News In Northern Region (501)
MACOHA Tips Humanitarian Actors on Disaster Response Targeting Persons with Disabilities
The Malawi Council for the Handicapped (MACOHA) has lamented that persons with disabilities in the country struggled to access humanitarian support during Cyclone Freddy.
Pathologist and Police Investigator Testify in Mzimba Human Trafficking Case
State in Mzuzu Thursday October 19th paraded fourth and fifth witnesses in a case related to the discovery of a mass grave of 30 migrants at Mtangatanga forest in Mzimba last year.
The two a police criminal investigations officer for Mzimba police Baxter Mkumbwa and Pathologist Profffesor George Liomba appeared before
Judge Gladys Gondwe where they amongst other things provided evidence that the victims did not die a natural death.
First to testify was Mkumbwa who narrated how he learnt about the mass grave from the people that reported at Mzimba police station, and also tendered in court as evidence some of the items he picked from crime scene as evidence.
“We visited the crime scene and we found bodies in a decomposed state, some half buried in the mass grave. I also picked a few items that were on the scene including pieces of papers containing foreign phone numbers purportedly Ethiopian, bank deposit slip of an Ethiopian bank, an identity card with Arabic scribblings, a wrist watch and aluminum piece of motor vehicle,” he told the court, while also exhibiting the items.
However, during cross-examination the defense team wanted to know if indeed the contacts he saw were of Ethiopia numbers, which Mkumbwa confirmed he verified them using an undisclosed person.
Second witness Dr George Liomba in his testimony said he conducted an autopsy on 30 dead bodies that were in a decomposed state and infested with magots.
He told the court that the bodies had similar traits as they were all tall, slim, male adults between the ages of 25-45, and that 27 of the bodies wore dark trousers, while some only had no shirts.
The court was sent in chills when part of the report was telecasted showing pictures of dead bodies and part of the tissue that was examined to prove death was due to suffocation with Carbon Monoxide as a contributing factor.
“After examining the bodies we established there was no organ disease and no evidence of physical trauma. With the presence of magots we determined the bodies must have been in the forest for three to five days,” said Liomba
He however, said an autopsy conducted on internal organs of the five of the dead bodies revealed cherry red tissue which he said indicates presence of carbon monoxide.
He said they concluded the people did not die a natural death but death was due to suffocation with carbon monoxide.
A heated and interesting cross-examination ensued when defence lawyer Kolezi Phiri quizzed Liomba to clarify how he thinks organs can only turn cherry as a result of carbon monoxide infestation, but Liomba refused to conduct a medical lecture in court and referred the defence to google.
Judge Gladys Gondwe has since set November 27th to 30th November for continuation of trial, where defence will continue to parade more of its 14 witnesses.
Those answering the charges are Tadikila mafudza, Samuel Navaya, David Luhanga, Thomas Kazembe, Duncan Kalulu, Boniface Ngulube, Aubrey Dukes and Arnold Mwakiyelu
Ends.
Mazani Unveils "Mulenji" EP
Local R&B artist Mazani is set to captivate his fanbase once more with his second project called "Mulenji".
"Mulenji," a title that resonates with mystery and allure, perfectly expresses the depth and diversity of Mazani's artistic vision.
"The EP takes listeners on an immersive musical odyssey, exploring themes of love, passion, and self-discovery," he said.
According to Mazani, at the heart of "Mulenji" is "Tikafike" a single that beckons audiences to embark on a profound journey through the labyrinth of love.
He said, "Tikafike is an anthem that speaks to the heart. This track is the soulful overture to an EP that promises to be a rich mosaic of emotions and experiences."
The EP effortlessly weaves a tapestry of genres, fusing R&B, soul, and traditional elements.
Each song in the EP is a testament to his ability to evoke raw emotions and connect with listeners on a deep, personal level.
Mulenji is a seven tracked EP and will have two lead singles out before the final release.
Equatorial Insurance Brokers Takes Financial Literancy Education to Secondary Schools
An insurance firm, Equatorial Insurance Brokers has embarked on a campaign of sensitizing secondary school learners of various financial literacy programmes aimed at equipping them with skills and knowledge about the financial sector in the country.
Managing Director of the Company Thomas Ronald Kambale has told Zodiak Online that his institution has initiated what is being called the Mwana wa Nzeru Insurance Services Literacy programme targeting the secondary school learners to gain information that they can share with their parents and guardians and their communities.
“We have noted that knowledge uptake about financial services is going down in Malawi. And we hope that with this arrangement, we can allow more people to understand this approach and effectively use it,” said Kambale.
He added: “We are advocating for mindset change towards financial services. We are not talking about insurance services only, but all financial services in general. This shall include banking, Online transactions, and pensions among others.”
“Since we already have expertise and human resources, we would like to reach out to 80 percent of secondary schools in the country in the next 5 years”.
