Blessings Tambala

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) lawmaker for Lilongwe Msinja South, Francis Belekanyama, has expressed displeasure and disappointment with politics of mudslinging and castigation, which have reared their ugly face 18 months before Malawians go to the General Elections in September 2024.

His displeasure and disappointment follow a decision by some unidentified people to post sex video, which they claimed to be of Belekanyama.

Immediately the video started flying on the social media, concerned Malawians asked member of Parliament (MP) for Lilongwe City Centre, Alfred Jiya, who is a close friend of Belekanyama, to confirm the authenticity of the video in question.

“The answer is a big NO! The video is fake. Those who know Honourable Belekanyama very well know that he is a person of high integrity, socially upright, brilliant, mature, wise and intelligent,” said Jiya.

Jiya was, however, quick to point out that as months draw closer to the next General Elections, it is not surprising to see overzealous politicians using and abusing social media platforms to attack others, including creating propaganda for political reasons and high political agenda.

“Hon. Belekanyama is facing his competitors in his constituency, whom he is likely to knock down at the ballot box in 2025, that’s the reason they are using all unorthodox means to bring him down buy they will fail miserably. I am informed Honourable Belekanyama himself will be commenting on the matter, suffice to say that he is facing wars in many fronts.

“It could be his competitors in parliament are having sleepless nights with him as I am told he has been earmarked for chairmanship of a parliamentary committee. In addition, Honourable Belekanyama is one of strategists for one of the candidates who is vying for a party position,” said Jiya.

The Lilongwe City Centre lawmaker described Belekanyama as a vibrant forward looking young legislator, ‘probably very few brilliant legislators in the 193 strong House who uniquely knows how to cook excellent political strategies’.

He challenged that this ‘strategy to destroy him politically and weaken his ambitions has therefore failed miserably, go back to the drawing board’.

Matours International Coach Services has refuted Carte Blanche allegations that it is involved in human smuggling and trafficking.

The rebuttal follows an allegation Carte Blanche – a South African investigative journalism television series that airs on M-Net – made through its email sent to the company on 20 March 2024.

In the communication to Matours International Coach, Graham Coetzer, a journalist for the television program who was producing an insert on the smuggling and trafficking of foreign nationals into South Africa, alleged that the coach service is engaged in human smuggling and trafficking into South Africa.

Coetzer alleged that a certain man identified as Josiah Soko had agreed with someone to arrange for the transport of a young child from Malawi to South Africa.

“Josiah phoned a transporter named Angela from his phone and allowed the man to speak to her and arrange for the child to be smuggled to South Africa. Although there was no real child the allegation is therefore that Matours and Josiah Soko would have been complicit in arranging for a young child to be brought across South African borders illegally,” he alleged.

But in an interview on Wednesday, Matuors International Coach Public Relations Associate, Bright Kampaundi, dismissed the allegations, stating that they are meant to tarnish the image of the company.

“Carte Branch contacted our office and sent an email to our Public Relations office on this subject matter in what it called “right to reply” in which we responded accordingly.  Surprisingly no content from our reply has been featured in their article which makes us wonder about the intent of the documentary and a belief that they already had an angle of their story despite having an official response from Matours,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.

“Just as we communicated to Graham Coetzer of Carte Blanche on 21^st March 2024, we reiterate that Matours International Coach Services is not involved in neither Human Trafficking nor Human Smuggling. The reporter working undercover was told by our agent Soko that Matours do not take people without travelling document which is a company policy hence referred him to someone,” added Kampaundi.

Human smuggling is defined as securing or aiding the illegal entry of a person into a state in which they are not a national or permanent resident, for financial or other material benefit. It also means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit.

Kampaundi reiterated that the company is not involved in aiding illegal entry of any form.

“As a legitimate corporate entity, our core business is to provide transport service for goods and passengers in compliance with laws and regulations in all the four countries where our coaches pass through either as a departure, transit route or a destination. All passengers on our coaches do have passports or travel documents and present themselves before the immigration officials at the port of entry for formalities. One of our internal policies enforces that if anyone is refused entry on the reasons best known to the immigration at a port of entry such a person remains at the border and is not allowed to board back into the coach,” he said.

Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) has hailed Chibuku Products Limited (CPL) for its consistency and adherence to production standards, stressing that this is key to ensuring the safety and health of the customers.

Established in 1967, CPL has been the leading manufacturer of malt beverages such as beer and liquors in Malawi.

On Tuesday this week, CPL was among the 411 companies that were awarded with the certificates from MBS for their consistency and adherence to standards.

In her remarks before she presented the certificates in Mzuzu, MBS Director of Quality Assurance Services, Gloria Chionamwene Mereka, emphasized the need for companies to maintain quality standards in order to protect their customers from harm.

Mereka said substandard goods and services are expensive and counterproductive to the economic growth of the country.

“Quality products ensure the country’s products are competitive on the international market and have a competitive age to drive the country’s economy. Every country, even developed countries, have grown in the economy because of the SMEs. SMEs are the ones who form the backbone of each and every economy,” she said.

Mereka disclosed that MBS is collaborating with SMEDI and the Ministry of Industry and Trade through AGCOM Project in which they are hand-holding the SME so that they are able to attain the certification.

She said the bureau reduced the cost of certification to enable SMEs to attain certificates.

In his remarks CPL Operations Manager for the Northern Region, Patrick Dzanja, hailed MBS for its strictness in enforcing quality standards, saying this helps in ensuring competitiveness, which in turn makes sense providers and manufacturers offer quality services and products on the market.

“We are happiest people at Chibuku Products Limited. As you might be aware, we’ve been in existence for 60 years in production and receiving certificates, I think that’s a good thing to be proud of and to be happy,” reacted Dzanja.

In a similar event that was held in Blantyre, Chibuku Products Limited was also awarded certificates for Chibuku Shake Shake beer and the nutritious non-alcoholic Maheu beverage.

Meanwhile, MBS has warned that any company found not producing high quality products risk having its quality certificate revoked.

Breaking the Barriers Project – a project being implemented by a consortium of four civil society organizations (CSOs) in Malawi – has intensified its efforts to lobby members of Parliament (MPs) to debate and pass the Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) Bill into law.

The bill seeks to empower women and girls to seek comprehensive sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) services when faced with unwanted and unplanned pregnancies.

The debate around the Termination of Pregnancy Bill has been intense, with proponents arguing for the protection of women’s rights to make decisions about their bodies and health, while opponents raise concerns about the sanctity of life and moral implications.

But this has not derailed the CSOs in their demand for the legalization of safe abortion.

On Thursday, a consortium of CSOs comprising Malawi Human Rights Resource Centre (MHRRC), Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), Malawi SRHR Alliance and Centre for Solution Journalism (CSJ) held a dialogue meeting with selected committees of parliament on comprehensive SRHR services and TOP Bill.

Amplify Change financed the dialogue, which sought to facilitate an open and constructive dialogue among committee members, and stakeholders on the key provisions of the bill.

In his presentation during the meeting, vice chairperson of the Coalition of Prevention of Unsafe Abortion (COPUA), Dr. Amos Nyaka, told lawmakers that unsafe abortion remains a leading – but preventable – cause of maternal deaths and morbidities. It can lead to physical and mental health complications and social and financial burdens for women, communities and health systems.

“Research has shown that the proportion of abortions that are unsafe is much higher in countries where laws are more restrictive such as Malawi,” said Nyaka.

In his remarks, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) Executive Director, Michael Kaiyatsa, said comprehensive SRH rights as fundamental human rights that encompass a wide range of issues, including access to reproductive health services, information, and education.

Kaiyatsa observed that in Malawi, like many other countries, SRHR remains a critical yet often challenging area to address due to a variety of factors, including cultural norms, limited access to healthcare services, and legal restrictions.

