Buchi to visit malawi

Nigerian based reggae-gospel legend Buchi Atuonwu, popularly known as Buchi, is coming back in August this year to perform at the Believe Movement 2017 conference.
The movement conference, whose goal is to create a platform for the youth to display their talents and gifts in singing, is set to host the 60-year-old artist in Lilongwe.
One of the organizers for the event Jonathan Phwitiko said Buchi will arrive in the country on August 14 and will inspire the youth in the country on different topics that have been lined up for the vent.
“This year we are holding the same event but with a different approach. Last year’s event was more about teachings of this gospel.
“But this time around we are focusing on having more performances. We have invited several artists from within and outside the country,” said Phwitiko adding that they expect a huge turn up to surpass last year’s patronage which had 200 participants.
Buchi is expected to perform alongside a hip-hop artist from Zambia named Microphone7 and other local artists such as Suffix, Faith Mussa, Maestro, Sound the Trumpet just to mention a few.
Nadine Rukatsi, a Malawian gospel artist now based in Switzerland, founded Believe Movement in 2016 by sharing a vision she had about young people in the country, which became a dream come true months later, according to Phwitiko.
“Nadine shared the vision of giving young people the platform to show their talents.
“She shared this vision with us as fellow youths at Lilongwe Pentecostal Church members where she used to congregate before moving to Switzerland. Together we made it happen and she is coming back this year with another touch,” he said.
In a telephone interview from Switzerland, Rukatsi said the plan for a three-day conference is almost the same as last year’s but with different artists and some new guest speakers.
According to Rukatsi, this year’s theme is ‘Don’t give up on God, Don’t give up on yourself, Don’t give up on one other.’
She said despite the conference focusing on the youth, the show is open to people of all ages.
“I urge all people to come and be part of this. Buchi will perform live and more details about his shows will follow later. He will also be sharing a few words of wisdom towards this initiative and our goals in life,” said Rukatsi.
Buchi is well known for hit songs like It is well,
What a life, These days, Sound of life , What a mighty God , Mma Mma . He has been in the industry for 29 years with five audio and two video albums.
In his first visit to Malawi in 2007, Buchi performed at the then French Cultural Centre (Now Blantyre Cultural Centre) in Blantyre and Capital Hotel and Silver Stadium in Lilongwe.

Three people arrested in Blantyre

Malawi Police in Blantyre have arrested three suspects in connection to the theft of four rolls of Electricity Supply Commission of Malawi (ESCOM) cables, worth over K1 million.
According to Blantyre Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) Elizabeth Divala, the three Jester Saukira 40, Gift Austin 20, and James Mpaso 30, were arrested on Saturday following a tip which the police got from a security firm.
“We were tipped by Alpha Security Team who were on patrol and immediately after the tip, we followed the information and managed to arrest the suspects at Makata Township in Ndirande,” she said.
Divala said the police are still investigating the circumstances as to how the three managed to get the cables which were found in a Toyota Venture at the time of arrest.
“The three were using a Toyota Venture registration number BM212. Currently, investigations are underway to establish how the three got the cables as well as to determine the actual value of the cables which could be a million plus,” she said.
The police also found a hacksaw in the vehicle in which the cables were found.
The three will soon appear in court to answer charges of theft.
Jester saukira and Gift Austin hail from Makata Village in Blantyre District while James Mpaso is from Dzungu Village in Traditional Authority (T/A) Bvumbwe in Thyolo District.
In January this year, the police also arrested three ESCOME employees for stealing a three phase transformer worth K6 million.