Financial literacy focuses on the ability to manage personal finance effectively, which requires experience in making appropriate personal finance choices, such as savings, insurance, real estate, college payments, budgeting, retirement and tax planning.
Already the institution has taken its sensitization to learners at Wukani Education Facility School in Mzuzu.
During the activity, the learners were exposed to various financial literacy circles. The initiative coincided with the opening of the company’s regional offices in Mzuzu.
A form four student at the school Fyaupi Msukwa who aspires of becoming a successful businessperson after completing his education, says such knowledge is mostly not readily for young people like him. He says that there is a need for the organisation to reach out to more schools so that other learners can also benefit.
“Government and other stakeholders are propagating for Malawi Agenda 2023. If this needs to be achieved, the youthful generation should be taken through various concepts on financial literacy programmes. Just like Mwana wa Nzeru initiave. This will help us to grow knowing about this sector," said Fyaupi.
Malawi is one of the countries in Africa with low uptake of financial services programmes.
Man Arrested for Repackaging Fake Fertilizer
Police in Mzuzu have arrested a 41-year-old man for allegedly possessing 17 bags of counterfeit fertilizer weighing 50 kilograms each.
Mzuzu Police Spokesperson Paul Tembo says the suspect Blessings Nyirenda has been arrested in the city following a tip-off that the businessperson was reprocessing and repackaging the fertilizer in NPK sacks belonging to Smallholder Farmers Fertilizer Revolving fund of Malawi (SFFRFM).
“We have been working together with the Malawi Bureau Standards (MBS) who got the wind about this illegal business. Our officers then moved in quickly and arrested the suspect who is being kept at Mzuzu Police Station waiting for a court appearance,’’ said Tembo.
Malawi Bureau of Standards Regional Manager for the north Kissinger Chiunjira says the fertilizer will be taken to the organization’s laboratory for testing.
Said Chiunjira: “We have the fertilizer in our custody because we want to know what chemicals were being used to repackage and reprocess it.”
In mid-August this year, Lilongwe Police Station also found 92 bags of fake fertilizer at a house at Sankhani Village in Traditional Authority Njewa in the district.
Access to genuine fertilizer coupled with high prices has been a pressing issue in the country, impacting crop yields and agricultural productivity.
Shortage of Maize Bran in the North Hits Livestock Farmers
Some livestock farmers in the northern region say that continued illegal exportation of maize bran locally known as Gaga to countries Like Tanzania, Eswatini, Kenya, and Zimbabwe has led to a scarcity of feed for livestock on the local market.
A Mzuzu-based livestock farmer Boniface Jubeki of Chingalu Farms has implored the government to control the exportation of the commodity, saying current trend is pushing upwards the cost of production and prices of meat and its products in the region.
“Prices of meat and its products have risen in the recent months. In 2022, we used buy a kilogram of beef and pork at K2, 500. But now the same is trading at K4, 200, simply because farmers are buying animal feed like gaga at a higher rate.”
He added; in the same period a 20-liter tin of Maize bran was selling at K500 but it is now going at K1000.
Vendors from neighboring countries are controlling the market, buying the commodity and illegally exporting it to their countries.
Minister of Trade and Industry Simplex Chithyola-Banda has told us in a separate interview that Capitol Hill will check if there is indeed illegal exportation of the commodity.
Said Chithyola-Banda: “I don’t think there is smuggling of maize bran to some African countries. And, what I know is these traders seek export documents from our offices which we provide after scrutinizing the business.”
Maize bran is one of the liable feed for livestock in Malawi.
WVI Malawi Hailed for Good Start in WASH Implementation
Communities of Lusale Traditional Authority Makhambira say they now feel safe from threats of waterborne diseases following construction of a 22 million Kwacha worth mechanized solar powered water supply system by World Vision Malawi serving over 700 households.
The communities say that, with the district too prone to waterborne diseases, such as Cholera, good water, sanitation and health WASH facilities are all that they need to beat such outbreaks.
Chairperson for Lisale mechanized solar powered water system Emily Mwase says communities from the area used to drink water direct from the stream and other unprotected sources a thing that was putting them at risk.
“This area has not registered any Cholera case recently because each household drinks safe water from the communal taps, it has clean pit latrines and also good hand washing facilities. We are grateful,” she said
In 2020, World Vision Malawi’s Sanga Area Program embarked on a project to install a water supply system with a ten-thousand-liter reservoir tank to three communities and three school at Lusale in Traditional Authority Mankhambira.
A team of World Vision WASH professionals from 20 countries in east and central Africa that is in the country for a three-week WASH capacity building training program by the Dessert Research Institute DRI and Mzuzu University, visited the area to appreciate and get hands on information on implementation of the WASH program in Nkhatabay.
