Category: News

The Lilongwe Wildlife Trust Centre has expressed its commitment in promoting environmental conservation among the citizens through its Environmental Education Centre.

LWT Director of programs, Dorothy Tembo made the commitment on Monday 23rd December 2024, during a learning event at the Centre.

Tembo mentioned that the event aimed at bringing together stakeholders and learners to share experiences and knowledge on environmental education.

“We are targeting the students because they are the future leaders. Our core program as LWT, we want to see a future in which wildlife and wildlife spaces can thrive, but also to ensure that as people we are inspired to value and promote nature in the country,” said Tembo.

Tembo added that “children are the ones that are future leaders, they can change tomorrow. That’s why we are targeting the children because as you know, even the Bible, us as believers we believe what is in the Bible and it says you teach the children while they are young.”

The event was attended by schools from Lilongwe Urban and Lilongwe Rural West Education Division including Likuni Boys Primary, Kauma Primary, Chinsapo Secondary and Muloza LEA Primary schools.

Grace Kafulatira, Director for Education and Sports in Lilongwe Urban, praised the Centre’s efforts in promoting environmental conservation among school going children.

“We [Malawians] have not done very well on environmental conservation, but now, because we are targeting children, it’s very good because they will grow up knowing that we have to preserve environment, we have to look after the environment and this is a very good milestone for the environmental education Centre,” said Kafulatira.

She also commended various stakeholders including the Lilongwe City Council which is supporting various schools with a Go Green campaign, where schools are being supported with trees to plant.

“As Lilongwe urban we have gone on a campaign Go Green campaign whereby we are encouraging schools to plant fruits, other trees which can give them shade and also which can instill discipline in them,” said Kafulatira.

In her remarks, chief parks and wildlife officer, Catherine Chunga mentioned that the Centre’s initiative is crucial in promoting environmental and sustainability in Malawi.

“This Centre is very important because what will happen is that a number of groups, schools and communities will be coming here to learn a number of things on the environment, how they can take care of the environment but also how they can take part in restoration of the environment,” she said.

Chunga added by urging the LWT to make the place well known to the public.

The Lilongwe Wildlife Trust (LWT) has transitioned its Environmental Education (EE) program to its fully operational Lilongwe Wildlife Centre (LWC), offering unique hands-on learning experiences for youth and the public within the city since 2024.

By Lester Mhone

Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lilongwe, Vincent Frederick Mwakhwawa says the archdiocese has made significant progress in fulfilling its plans for 2024, particularly in areas such as pastoral development, social development, and administration.

Bishop Mwakhwawa made the remarks today during a planning workshop held at Msamba Catholic Centre.

“In the first place, we have to thank God that most of the commissions and departments have fulfilled their plans which they made last year, i should say some of the plans in order to achieve the mission of the archdiocese of Lilongwe in building the kingdom of God and helping people to experience the salvation of God especially here on earth, but also as we go to heaven,” said Bishop Mwakhwawa

Despite the progress made in 2024, Bishop Mwakhwawa emphasized the need for integration and collaboration among different diocesan commissions and departments in 2025.

“We are also encouraging integration, that we work together, so each commission shouldn’t do things alone, they need others. Social development needs pastoral and communication needs pastoral, so we want this togetherness. Now we are talking about being together, communion, participation of everyone, so that’s the speed we want to move together,” explained Bishop Mwakhwawa

The auxiliary Bishop stressed the importance of planning together and working hard towards achieving the goals of the archdiocese.

“We want to plan and see what we can do. So the first thing is planning, and this planning, then we are going to sit down to see how best we surmount some challenges like financial resources, of course obviously we have to plan, to work hard, to look for more partners, because as a church, we are implementing, we are bringing interventions, we are helping people to experience love of God, experience salvation through various activities,” added the Bishop.

Jacob Mapemba, a member of the 2025 planning task force instituted by Archbishop George Desmond Tambala, mentioned some of the key priority areas which the departments and commissions have to consider in 2025.

“There are so many issues that need action for example in the department of pastoral issues to do with youth ministry, the family apostolate, issues to do with liturgical celebrations, issues to do with life in the deanery because the archbishop really wants most of the activities happening at the deanery level, so these are the key and of course the synod”

“So, in-terms of social development, i think issues of resource mobilization that’s one of their mandates because the archdiocese needs money to adequately achieve its objectives, they need to attract more donors and having more projects because social development is there to address social needs of the people, of the poor and vulnerable people,”

“In-terms of administration and management, I think the key areas that came up were issues of finance control, having proper financial management systems, financial controls and financial sustainability. What can we do to make sure that the archdiocese is sustainable? And the third issue was the issue of human resources, ensuring the archdiocese has enough human resources, has adequate people, people with the knowledge and skills to help the archdiocese achieve its objectives,”

In his remarks, Director of Social Services and Industries in the Lilongwe Archdiocese, Brian Odiambo, acknowledged a slight improvement on how the department has performed in the year 2024 compared to 2023.

