Malawians will continue to triumph because they are the ones who hold real power, says MCP president Lazarous Chakwera in his speech at Kamuzu Insitute for Sport.
"Today has shown that change has come to Malawi, if you don't want to be party to this, you'll be left out.
"We'll march together. We're agreeing that we have one vision. We want all Malawians to know about this alliance," he said.
He urged Malawians who are tired of poverty, whose future looks bleak to know that the alliance is for them.
"If you're tired of Mutharika, the alliance is yours.
"We want change, we want elections that all Malawians can accept, he said.
MCP happy to go into an alliance with UTM-Chakwera
MCP party president Lazarus Chakwera is the last one to speak the signing ceremony of the pact between UTM party and MCP.
Chakwera says his desire is to see a united Malawi.
Malawians want a nation healed inside out, he says.
Chakwera pays tribute to Mama C. Tamanda Kadzamira, former first lady Callista Mutharika for gracing the ceremony.
"This year whether one wants is or not is a year of victory for all Malawians," he adds.
"MEC and Mutharika tried to fight Malawians, but Malawians still triumphed. They tried to stop the bills, but Parliament passed them. They're still fighting Malawians.
"We want them to know Malawians will triumph again. This is a month in which Malawians will show how united they are.Some people were trying to divide the party but they have failed, he said.
Chakwera doffed off to Sidik Mia, the party's vice president for stepping aside.
MCP happy to go into an alliance with UTM to fulfill the wishes of Malawians, he adds.
UTM Party president Saulos Chilima says the alliance is not meant to shield anyone but to forge a future for Malawians.
He added that there should be no spectators, everyone should participate in getting the alliance to Kamuzu Palace.
"When its time to announce the leader of the alliance, have faith that what we're doing has been guided by you and most importantly by you Malawians," he said.
Uyu amadziwa chipsyera cha kumsana ndi uyo unasamba naye ku mtsinje.
UTM Party president Saulos Chilima says this the alliance is continuation of the change that began on February 3rd, "so that we should easily win the elections."
Chilima says the two parties are at Kamuzu Institute for Sports to show their intent to win.
Every political party represented has made a sacrifice which is not in vain, he says.
"These political parties MCP, UTM Party are not coming to an end, they will live.
"God created man to be happy, no man has a right to bring misery on Malawians.
"We've signed an agreement for the happiness of Malawians, but let's bury our differences. When it's time for registration, lets all go register and them," he said.
Authorities of Luchenza Secondary School in Thyolo have temporarily closed the school due to what they described as bad behaviour among learners at the institution.
Malawi News Agency (MANA) understands that for the past few weeks, learners at the school have demonstrated unbecoming behaviour ranging from teasing and bullying to destruction of school property and stealing fresh maize from nearby gardens that belong to the school and staff.
Head teacher for the school, Helbert Nsasa declined to comment on the matter, saying only his division could do so.
However, an inside source said things started heating up a week ago when Form 1 female student complained about the constant teasing and bullying at their hostels.
The source explained that the situation worsened when some senior female students began to demand K100 from each Form one girl. If they failed to do, they were told to kneel down for over three hours.
"We managed to trace all those girls who were involved in such malpractices. We later interrogated them before asking all of them to invite their parents so that the school can take necessary action.
“After discussion with the parents, we agreed that there was need to suspend them, however, we were surprised to see them lingering around the campus,” said the source.
"All these girls are habitual offenders. The next thing we saw was girls and boys protesting the suspension of their friends where they started destroying electricity equipment that brings power in classes and lockers.
“They also chanted and sang songs before damaging a windscreen for a vehicle that was parked at the school matron’s house," he added, saying all this happened during the night.
The school brought in the police to restore peace but the learners locked the gate, stopping the law enforcers from accessing the school campus.
However, the source said the following evening the learners started stealing fresh maize from the school gardens and those belonging to teachers. Luckily, the teachers apprehended some of them.
But when the said learners were called the following morning for interrogation, it was discovered that there was a long list of offenders.
"The school was calling everyone whose name was mentioned which angered the students such that on Wednesday afternoon, all the boys refused to take lunch and that there was tension at the school.