Good well Gondwe says

Finance, Economic Planning and Development Minister Goodall Gondwe on Monday assured opposition legislatures that there has been a solution to pay teachers arrears and leave grants at a right time.
Gondwe said this in Parliament after opposition legislatures wondered why his ministry is failing to end the teachers strike by paying them their arrears and leave grants, while calling him an incompetent minister.
Salima North-West MP Jessie Kabwila (Malawi Congress Party-MCP) challenged Minister of Education Emmanuel Fabiano to resign if he did not have solutions to the teachers strike which has affected the learing in public primary and secondary school for a week now.
“We havebeen here for weeks yet students at Chancellor College are not in class and oupils are on the streets because teachers are not in class,” said Kabwila who is also an education activist.
Kabwila accused Fabiano of sleeping on the job and sitting on the problems.
However, Gondwe rescued Fabiano when he apologized to the legislatures for the delay and assured then that his ministry has managed to fast track the whole process.
“I am indeed incompetent this year but next year you will call me competent minister because teachers will be enjoying with this process,” said Gondwe.
Adding that “issues of teacher s strike due to arrears and leave grants occurs yearly in the country. This is because of the system that government was using to pay teachers, thus why we have decided to change it. And believe me or not, this problem will be over.”
The system involved transferring of funds from the central government to all district councils.
According to Gondwe, the new system will empower the District Commissioners to decide when and how to pay the teachers in good time.
Gondwe informed the House that Treasury has processed teachers’ leave grants for 21 districts out of 28 and that funds were supposed to be remitted by close of business son Monday.
Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) President Willie Malimba has vowed not go to classes till government address their grivenances..
Meanwhile, learners in public primay schools in Blantyre City, Ntcheu and Balaka took to the streets on Monday to protest against the teachers’ continued strike.
The learners blocked roads, including the M1 Road stretch between Chingeni in Balaka and Bawi in Ntcheu and some wew demanding money from passers-by and motorists apparently to pay the teachers’ leave grants and other outstanding grievances.

High court on Monday heard a lot of economic

The High Court in Lilongwe on Monday heard a lot of economic jargons when the State prosecutors paraded its third witness in the case former Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo and other are accused of plunder of public resources at Capital Hill.
Standing in the witness box in the High Court, Daniel Jenya a chief economist working in the Ministry of Finance, who first testified as defence witness number six witness for convict MacDonald Kumwembe in the case of conspiracy to murder Mphwiyo , reappeared testifying exactly what he earlier told the court in the shooting case with few new developments and contradictions.
Jenya’s testimony was more of technical and theory as he took the court in class of economics telling them what inflation is, meeting International Monetary Fund targets, Domestic borrowing, interests rate of both domestic borrowing and international borrowing and its effects to the country
He told the court that in 2013 his ministry started to notice bad trends in the accounting system as government was borrowing excessively.
Jenya said in that financial year alone government had domestic debts grossing K900 billion and K1.6 trillion from foreign debtors by mid0year and its interest rate at K175 billion in total with K171 billion for domestic debts and K4 billion for foreign debts.
He said instead of reducing the stock of domestic borrowing as agreed to meet the target of IMF, by 2nd August, 2013 it increased from K 205 billion to K213 billion with an increase of K8 billion.
“The cost of domestic debt was way higher than the foreign debt,” he told the court, saying the situation was not “an ideal trend” for domestic borrowing.
Jenya and it was at this point that he began to engage with his supervisor Mrs Ketty Msukwa and Director Mr Juwao.
According to Jenya there was an increase again in the second week of August as of 8th August 2014 above the target of K46 billion targets they expected to borrow in three months as one of the condition they were given by the IMF.
When asked by state top prosecutor Mary Machala if he spoke to Mphwiyo about the rise of figures, Jenya told the Court that he never spoke to him and he wasn’t sure as well if his director Mr Juwao or his supervisor who is now deceased Mrs Ketty Msukwa talked to him.
This contradicts what he earlier told the court when he appeared as defence witness number six for Kumwembe as then he told the Court that he reported the matter to his boss who asked Mphwiyo to explain why the expenditures were high for the month of July and August.
Director of Public Prosecution Mary Kachale asked the witness to explain what an ideal trend for domestic borrowing.
He said it is “borrowing as low as possible or not borrowing at all.”
Mphwiyo started refuting the figures which Jenya was giving, claiming that if the figures were indeed high the country should have seen rising inflation.
He said he instructed Jenya to conduct an analysis to find the reasons why inflation was not rising if expenditures were high.
Jenya also disclosed that other notable activities between July and August 2013 was the fact that arrears which were supposed to be spent in the second quarter of the 2013/2014 financial year of K8 billion were all spent in the first quarter of the financial year with over K7 billion spent between July and September 2013 figures which are different from what he told the Court.
Jenya will continue giving testimony on Tuesday.
The state is expected to parade over 30 witnesses to the case which Mphwiyo and 17 others are charged with conspiracy to defraud government, holding property belonging to government, theft, money laundering, fraudulently issuing 24 cheques worth K2.4 billion, abuse of public office and usage of proceeds of crime.
Mphwiyo’s shooting outside the gate of his Area 43 residence in Lilongwe on the night of September 13 2013 led to revelations of the plunder of public resources at Capital Hill widely known as Cashgate.
Other suspects include civil servants such as former Accountant General David Kandoje, Auzius Kazombo Mwale, Clemence Mmadzi and Roosevelt Ndovi. The list of suspects also includes contractors.
Others are George Banda, Michael Mphatso, Samuel Mzanda and Maxwell Namata who are facing charges of fraud, negligence by public office, money laundering, theft by public servant, theft by servant and conspiracy to defraud government funds amounting to K2 446 817 450.49.
Former President Joyce Banda ordered a forensic audit undertaken by British firm, RSM ( formerly Baker Tilly), covering the period between April and September 2013. The audit established that about K24 billion was siphoned from the public coffers through dubious payments, inflated invoices and goods or services never rendered.
In May 2015, a financial analysis report by audit and business advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) also established that about K577 billion in public funds could not be reconciled between 2009 and December 31 2014.
However, the K577 billion figure was later revised downwards to K236 billion by another British forensic auditor.

