Nthanda Times Reporter

Speaking during the launch held at Chikwawa Community Ground, District Commissioner for Chikwawa, Nardin Kamba said the CYFCI strategic Plan contains six pillars that should be followed for the children and youths to have equal access and advantage like everyone in their communities.

“Looking at challenges the children and youths are facing this strategic plan contains six pillars namely, Child and Youth participation, Access to quality and essential social services, Safe, Secure and Clean environment, Family life, Play and Leisure and Right to be involved and heard, “He said.

“Mainly we want our children and youths to have good education, access to health services and involvement in all interventions the government is implementing in the district,” He said and added that those areas which will follow and do better with what is in this strategic plan will be awarded as the council will track the achievements of outlined objectives.

He further said, in this strategic plan each pillar has different activities which have been listed to be implemented that will bring a desired change in the lives of children and youths, in addition each pillar has output and targets to be achieved by a period of five years.

Council Chair, Khofati Malunga said that this strategy will bring change knowing that children and youths were not involved in many interventions and adding that even leaders themselves did know importance of involving young people when making decisions or development plans.

“The big challenge is lacking knowledge from both leaders and the youth themselves, this strategic plan introduced by Unicef will help all of us to know our roles and importance of involving youths in all interventions plans happening in the district,” he said.

He further commended the coming of this initiative knowing that the country is full of young people and they are not being involved in development programmes and the coming of this strategy will help our district council to engage youths in decision making hence more development.

Youth Network Chair, George Amos, from Group Village Head (GVH) Njereza, Traditional Authority (T/A) Kasisi said the coming of strategic plan will help to ease challenges which young people are facing.

“We are facing challenges like unemployment, early marriages due to poverty, child abuses like rape and Child labour, lack of essential health services and not being involved in development decision making,” He said.

He further commended the coming of strategic plan hoping that it  will help to solve challenges which  young people are facing and adding that youths should be heard and protected and this will help them to acquire different skills and be safe dependent.

According to Unicef this initiative is their mandate to help children to have friendly communities. This strategy is  to work with councils to fulfil the rights of children. The council should use this strategy on ground not only in papers, Chikwawa is the first council and should be an example to other districts.

Chakwera made the remarks in Mzuzu on Friday at the 16^th congregation of the University of Livingstonia.

He said since he assumed the presidency, he has based his leadership on principles of honesty and truthfulness because he believes in speaking the truth at all times.

“My tenure as President has further solidified my commitment to these principles. Just last week, on a Friday like this one, I was at Parliament giving my honest assessment of the state of our nation, and I openly told Malawians that our beloved country is suffering from the deep wound of not producing enough valuable and exportable goods and services to generate the forex and revenue necessary to pay off our debt, lift millions of Malawians out of poverty, engage in meaningful development, free ourselves from foreign aid, and make our economy resilient against external shocks, disasters, public health crises, and global disruptions,” he said.

Chakwera challenged the graduands to be part of the solution to challenges besetting Malawi at the moment.

“I believed that here I would be in the company of those who do not even whisper the lie that Malawi is doomed to fail, that there is nothing good being done in Malawi, or that the Egypt we have come from was better. I believed that here I would be in the company of those whose response to Malawi’s deep-rooted challenges is not to point fingers, or complain, or rebel, but to roll up their sleeves and get to work. I believed that here I would be in the company of those who have enough hope for the country to give hope to those who have lost hope,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Chakwera has commended CCAP Synod of Livingstonia for establishing the university.

On February 19, 2023, Presidential Press Secretary Anthony Kasunda informed the nation about Chakwera’s intention to work from his Capital Hill Office.

However, this has not gone down well with social and political commentators such as Lucky Mbewe and Latim Matenje who argued that this will not be in the best interest of Malawians.

Mbewe said a lot of resources are wasted when the President travels and “he is only trying to clear his name on how erroneously the country is being governed”.

He proposed that President Chakwera should hire someone to do the duties on his behalf at Capital Hill.

On the other hand, Matenje argued that working at the City Centre Offices is not enough, but that Chakwera must supervise various offices and see what is being done.

Previously, Press Secretary to the President, Anthony Kasunda, said President Chakwera has been working from home at the State House since he was elected and this will be the first time for him to operate from the Office of the President and Cabinet premises.

Chihana said a number of countries in Africa and other continents follow the federal system of government and it has proved to be effective.

He stated that the unitary system of government is failing to deliver tangible services in all parts of the country.

“Time has come for Malawi to have a federal system of government,” said Chihana.

The lawmaker said federal system is the surest way that the country can deliver services.

Chihana added that decisions would be made very quickly under the federal system of government.

He said Malawians are waiting for the system of government and Malawians need it now.

The parliamentarian said the system responds quickly to the needs of Malawians.

Chihana said every part of country will benefit and develop under the federal state.

Chakwera was speaking on Wednesday at Kamuzu Palace when he chaired a meeting of heads of institutions that are vital in the fight against corruption.

The meeting brought together Minister of Justice Hon. Titus Mvalo, Secretary to the President and Cabinet Ms. Colleen Zamba, Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda, Director of Public Prosecutions Masauko Chamkakala and Director General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Martha Chizuma.