“This prompted management to decide to close down the school for fear of repetition of the Wednesday’s situation,” the source said.
Meanwhile, management is scrutinising the names to come up with a list of those who should or should not be recalled.
The source said some will be given a lengthy suspension while others are likely to be expelled.
32 admitted to Mangochi Hospital for suspected food poisoning
Thirty two people have been admitted to Mangochi District Hospital for suspected food poisoning.
Mangochi Police Station public relations officer Rodrick Maida confirmed the development to Kulinji.com.
According to Maida the 32 are believed to have taken contaminated food at a funeral on Saturday at Makunganya village in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Chimwala in the lake shore district.
“It is said that after funeral ceremony of Witness Makiyoni there was supper that was prepared for the 32 victims," Maida said.
He continued to say after taking nsima the victims started opening bowels and vomiting.
Maida added that the situation worsened on Sunday when they were rushed to Mangochi District Hospital for treatment.
Maida then said the matter is being investigated to find the source of the incident.
South Volley League Reborn; To capitalise on decentralisation
Southern Region Volleyball League (SRVL) which has thirteen administrative districts of Malawi and the largest League among the three in Malawi in terms of geographical size is on decentralisation drive. Decentralisation is the process of shifting control/ authority from one main group to several smaller ones. It gives more power/ authority to the individual lower level members/ branches, rather than concentrating it at the central level.
According to SRVL Chairperson, Kelvin Zulu, this is part of their five years strategic plan.
“The current leadership championing and challenging the development of the sport, currently working on its five years strategic plan. The leadership has identified key priority areas that are absolutely essential in bringing back systems and structures in place for Volleyball to thrive back into life in the region”, Zulu revealed.
One of the areas the SRVL Committee is focusing on is grassroots development.
Grassroots volleyball in Malawi is currently on its deathbed. This can be witnessed from the absence of any such activities and even the most anticipated Presidential Initiative on Sports which has seen the government money being just a white elephant in all the three Leagues ‘bank accounts’, that is on assumption that the Leagues are still keeping the money.
“Grassroots development is probably the only best way for the region to regain the sports relevance and sustainability. Here we are first and foremost targeting schools as it is where kids and youths congregate (primary, Secondary & colleges) and any other groupings interested to challenge. Not all teams/clubs at these levels would manage to participate at regional level, hence decentralization. Considering the huge numbers of schools in the region with their huge population, the Executive (SRVL) has decided to divide the region into smaller manageable groups in order to allow growing teams/clubs probabilities of increased participation within and among themselves. This system will allow most teams to compete and improve faster”, added Zulu.
The League has been subdivided in the following six zone: Lower Shire (Chikhwawa and Nsanje Districts); Shire Highlands/ South East (Mulanje, Thyolo and Phalombe); Eastern region (Mangochi, Machinga and Balaka); Mwanza-Neno; Central Zone (Blantyre and Chiradzulu) and Zomba Zone.
Each Zone is expected to run its own League at all levels (Primary, Secondary, Tertiary & club levels) with their own committees working hand in hand with the main SRVL Executive Committee.
So far Lower Shire Zone has already started organizing itself with an elected committee in place. It is reported that SRVL has reached to at least five primary schools assisting them with nets and volleyballs for training.
The SRVL Committee led by Vice Chairperson Ambilike Mwaungulu is on Saturday, 15th February, 2020 scheduled to visit South East Zone with the main aim of establishing Committees. Among the invited members to the meeting expected to take place at Mulanje Stadium are the Districts Sports Development Officers (DSDO) of all the three districts.
Phalombe DSDO Edward Malumero believes that this arrangement will revive and incite volleyball development.
“It's a good development because this will revive and spur the volleyball sport in these three districts as they will be able to organized their own competition's at zone level before they proceed to the regional competitions. Secondly this will be a good platform for the committee to lobby for support as Mulanje and Thyolo they have estates which may have keen interest of supporting the sport”, Malumero said.
On the other hand, the development has excited Lower Shire Zone Chairperson Hudson Kafunda. He believes that this decentralization move by SRVL Committee will help in capacity building specifically and volleyball development in general.