Police officer died in Blantyre

Apolice officer from Blantyre Police Station, have died after a truck carrying bags of cement crashed several vehicles along the Magalasi road in Chirimba Industrial Site in Blantyre on Sunday.
The Chirimba-Magalasi accident occured barely a day after a speedig bus, belonging to Future Tours, killed 10 passengers on spot and injured dozen others at Rivirivi, Manjawira in Ntcheu Saturday afternoon.
According to Blantyre Police spokesperson Elizabeth Divala, the truck’s brakes malfunctioned in the process sweeping seven vehicles including four minibuses.
“The driver of the truck identified as Stephano Mikeli, 30, of Kapesi Village, Traditional Authority [T/A] Kachere in dedza, who works at Almeda Transport in Lilongwe, hit other vehicles due to over speeding.
“Four people in three different vehicles died on the spot, including our fellow officer Smartson Mkandawire who was with his friends in a Toyota Carina registration NS2161,” she said.
The Police indicated that the death toll may rise since more victims are in critical conditions at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital where they have been rushed to.
Reports also indicate that people, who rushed to the scene, instead of rescuing the victims, scrambled for the bags of cement at the expense of the victims’ lives.
In Lilongwe, four people, including a minibus driver died on arrival at Mitundu Community Rural Hospital after the vehicles they were traveling in equally involved in a road accident at Chiseka Quarry along Mitundu road the district.
Acident involved Toyota Corolla saloon, registration number BN 5905 and Nissan Vanette minibus registration number SA 605.
The accident happened when the driver of the saloon, identified as Wongani Nyirenda, tried to overtake the minibus driven by Bizwell Ligomeka, and in the process they collided each other.
As a result, driver of the minibus lost control of the vehicle and it overturned twice to the far near side bush while the saloon swerved and stopped on the other side of the bush.
The minibus’ driver and 3 passengers died on arrival at Mitundu community rural hospital while other 9 passengers sustained injuries.
Meanwhile, President Arthur Peter Mutharika has ordered government to provide assistance towards the cost of funeral arrangements and medical bills of those receiving medical attention.
Government spokesperson, Nicholas Dausi, who is also the Minister of Information and Communications Technology, said in a statement that President Mutharika and the First Lady are “deeply saddened” by the death of 10 people in an accident at Liviridzi Bridge along the Balaka-Blantyre roa.
“The First Couple has also learnt with regret of another accident this morning, Sunday June 11 2017, at Chirimba in Blantyre in which a number of people have been affected.
“The President and the First lady join all Malawians in expressing their condolences to the bereaved families and also wishing those injured a quick recovery,” said Dausi.
The general public is advised to contact government officers for further details including Rodrick Mateauma, District Commissioner for Balaka. Phone Number: 0888 867 508 or 0999 760 069 and Smart Gwedemula, District Commissioner for Ntcheu on phone number 0999 869 494.
Other officials to be contacted are Victor Sandikonda, Deputy Director of Administration, Office of the President and Cabinet on 0884 865 048 and Fyawupi Mwafongo, Chief Relief and Rehabilitation Officer, Department of Disaster Management Affairs on 0991 005 681.