The meeting comes at a time when there has been a growing outcry that institutions that fight corruption are working in isolation hence dragging back investigations and prosecution of cases.

Several quarters have noted that the animosity that has been there between Chizuma and former Director of Public Prosecutions Steven Kayuni affected the progress of investigations and cases in court.

The President himself pointed out the need for all critical institutions to collaborate in their work.

“The cordial engagement among these critical institutions further cements our resolve to deal with corruption with a seamless approach that bears fruits,” he wrote on his official Facebook account few hours after the meeting.

President Chakwera also highlighted the need for all the stakeholders in the fight against corruption to rely on the country’s legal instruments.

“I have prompted the institutional heads to collaboratively undertake their noble duty guided only by the sovereign administrative and legal statutes above anything else.”

Lately, there have been concerns on interference into ACB duties by Western elements especially in the investigations and prosecution of the Zuneth Sattar cases.

Phale secured 11 votes against Namalomba’s five. Namalomba, who serves as the spokesperson of the DPP President, Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, wrote on his Facebook about his defeat.

However, Namalomba attributed his loss to alleged voter manipulation by his contender.

“Today I stood for election of Chairperson of Transport and Public Infrastructure Committee of Parliament. Unfortunately I lost 5 to 11 votes to a member from the government side. In a democracy such as ours where those with cash and power, easily find their way into public office, my loss with 5 votes is a big achievement and I thank all my fellow DPP members of Parliament as led by the Leader Opposition for the support they rendered to me. Ine ndilibe golide!!!” wrote the defeated lawmaker.

Matron for the network, who is also Operations Officer for the region, Assistant Commissioner Modesta Jussa, was speaking in Kasungu during a sensitisation and awareness engagement the Women Police Network organised for male police officers in the region.

Jussa said suicide cases have risen to alarming levels and attributed the trend to men’s behaviour of not reporting or sharing their problems with others and consequently resorting to suicide.

Said Jussa: “We organised this meeting to engage male police officers to encourage them that, as individuals, they need not to resort to killing themselves when they face problems in life. They must open up to their spouses and even report the abuses they go through and share their other problems with fellows.

“We believe that in this way, they will also be in a better position to raise awareness on issues of suicide to the members of the community. We have taken the move after noticing that more men are committing suicide than women in the country.”

According to Jussa, of the 166 suicide cases registered in the region last year, 161 or 97 percent were men.

She expressed optimism that with the training, male officers will now be able to take a proactive role by sensitising fellow men in the community to share their grievances to relevant authorities, such as police and mental health clinicians so that they are helped with counselling. 

Kasungu District Hospital mental health clinician Lolinda Matola, who was one of the lead facilitators, said men resort to killing themselves because of such factors as wrecked relationships, job related matters, financial problems and mental illnesses.

“Men are at higher risk of suicide because they have huge burdens and that they don’t share their grievances with other people hence they decide to end their lives. This calls for more sensitisation and awareness so that we reverse the trend,” said Matola. 

 

One of the participants Gentry Lungu hailed the Women Network for organising the engagement which he said has come at the right time when more lives are being lost through suicide by hanging and taking pesticides. 

 

Nearly 800, 000 people die by suicide in the world each year with rates.

The facility serves more than half a million people from around the area, but was recently closed following the violence that occurred after the death of a cholera patient at the facility from Mgona Township.

The closure of the facility forced residents of Areas 25, 26 and Mgona (Area 28) to travel over 15 kilometres to access healthcare services at Area 18 Health Centre.

However, President Chakwera ordered the immediate reopening of the facility when he addressed health workers at the launch of the cholera campaign last Monday.

The Malawi leader emphasized the need for the residents to access healthcare services right from their vicinity.

“I stand for the people that is why I apologize for what happened to health workers and the health facility,” said the President.

As Chakwera was launching the campaign, residents in Kuliyani Village were burying a 60-year-old man who died of cholera.

In his eulogy at the funeral, Village Head Kuliyani attributed to the death to the long distance that his subjects were avoiding to travel to access services at Area 18 Health Centre.

He, therefore, commended the President for ordering the reopening of the facility.

“The reopening of the facility will save a lot of lives. We are grateful to President Chakwera for accepting the apologies of the people of Mgona,” said VH Kuliyani.

Malawi Health Equity Network (MEHN) Executive Director George Jobe, also commended Chakwera for the reopening of the clinic.

Jobe said the facility is so important because it serves people from as far as Lumbadzi.

NICE District Civic Education Officer (DCEO) for Mchinji and Ntchisi, Pilirani Emmanuel Banda, made the remarks on Thursday during a service charter consultation meeting, which NICE organized with funding from its traditional donor – European Union (EU).

The meeting uncovered a number of governance issues that affect the development of the district.

Among others, it was noted that the heads of departments are not sharing and/or popularizing service charters to the rights-holders thereby depriving citizens the right to follow and scrutinize the implementation of various development projects.

Banda described this as a worrisome development and a barrier to decentralization processes.

“My expectation was that developing these documents, the sectors were supposed to engage service users for their inputs. Thereafter, agreements should have been made between the two parties,” he said.

Heads of departments assured NICE and others stakeholders of their commitment to facilitating and promoting decentralization processes by distributing service charters to residents of the district.