“Many people will learn to manage volleyball as now they are empowered to run volleyball affairs within their reach/ communities. The experience and interaction with the SRVL Committee while still at lower level will help capacity building as zonal committee members will improve and retain the skills and knowledge needed to do the administration work competently’, he said.
Kafunda went further to challenge other Zones to be active and not just run for positions.
“I appreciate the SRVL Committee for creating the zones and this will promote and develop volleyball. Lower Shire has started to develop and I urge other zones to be active as we are doing here”, Kafunda challenged.
Zulu acknowledged the financial and some extent equipment challenge that may have negative effects.
“However, the challenge remains to do with sponsorship which we are currently working on. Remember we are starting from the scratch”, Zulu cried.
Each Zone is assigned to two SRVL Committee members to facilitate the establishment of their Committees. They had planned to finish by January, 2020 establishing the Zonal Committee but that has delayed.
Clubs and affiliates of the Southern Region Volleyball League have finally elected an executive to run its affairs.
During the elections on Sunday, chairperson of Thunders Volleyball club Kelvin Zulu who was among those agitating for change at the helm of SRVL was overwhelmingly elected chairperson with 24 votes. SRVL's longtime general secretary who had been hoping to ascend to the top position got six votes as did Owen Lita.
Kamuzu Stadium manager and volleyball coach Ambilike Mwaungulu was elected vice chairperson unopposed while Charles Msusa, Thunders team manager is the new GS having gotten 20 votes against Wezzie Mwafulirwa's, 16 his deputy is Henry Mangani.
The delegates who voted for and are expecting change
Blessing Mtuwa Nkhata is the new treasurer. She saw off the challenge of Dokiso Mukhalipe with 22 votes against his 14 while Mack Chirambo, Twambilire Chalemba, Faith Mwafulirwa Scknar Gwaza and Ijoumar Mwaluka are the committee members.
In his acceptance speech, Zulu urged all teams and volleyball stakeholders to work as a team to resuscitate what he called the lost glory of volleyball in Malawi's Southern region.
In an interview just after the elections, Msusa said: "Our committee is aiming at reviving the sport in the region. We wish to develop the governance structure for the League. We need to revive participation of the teams from all districts. We will also focus on developmental volleyball thus all ages in the strata."
Volleyball Association of Malawi GS Jairos Nkhoma has since told the committee that their honeymoon was over before it had even started and that it was time to run with their vision.
South Volley League Reborn; To capitalise on decentralisation
Southern Region Volleyball League (SRVL) which has thirteen administrative districts of Malawi and the largest League among the three in Malawi in terms of geographical size is on decentralisation drive. Decentralisation is the process of shifting control/ authority from one main group to several smaller ones. It gives more power/ authority to the individual lower level members/ branches, rather than concentrating it at the central level.
According to SRVL Chairperson, Kelvin Zulu, this is part of their five years strategic plan.
“The current leadership championing and challenging the development of the sport, currently working on its five years strategic plan. The leadership has identified key priority areas that are absolutely essential in bringing back systems and structures in place for Volleyball to thrive back into life in the region”, Zulu revealed.
One of the areas the SRVL Committee is focusing on is grassroots development.
Grassroots volleyball in Malawi is currently on its deathbed. This can be witnessed from the absence of any such activities and even the most anticipated Presidential Initiative on Sports which has seen the government money being just a white elephant in all the three Leagues ‘bank accounts’, that is on assumption that the Leagues are still keeping the money.
“Grassroots development is probably the only best way for the region to regain the sports relevance and sustainability. Here we are first and foremost targeting schools as it is where kids and youths congregate (primary, Secondary & colleges) and any other groupings interested to challenge. Not all teams/clubs at these levels would manage to participate at regional level, hence decentralization. Considering the huge numbers of schools in the region with their huge population, the Executive (SRVL) has decided to divide the region into smaller manageable groups in order to allow growing teams/clubs probabilities of increased participation within and among themselves. This system will allow most teams to compete and improve faster”, added Zulu.
The League has been subdivided in the following six zone: Lower Shire (Chikhwawa and Nsanje Districts); Shire Highlands/ South East (Mulanje, Thyolo and Phalombe); Eastern region (Mangochi, Machinga and Balaka); Mwanza-Neno; Central Zone (Blantyre and Chiradzulu) and Zomba Zone.