17Years old boy arrested in Nkhatabay

Malawi Police in Nkhatabay District are keeping custody 17-year old boy arrested for allegedly defiling a three-year-old girl for a ritual.
According to Nkhata Bay Police Station spokesman Ignatius Esau, the suspect reportedly claimed that his grandfather has bewitched him to defile the girl to boost fish catches in the Lake Malawi.
Police spokesman said the boy took advantage of the absence of the victim’s parents to sexually abuse her.
“He dragged her into a kitchen. The victim’s cry alerted neighbours who apprehended and brought him to police, “narrated Esau.
He said a medical examination proved that the girl had been defiled

Ticket are available on Tnm mpamba for flames match between Comoros on saturday

Football Association of Malawi (Fam) has also adopted the advance e-ticketin for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between Malawi and the Comoros on Saturday at Bingu National Stadium on Saturday using TNM Mpamba, the mobile service provider’s system of sending money buying of goods and services.
TNM, who are also the country’s sponsors of the flagship league, the Super League, are sending messages to customers encouraging them to dial *444# then select 3 then 5.
After that they can enter 0885979277 and next enter Flames. The options for tickets are Open: 1500, VIP: 5000, Box: 7500.
The fans then can show the SMS they would receive after the transaction at the gates where they shall receive a ticket.
Fam successfully used the e-ticketing through Airtel Money for the Airtel Top 8 Cup final between Mighty Be Forward Wanderers and Silver Strikers also at Bingu National Stadium (BNS) last week and reported that it worked wonders as MK19.1 million was sold before the final.
Fam also used FDH Bank which sold over MK34 million while over MK4.7 million was sold through Airtel Money.
The association also introduced tamper evident security holograms that helps the association to expose the match day tickets longer on the market without fear of counterfeits and that those who try to forge the tickets are being apprehended.

Averbal warning to noma

Wizards FC owner and Technical Director Peter Mponda has fired a verbal warning to Mighty Be Forward Wanderers ahead of the two sides TNM Super League clash on Sunday to take place at Mulanje Park.
Mponda said his side has had enough punishment from Wanderers in the past two seasons and that this time around, the Nomads should not expect an easy ride.
“We have taken enough punishment from them the past two seasons as we did not get any point but this time around, something has to come up,” said Mponda.
He further challenged that his side will also be looking forward to maintain their clean sheet of not conceding any goal at the Mulanje Park Stadium since the 2017 Super League season begun.
“We haven’t conceded at Mulanje Boma Park and we don’t see ourselves conceding any time soon,” said Mponda.
The match promises to be full of fireworks as the wounded Nomads will also be looking forward to regain their form in a bid to accomplish their dream of winning the league title this season after losing 10-9 [through penalties] against Silver Strikers in the inaugural Airtel Top 8 finals last Saturday.
Wanderers Team Manager Steve Madeira openly declared that their ‘vengeance will be on Premier Bet Wizard on Sunday at Mulanje Park Stadium’ after their painfull loss to The Central Bankers.
Wizard will be looking for a win and pray that Red Lions lose to Azam Tigers so that they go top of the 16 member log table.
They are on second position with 11 points from five games just like the leaders Red Lions who are having an advantage because they have a better goal difference.
In Mzuzu, it will be a northern region derby involving Moyale Barracks and Chitipa United at the Mzuzu Stadium.
Chitipa United are yet to register a win in the elite league on their debut season after playing five games without a win.
Their best result was a 0-0 draw against giants Nyasa Big Bullets.
On the other hand, Moyale will be looking forward to bounce back after droping three points last weekend during their central region.
They managed to beat Dwangwa United on Saturday 2-1 before going down 2-0 to fellow soldiers Mafco FC.
Below is the full fixture of Super League games to be played on Sunday 10th June as released by the Super League of Malawi (Sulom).
Nyasa Big Bullets v Mzuni @ Kalulu.
Wizards v Wanderers @ MJ Park.
Red Lions v Azam @ Balaka.
Master Security v Mafco @ Dedza.
Moyale v Chitipa @ Mzuzu.
Kamuzu Barracks v Silver @ Civo.