“In 2023 the performance was much better. We saw a lot of cohesion in all the commissions, we also saw that there is a lot of incorporation of pastoral aspect the activities of the commissions, we also saw that catholic identity also much stronger last year,” explained Odiambo.

Odiambo added by disclosing plans of working much on resource mobilization in 2025 so that all interventions to be carried in 2025, are to be fulfilled.

“The most important of those interventions is ensuring that our human resource is robust, making sure that the workforce is well formed and established, once the workforce is well formed and established implementing activities will be much smoother so that will be our priority area that our people are well trained, the positions that are yet to be filled are filled up and that people have priority areas taken care of,”

The planning workshop brought together various representatives from various departments and commissions with the aim of reviewing the progress on the plans of the year 2024 and identity areas for improvement in the year 2025.

 

By Lester Mhone

Deputy Director Responsible for Malawi Rural Electrification Project (MAREP) in the ministry of energy, Francisco Chingoli, says MAREP phase 9 is making good strides as of today over 85% of the project is complete.

Chingoli expressed optimism that with the current progress, the government’s target of achieving 50% electrification by 2030 will be possible.

“The government has put in place so many measures to make sure that we should reach the target of 50% by 2030, you can even see that we have so many mini-grids where they’re feeding to the main-grid but we are also having some off-grid that have been put in place to make sure Malawi is having the access of 50% by 2030,” explained Chingoli.

 

Chingoli mentioned that the ministry is committed to ensure that there’s transparency and accountability in the project, stating the ministry’s various measures which have been implemented to ensure that procurement processes are fair and efficient.

He proposed to the government to reduce the number of approving layers during procurement processes at least two, citing that the current procedure provides a room for corruption.

“We are proposing to the government that the approving layers are just too many, maybe if they can review the act so that the approving layers must be reduced maybe to two, so that maybe once the procurement entity has done the evaluation process maybe the PPDA must be the last institution to see, if not so, then it’s good to bring all the concerned parties at one place and do the evaluation and get done by the end of the day not taking one procurement process up to six months because of too many layers,” added Chingoli.

 

Welani Chilenga, chairperson for parliamentary committee on climate change and natural resources with CISONEC National Coordinator, Julius Ng’oma

During a panel discussion on promoting equitable access to clean energy on Wednesday in Lilongwe, Civil Society Network on Climate Change (CISONEC) national coordinator, Julius Ng’oma, indicated that despite the program making strides, there are some areas that need to be improved.

Ng’oma noted that the program has been faced with challenges such as slowness to reach its targets, issues such as corruption and slow disbursement of funds as well as the identification and prioritization of suitable sites for electrification.

“We’ve already seen how things are going in terms of, for example, the slowness of the program. I think for the last couple of years, where few people, I mean the local communities or areas in the country have been connected,” Ng’oma explained.

 

Despite these challenges, Ng’oma appreciated that the current phase of MAREP has shown some improvement in terms of accelerating the electrification process, adding that more needs to be done to ensure that the program delivers on its promise of providing reliable and affordable electricity to all Malawians.

“Let’s just acknowledge the fact that maybe MAREP, the current phase of MAREP, has actually tried to expedite the process, but then we still have a lot of people that are not having access to electricity through the program,” added Ng’oma.

 

CISONEC believes MAREP can play a crucial role in promoting the use of clean energy if a lot of people have access to electricity.

 

By Lester Mhone

The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has expressed its concern over the Commission of Inquiry’s failure to release the report on the June 10, 2024 plane crash that killed Vice-President Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima, former First Lady Patricia Shanil Dzimbiri, and seven others.

This follows the elapsing of three days after the release of the report despite the Commission’s Chairperson, Justice Jabber Alide, confirming to the general public that President Lazarus Chakwera directed the Commission to release the report to Malawians before submitting it to him.

In a statement signed by CDEDI executive director Sylvester Namiwa, the organization has challenged Justice Alide to immediately release the report or admit that he has defied the President’s directive.

The organization has questioned the Commission’s contradictory statements and lack of transparency.

“What is disturbing is the fact that the Commission’s Chairperson Justice Jabber Alide actually went public, in a statement, indicating that President Lazarus Chakwera had directed the Commission to give the report to Malawians first, before presenting it to him.