Each Zone is expected to run its own League at all levels (Primary, Secondary, Tertiary & club levels) with their own committees working hand in hand with the main SRVL Executive Committee.
So far Lower Shire Zone has already started organizing itself with an elected committee in place. It is reported that SRVL has reached to at least five primary schools assisting them with nets and volleyballs for training.
The SRVL Committee led by Vice Chairperson Ambilike Mwaungulu is on Saturday, 15th February, 2020 scheduled to visit South East Zone with the main aim of establishing Committees. Among the invited members to the meeting expected to take place at Mulanje Stadium are the Districts Sports Development Officers (DSDO) of all the three districts.
Phalombe DSDO Edward Malumero believes that this arrangement will revive and incite volleyball development.
“It's a good development because this will revive and spur the volleyball sport in these three districts as they will be able to organized their own competition's at zone level before they proceed to the regional competitions. Secondly this will be a good platform for the committee to lobby for support as Mulanje and Thyolo they have estates which may have keen interest of supporting the sport”, Malumero said.
On the other hand, the development has excited Lower Shire Zone Chairperson Hudson Kafunda. He believes that this decentralization move by SRVL Committee will help in capacity building specifically and volleyball development in general.
“Many people will learn to manage volleyball as now they are empowered to run volleyball affairs within their reach/ communities. The experience and interaction with the SRVL Committee while still at lower level will help capacity building as zonal committee members will improve and retain the skills and knowledge needed to do the administration work competently’, he said.
Kafunda went further to challenge other Zones to be active and not just run for positions.
“I appreciate the SRVL Committee for creating the zones and this will promote and develop volleyball. Lower Shire has started to develop and I urge other zones to be active as we are doing here”, Kafunda challenged.
Zulu acknowledged the financial and some extent equipment challenge that may have negative effects.
“However, the challenge remains to do with sponsorship which we are currently working on. Remember we are starting from the scratch”, Zulu cried.
Each Zone is assigned to two SRVL Committee members to facilitate the establishment of their Committees. They had planned to finish by January, 2020 establishing the Zonal Committee but that has delayed.
Clubs and affiliates of the Southern Region Volleyball League have finally elected an executive to run its affairs.
During the elections on Sunday, chairperson of Thunders Volleyball club Kelvin Zulu who was among those agitating for change at the helm of SRVL was overwhelmingly elected chairperson with 24 votes. SRVL's longtime general secretary who had been hoping to ascend to the top position got six votes as did Owen Lita.
Kamuzu Stadium manager and volleyball coach Ambilike Mwaungulu was elected vice chairperson unopposed while Charles Msusa, Thunders team manager is the new GS having gotten 20 votes against Wezzie Mwafulirwa's, 16 his deputy is Henry Mangani.
The delegates who voted for and are expecting change
Blessing Mtuwa Nkhata is the new treasurer. She saw off the challenge of Dokiso Mukhalipe with 22 votes against his 14 while Mack Chirambo, Twambilire Chalemba, Faith Mwafulirwa Scknar Gwaza and Ijoumar Mwaluka are the committee members.
In his acceptance speech, Zulu urged all teams and volleyball stakeholders to work as a team to resuscitate what he called the lost glory of volleyball in Malawi's Southern region.
In an interview just after the elections, Msusa said: "Our committee is aiming at reviving the sport in the region. We wish to develop the governance structure for the League. We need to revive participation of the teams from all districts. We will also focus on developmental volleyball thus all ages in the strata."
Volleyball Association of Malawi GS Jairos Nkhoma has since told the committee that their honeymoon was over before it had even started and that it was time to run with their vision.
People of Mangochi are slowly tickling to Mpondasi where a march to demand the resignation of Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Commissioners is scheduled to take place.
The protest has been organised by Malawi Human Rights Defenders Coalition.
Demonstrations about to get underway in Mangochi
HRDC is demanding the resignation of the Commissioner after a court ruled that MEC failed to manage the May 21 presidential election and consequently nullified the results
Minister of Health Jappie Mhango has assured Malawians that government is working to ensure that the virus is not imported into Malawi.
