safaris, owners of Kaya Mawa lodges at Likoma Island, said they are expecting serious revenue loss in 2020.
One of the officers at Majizuwa lodges along Lake Malawi in the Northern region district of Karonga, Nation Nyasulu confirmed of closing his business and had already sent home 12 workers.
He said most of visitors at their site come from Western and European countries which have as well been hit hard by the pandemic.
According to 2018 Travel and Tourism Economic Impact Report, the direct contribution of Travel and Tourism to GDP in 2017 was 3.5 per cent and 7.7 per cent in 2019 and was expected to rise by 2.8 per cent and 4.7 per cent through 2028 respectively.
This refers to total value of goods and services and the sector’s economic activities generated by hotels, travels agents, airlines and other passenger transportation services.
In Monetary terms, the sector’s contribution to GDP translates to US$ 553 million (about K400 billion) annually.
The subdued growth has affected job creation, with employment remaining at 6.7 per cent of total employment at about 525,000 jobs.