He said it is against this background that the proposed Termination of Pregnancy Bill seeks to amend these restrictive laws, aiming to expand access to safe and legal abortion services in certain circumstances, such as cases of rape, incest, severe malformation and physical /mental health,” he said.

“As Malawi strives to achieve its development goals and fulfill its international obligations, including those under the Maputo Protocol, the need for a comprehensive approach to SRHR, including access to safe abortion services, becomes increasingly apparent,” he said.

Chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on Health, Dr. Matthews Ngwale, commended the project for facilitating the dialogue, stressing that such engagements help to create awareness on critical issues.

Ngwale said as lawmakers, they are equally concerned with the number of girls and women who lose their lives to unsafe abortion.

Among others, the dialogue sought to provide Members of the Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament with a comprehensive overview of the Termination of Pregnancy Bill and the magnitude of unsafe abortion in Malawi.

It also intended to address concerns, seek input, and clarify misconceptions regarding the bill to enhance informed decision-making and to foster a collaborative environment for knowledge exchange and networking among participants.

The Reunion Insurance Company of Malawi has donated MK2 million sponsorship to the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) to enable the confederation prepare for the 2024 Lakeshore Business Leaders’ Summit.

The summit is scheduled to take place at the Nkopola Lodge in Mangochi from April 25, 2024 to April 27, 2024. Source have confided that State Vice President Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima will grace the occasion as the Guest of Honour.

Speaking after presenting a cheque to MCCCI recently, Reunion Insurance Company of Malawi Chief Executive Officer, Dorothy Chapeyama, said her entity recognizes the importance such summits play in the growth of businesses in Malawi.

Chapeyama said these summits create a platform for sharing information and experiences to spur economic growth of various sectors of life.

MCCCI Chief Executive Officer, Daisy Kambalame, commended the insurance company for the sponsorship, saying it will be a gap in their preparations for the event.

This year’s business leaders’ summit will be held under the theme: “Re-Engineering Businesses to Withstand Shocks”, which underlines the critical importance of adaptability, resilience, and transformation in navigating dynamic economic challenges.

Malawi lost 51.5 per 100, 000 women to cervical cancer in 2023 alone, placing the disease among the most dangerous health burdens in the country.

This has prompted the Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda to call for greater and enhanced collaboration between the government and its partners to eliminate the disease.

Chiponda made the call when she opened the 2024 National Cervical Cancer Symposium at the Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe on Thursday. The symposium was held under the theme: Eliminating cervical cancer: what is the future?

The symposium is the first of its kind, which aimed to secure government, donor and private sector commitments to eliminate cervical cancer in Malawi.

Chiponda disclosed that Malawi has one of the highest burdens of cervical cancers in the world, with age standardised incidence and mortality rates of 67.9 and 51.5 per 100, 000 women respectively as reported in 2023.

She said women living with HIV are heavily affected by the disease.

“This disease affects all women and it’s our collective responsibility to eliminate this disease,” she said.

Cervical cancer is caused by persistent infection with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). According to World Health Organization (WHO), cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women globally, with around 660 000 new cases and around 350 000 deaths recorded in 2022.

If the globe will not change course, annual deaths from cervical cancer are projected to reach 410,000 by 2030. The highest rates of cervical cancer incidence and mortality are in low- and middle-income countries, and which Malawi is one of them. This reflects major inequities driven by lack of access to national HPV vaccination, cervical cancer screening and treatment services.

The Government of Malawi has recently made a number of commitments towards the elimination of cervical cancer and Chiponda said following these commitments, the country has made progress to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem by the year 2030.

She cited routinization of the HPV vaccine, scale up of cervical cancer screening services, scaling up of HPV DNA PCR testing to all districts, and improving tertiary care services i.e. surgery, histopathology, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy.

She also highlighted demand creation and community awareness on cervical cancer prevention and management, utilization of key community gatekeepers to advocate for uptake of cervical cancer services and interventions and integration of cervical cancer services with other services for scale up such as HIV and other Sexual Reproductive Health Rights services.