Mhango said his Ministry is implementing activities in preparation for corona virus outbreak, which including screening of people travelling into the country, developed preparedness plan and disseminating information about how to virus.
"As much as possible avoid travelling to China until outbreak is put under control...we are screening all travellers arriving from Malawi and following them up for 14 days," he said.
A couple of weeks ago, the WHO declared the virus a public health emergency but fell short of declaring a travel ban to the affected nations mostly China.
No case of the virus has been detected in Africa. The continent only has two laboratories one in South Africa and another in Senegal to test for the virus
The Public Appointments Committee (PAC) of Parliament is meeting Malawi Electoral Commission MEC Commissioner as directed by the Constitutional Court in its ruling that nullified the May 21, presidential election results.
First to present her testimony is Commissioner Bishop Mary Nkosi. Bishop Nkosi has told PAC that the Commission was equally shocked by the alterations from presiding officers.
She has also said the letter authorising the BID auditors to accept the alterations was authorised by the MEC chairperson and that the commissioners were not consulted.
MEC failed to deposit all electoral material with COP
President judge Healey Potani took over delivery of the ruling of the Presidential Election case after the break.
He says the Electoral Commission had duty to deposit results with Clerk of Parliament as per the law.
But MEC failed to disclose the documents, additionally most of the record log books were not found at the warehouse.
Having told the Court that all records were deposited, MEC's Divason Makwete later changed his statement and said not all the documents were deposited.
Mr Makwete will be prosecuted by the Director of Public Prosecutions for failing to comply and lying under oath.
It also came to the attention of the court that there had been some clandestine movements of ballots at the request of MEC's IT department.
Even MEC's legal department was not aware of the clandestine movement.
"It shows lack of accountability.
"The fact that to date MEC has failed to account for all the materials it clearly shows failure to comply with the law," said Judge Potani.
Court notes the overwhelming evidence that duplicate tally sheets were used, elections officer, Sam Alfandika told the court that originals were merely used as an administrative arrangement.
But the court observed that use of duplicate result sheets was an irregularity.
"Section 93 (2) of PPEA says the original is supposed to remain as the official record and should be used to determine the results.
"Failing to use the original form 66c, occasions a non compliance with the act and therefore it occasioned an irregularity," read judge Ivy Kamanga.
The officers mostly used duplicates upon being instructed that failure to verify was a significant irregularity.
'MEC determined results without strict adherence to the provisions of the electoral law'
Mr Munkhondiya of MEC told the court that results were being uploaded on the screen before verification by auditors and Commissioner.
MCP’s Mkaka told the court that he had filed a complaint he stated that the response that he got was unsatisfactory. The second respondent thus knew about the anomalies before the final determination.
MEC did not deny the alternations, its defence was that they had verified with the presiding offences on the ground and that the corrections were made to verify the actual mistakes and it was very rare that they tampered with the candidates reports.
"We therefore find that it is highly unlikely that the second respondent (MEC) did the verification exercise of results."
So many tally sheets used at the tally centre were altered with ink, MEC failed to detect them and take appropriate action.
BDO, the audit firm did not approve 3,864 forms of the results sheets.
"In a nutshell MEC determined the results without strict adherence to the provisions of the electoral law. In so doing MEC abdicated is duty," said judge Kamanga
The court finds that: the issue of forged signatures was presented by Lackson Chimangeni a witness of the second respondent, the court agrees with the Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale that the evidence needed to be that of the person whose signatures were forged. There were quite a number of cases where there was some suspicious signatures. However, in the absence of the people whose signatures may have been forged and in the absence of a handwriting expert, the issue can not stand.
'Use of Tippex greatly undermined intergrity of election results'
The court observed that there was indeed massive use of Tippex to alter results.
MEC chairperson Justice Jane Ansah is on record as having said the commission did not provide tippex.
The petitioners lend credence to the chairperson's remarks that one would took the decision not to accept results tampered by Tippex. It was stated that haphazard changes tend to undermine the integrity of the election.
The court observed for purposes of integrity Parliament should provide clear guidelines on alterations because: "These greatly undermined the integrity of the results of the court, the argument that actual vote was not affected which is a quantitative argument...does not help matters," said Justice Kamanga.