Lead trainer from DRI Dr. Braimah Apambire has applauded WASH interventions being carried out at Sanga, saying the cadres have learnt a lot from what is being done and hope they will be able to apply it in their respective countries
“This face-to-face interaction is important for students as it gives them practical knowledge apart from the class and laboratory work which are part of the course outline,” said Apambire.
Sanga Area program manager Elarton Thawani says apart from the 22 million Kwacha mechanized solar powered water system, the project has also drilled 11 boreholes fitted with hand pumps serving about 3000 people, and also constructed pit-latrines in five different primary schools.
The 35 WASH cadres being trained have been drawn from Ghana, Uganda, Somalia, South Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leon, Senegal, Malawi just to mention a few.
Car Free Day Set for Friday
A local organization on road safety has appealed to all motorists that this coming Friday should walk or cycle to their destinations in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions emanating from motor vehicles that pollute the environment.
Road Safety Alert Foundation Public Relations Officer Thokozani Chenjezi told us in an interview Thursday that this is a result of various negative effects of carbon emissions to the environment that Malawi and other countries are experiencing.
“Malawi has recently faced various natural calamities like cyclones, this clearly shows that the environment has been damaged. We also want to promote good health by walking and cycling, as well as, reducing road traffic accidents since the roads will have minimal traffic of motor vehicles,” said Chenjezi.
This will be the first-ever Car Free Day in Malawi being championed by the Road Safety Alert Foundation.
Road Safety Alert Foundation is a local organization affiliated with the Global Alliance of Non-Governmental Organizations on Road Safety and also SADC Alliance on Road Safety.
Meanwhile, Environmentalist Chikondi Gawa has welcomed the initiative saying at all costs Malawians should stand up to protect the environment which will eventually reduce carbon emissions.
Said Gawa: “These are issues we need to be talking about and doing in protecting the environment and healthy living. So, those who can afford should surely take part.”
On Friday this week, a Car Free Zone will be set up near Gemini house in City Center, Lilongwe where no car will be allowed to enter the zone from 6:00 am to 1:00 pm as a way of proving awareness of the initiative.
Financial Woes Affect Portable Water Access at Ekwendeni School for the Blind
Ekwendeni Resource for the Blind which is a primary school under the CCAP Synod of Livingstonia has gone for three years without access to clean and potable water due to the failure to settle 800,000 Kwacha water bills to the Northern Region Water Board.
Head of the Ekwendeni Mission, Reverend Timothy Nyirenda says that the water supply was disconnected following acute funding challenges affecting its donors (the Church and well-wishers).
The institution, at times gets monthly financial support from government of about 500 000 Kwacha which is not enough for its operations.
“Despite a well-wisher drilling a borehole at the school, after noting the problem, we still need safe and potable water. We will soon engage the Northern Region Water Board on how to settle the debt despite having insufficient resources,” said Reverend Nyirenda.
Meanwhile, president of the Institute of People Management Malawi Godwin Sam N'goma whose organisation donated assorted items to the institution valued at 2 million Kwacha, has appealed to well-wishers including the corporate world to assist the school.
Said N’goma: “Our coming here is to provide public awareness, so that more people can bail out the school which is in dire need of help. We want to tell people of goodwill to bail out the school that has produced a lot of good people.”
The Ekwendeni Resource Center for the Blind was established in 1978 and it has been relying on the Church, well-wishers, and government who in some months provide a subversion of 500,000 Kwacha.
The Institute of People Management Malawi is one of the oldest professional bodies in the country, and its mandate is to ensure an effective workforce in the labour sector.
Chakwera Talks Tough on Contractors
President Lazarus Chakwera has lashed out at some people he did not disclose, saying they are conniving with contractors to frustrate development projects being initiated in the country for their own benefit.
The President made the remarks yesterday when he commissioned the 30 billion Kwacha Nkhata Bay Town Water Supply and Sanitation project which will benefit over 104 thousand households in the district.
The project is being implemented by government and the Northern Region Water Board.
“I know what some people are doing. That is very unpatriotic behavior, that must come to stop because it is theft,” said Chakwera.
He then hailed the utility body for effective use of resources which his administration strives to achieve every time.
Chairperson of the Board Frank Tumpale Mwenifumbo said the project is expected to reduce cases of waterborne diseases like cholera, as the district is one of the hotspots of the disease which claimed more than 1,700 people in 2022-2023.
Said Mwenifumbo: “This is what we are supposed to do. And we will continue to provide portable water to people through various projects we are implementing in most parts of the region.”
The 30 billion Kwacha Nkhata Bay Town Water Supply and Sanitation project targets to improve Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene services and build the capacity of various stakeholders in the Wash sector.
The project has been financially supported by the African Development Bank and OPEC Fund for International Development and the Government of Malawi.