“[But] despite the achievements made, Malawi Cervical Cancer Prevention and Control Program faces challenges such as low HPV vaccination coverage, mostly because of the transition from the campaign to routine vaccine delivery approach hasn’t been smooth. HPV DNA PCR testing has not yet been scaled up widely across the country due to limitation of funding,” said the minister.

Chiponda therefore appealed to relevant arms of government, such as Parliament, Treasury, Ministry of Education, stakeholders, development partners and the entire donor community, the private sector, and all players in the health sector to work together towards achieving the cervical cancer elimination targets and goal by the year 2030.

President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera has lamented that Malawi lost the lives of 679 productive citizens to Tropical Cyclone Freddy, stating that these people had a critical role to play in the development of the economy.

Chakwera made the sentiments in Mulanje on Wednesday when he presided over a memorial service held in honour of hundreds of people who lost their lives to Tropical Cyclone Freddy in March last year.

The President observed that there has been an increase in the intensity of natural disasters, fearing the tragedies will derail the country’s progress, especially the Malawi 2063 development agenda.

“Losing 679 people at the same time is not an ordinary funeral, nor should we forget the 537 people who went with raging waters. These were our brothers in this country, and their lives have been painful. These were the Malawians who were useful, some were useful for raising children, some for farming, some for managing businesses, some for teaching children in school, some for entertaining parents, some for making people laugh and joking, some for working in a company, but all these stopped because of death,” he said.

Chakwera said natural disaster should teach Malawians a lesson that every life is valuable and an important resource for the social and economic development of any country.

He said it is against this background that his government values every life as a treasure.

Chakwera therefore appealed to Malawians to treat one another as useful resources and desist from discriminating one another based on political or regional affiliations.

“These discriminations on the basis of regions are meaningless. Because disasters like Cyclone Freddy remind us that we are all lost because we are all one family. It is possible that there are some people who do not like the way we did it at that time or the way we have done it today, because civil strife is their food. No matter how they feel the smell of the elections, it is a joy because the division and unity of Malawi has never started, but we must not stop this cooperation. We should remember that if the death of the Malawians who left us in Freddy’s accident affects us all, then we are one and we must walk together. According to the words of the late President Bingu wa Mutharika, Let’s walk together with one heart,” he said.

He appealed to people and organizations of goodwill to continue rendering their support to the survivors of the cyclones.

With just days to the opening of the 2023/2024 tobacco marketing season, one of the country’s leading tobacco buyers, JTI Leaf Malawi has released a total of K1, 244, 300, 000 to be distributed to all its growers as collateral release.

Addressing reporters in the capital, Lilongwe on Wednesday, March 27, JTI Leaf Malawi Corporate Affairs and Communications Director, Limbani Kakhome, said every year JTI growers deposit a sum of money as loan security to enter into a contract with the company.

This is the money the company is giving back to the growers as collateral release to help the growers with their day-to-day livelihood needs.

“These growers have over the years been giving us top quality leaf and it goes without saying that we also come in at their time of need,” said Kakhome. “We have a very cordial working relationship with our growers. As such we know that around this time, growers do not have enough money to finance their farming activities. This money is meant to bridge that funding gap.”

Kakhome said tobacco production is quite involving and the company decided to lift the financial load off the shoulders of growers by giving them back the money they deposited with the company as collateral at the start of the season.

The money the growers received comes fast on the heels of year another exercise. The company through its flagship Mlimi Wozitsata Program, in January this year distributed 3,255 metric tons of maize on loan to our growers who farm over 12,000 hectares of tobacco across the country.

JTI is a leading international tobacco and vaping company with operations in more than 130 countries. It is the global owner of both Winston, the number two cigarette brand in the world, and Camel, outside the USA. 

Other global brands include Mevius and LD. JTI is also a major player in the international vaping market with its heated tobacco brand, Ploom, and e-cigarette brand, Logic. 

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the company employs over 40,000 people and was awarded Global Top Employer for the seventh consecutive year.