“So, Malawians were surprised that after reading out the report on Saturday, 14th December 2024, they heard, through the media, that it would take the prerogative of the President to make the report public. The same report the President had instructed to be made public before being submitted to him. Something is really not adding up,” Reads part of the statement.

CDEDI added by warning authorities that any attempt to hold the report will prompt them to take action against the executive arrogance.

“The nation and the bereaved families are yearning to read the report line-by-line and page-by-page in quest for a closure to the many questions they have over that tragic accident,” adds the statement.

The Commission is said to have spent K200 million of taxpayers’ money on the inquiry, and CDEDI is demanding that the report be released in the interest of transparency and accountability.

 

By Lester Mhone

The Catholic Development Commission (CADECOM) in the Archdiocese of Lilongwe has today distributed cash and flour to people affected by hunger in Nkhotakota district.

Speaking during the distribution exercise at Traditional Authority Mwanzama in the district, CADECOM Acting Secretary in the Lilongwe Archdiocese, Madalitso Chilalire, said the exercise is part of responding to the call by the President of Malawi to assist people who have been affected by hunger in the country.

According to Chilalire, CADECOM decided to reach out to the people of Nkhotakota district, as it is one of the districts that has been affected by hunger due to prolonged dry spells and flooding, which have impacted many people in the area.

“Last year, we did not receive much rainfall due to El Niño, which resulted in low harvests across the country. Consequently, the President of Malawi appealed to the donor community for assistance, and the Episcopal Conference of Malawi, through CADECOM, appealed to Caritas International for support, which led to the fundraising of the money we are distributing today,” Chilalire explained.

CADECOM has also urged the beneficiaries to use the support they have received to address the problems their families are facing.

Parish Priest for Benga Parish, Father Steve Ochieng, who represented Archbishop George Tambala of the Lilongwe Archdiocese, said that as the Catholic Church, they will continue to help people facing numerous challenges in their daily lives.

“This is our commitment as the archdiocese. We will not leave them alone because we see their suffering, so we need to address those sufferings that people are experiencing in their areas,” Father Ochieng emphasized.

In his remarks, Traditional Authority Mwanzama applauded CADECOM for their gesture, saying that it has come at the right time, as many people in his area have been affected by hunger.

The beneficiaries from area of Lipenga ,Suluwi and Mwachipapa have received 100,000 Kwacha per household, and others have received a bag of porridge flour for those who have babies

CADECOM is conducting food crisis project with funding support from Caritas International Organization.

By Titus Jata Phiri.

The Global Health Corps hopes the introduction of mental health learners’ clubs in various schools can play a crucial role in addressing mental health problems in the country.

 

The organization’s Country Director Symon Simkoko, says as the country is facing a rise in mental health problems, it is critical for authorities to bang heads and come up with strategies likely to improve the situation.

 

“It is so clear that the numbers of mental health cases are rising, particularly the suicide cases. Yesterday, we had a meeting with the ministry of health, and they indicated that there’s a rise mainly amongst the young people”

 

“So, if there is a rise in cases of suicide, which is quite a big sign of mental health, it means we need to take a step and start targeting schools”

 

Simkoko is hopeful that taking mental health concepts to schools will provide a platform for learners to have interactive sessions where they can share personal challenges, some of the coping resilience and improve their performance in school.

 

During the training of the trainer’s workshop on Saturday at Bwaila Secondary School in Lilongwe, Esther Tauzi, a teacher at Lilongwe Girls Secondary School and also a member of psychosocial group, mentioned some issues that pose to be a trap for students to find themselves in mental health challenges.

 

“Like our school, it’s a boarding school. One of the major challenges sometimes is their needs in terms of groceries, they don’t have pocket money, sometimes other students are coming from one parent family and most of the time they say maybe I’m thinking of what is happening at home, you hear issues of divorces at home, they affect the students”

 

“Even performance itself, they also take it to mental health because when they think maybe like Lilongwe Girls Secondary School, it’s a national secondary school, they expect to have high grades and when they see lower grade, it affects that particular student”

 

In her remarks, Faridah Zalimba, cited that students sometimes fail to share their personal challenges with others due to trust issues.

 

Zalimba hopes that having such trainings can help to address mental health problems among students in the country.

 

“It’s really helpful because through these sessions, people attend or engage with others, chilling, that helps us to clear our minds a lot. Some have, like, some exercises and some other stuff like that” she explained.

 

Representatives from 11 selected secondary schools from Lilongwe central west education division, have been trained to train others on mental health through the clubs that will be formed in their schools