Egypt donates fertiliser to Malawi

Egypt donates fertiliser to Malawi

Blantyre, Malawi - Egypt has donated 27.7 metric tonnes of Urea (fertiliser) to Malawi to boost the fertiliser subsidy programme of the country.

Speaking during the hand over ceremony in the capital, Lilongwe, the Egyptian Ambassador to Malawi, Akram Hamd, said his country believed in helping less-privileged African countries to achieve food sufficiency.

"Egypt is a good production country for fertilisers. It is our commitment for all brotherly nations in Africa to come together to assist each other to try to overcome the consequences of high prices of fertilisers and food shortages," Hamd said.

During the 2007/08 farming season, Malawi had a surplus harvest, such that it donated some to Swaziland and Lesotho and sold some to Zimbabwe.

The present regime has introduced a very expensive fertiliser subsidy programme that has seen a significant improvement in the production of maize, the staple food, but the programme has been bedeviled by lack of funds.

"It's our pleasure that we have come to the assistance of Malawi and we hope we can be able to assist Malawi to be able to succeed in the subsidy programme," said Hamd.

Malawi's Deputy Agriculture Minister Frank Mwenefumbo said the Egyptian fertiliser had come at the right time when government was planning to roll-out the 2008/09 fertiliser subsidy programme.

"We are looking for 170, 000 metric tonnes of fertiliser for this year," Mwenefumbo said.

Blantyre - 02/07/2008

Malawi - AfDB Approves US $ 47 Million for National Water Development Programme

2 July 2008
Posted to the web 3 July 2008

Tunis

Efforts by Malawi to achieve sustainable development and poverty reduction received a boost on Wednesday in Tunis, where the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group approved a loan and two grants of a combined 29.15 million Units of Accounts (UA*), about US$ 47.24 million, to finance the country's National Water Development Program (NWDP).

The AfDB support - an African Development Fund (ADF) loan of US$ 24.63 million, an ADF grant of US$ 17. 34 million and a Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI) Trust Fund grant of €3.520 million - will be deployed to provide the country with urban and rural water supply as well as promote resource management and capacity building in the water sector.

The objective of the programme is to ensure the sustainable provision of adequate water and sanitation services to the people of Malawi.

The NWDP is being implemented on the basis of need and readiness, poverty level, socio-economic indicators, water supply coverage and geographical proximity, with the Bank Group's intervention focusing on four districts: Lilongwe Rural, Zomba, Mulanje and Machinga. The Bank's financing is targeting 1.21 million deprived rural inhabitants of the four districts. Expected outcomes include improved equity and proximity in the distribution of water points, enhanced economic status of women scheme officers, and a reduction in the death of children under five years.

The programme covers the entire country and aims at 80% coverage for improved water supply and sanitation by 2015. The RWSSI component will benefit 4.45 million rural and district people while the water resources component will benefit the entire population.

The Bank believes in the efficacy of combined water and sanitation projects because of their positive multiplier effects on development. In the case of the NWDP, for instance, the availability of potable water will save women and children the time wasted in fetching water over long distances and collecting wood to boil water for consumption. This will in turn result in a better use of such time in other productive services, which may lead to increased household income, and eventually to improved health and higher living standards, as well as provide more opportunities for girls to go to school. In particular, the rehabilitated piped-water systems will be expected to have a dramatic change in women's and children's use of time. Water system sustainability will be enhanced through the training of over 8,000 people in basic accounting, three-quarters of whom will be women.

The total cost of the NWDP, which is in line with the Malawi Country Strategy Paper, is estimated at UA 147 million. The Bank's contribution represents 19.7% of the costs.

"Malawi could not have received a better gift for its 44th independence anniversary which falls on 6 July", the Executive Director for the country, Ian Bonongwe, said while commending the Board, Management and staff of the Bank for supporting the NWDP. He said Malawi was not likely to achieve the critical Millennium Development Goals on target, emphasizing that the country required sustained support from the Bank Group and other donors.

The Bank Group's operations in Mauritania started in 1969. To date, the cumulative commitments of the Group in the country amount to US$ 914 million in 87 operations.

Govt still optimistic of 7.5% economic growth

The Daily Times - Malawi’s Premier Daily

BY HENRY MCHAZIME
19:53:19 - 02 July 2008

MALAWI’S economy would still grow by 7.5 percent in 2008 despite the political stalemate that has stalled budget discussions, Minister of Economic Planning Ken Lipenga has said.
But some economic analysts have warned continued delays to pass the national financial plan would have a devastating impact on the production of goods and services.
In an interview Tuesday Lipenga said there are several consequences that would come due to the budget delay, the major one being reduced economic growth and activities.

“This delay is bound to reduce our economic growth estimates as it would hold up the resources that the national budget pumps into the economy.

However as a responsible government we are trying to enlighten our colleagues in the opposition to approve the budget to minimise long term effects on the economy,” said Lipenga.

During the budget statement delivered in parliament last month Minister of Finance Goodall Gondwe said this year economic growth was estimated at 7.5 percent.

But Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn) said the estimates could not be achieved if parliament continues to delay approving the national budget which is expected to pump in funds in the economy to stimulate production intended for growth.

Mejn Executive Director Andrew Kumbatira said if the current political impasse continues it would lead to reduced economic growth and dent the country’s image to the international community.

“The Minister of Finance cannot spend without approval from parliament and we are in July already the political tension might bring several complications one of them being low economic growth rate than estimated.

“We should understand that 46 percent of this year’s budget is being supported by donors and the unavailability of the budget during the intended time brings challenges to the donor community who have made pledges to provide funding,” said Kumbatira.

But Chief Executive Officer for Society of Accountants in Malawi (Socam) Daniel Dunga said there would be no need to worry on the economic growth estimates if the finance minister is allowed to spend for four months.

“The 7.5 percent economic growth cannot be affected for these four months but it would be worrisome if some of the things in the budget are delayed to be implemented.

If the actual budget is not in place after four months then we should worry as a nation,” said Dunga.

Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) president Harrison Kalua said the estimated economic growth could be affected depending on how government prioritises its expenditure within the next four months.

“If the budget is not approved after four months then it would be a problem and it could heavily affect our growth estimates and on the other hand donors would start worrying if the status quo remains for the next two months,” said Kalua.

He added that the current political scenario is part of democracy which is not cheap as it requires several checks and balances involved by all parties.

“Democracy is not cheap and this (political situation) is part of a democratic exercise and it comes with a cost we should not complain much but seek for better ways to resolve it because that what we voted for in 1993,” said Kalua.

July 1 in Malawi’s fiscal calendar marks the beginning of government’s fiscal year and Section 178 of the constitution mandates the Finance Minister to ask parliament for provisional expenditure from the Consolidated Fund if parliament fails to pass the national budget by this day.

The UDF is on the decline, falling faster than it rose to popularity

The Window on Malawi

It is common for politicians to point at the mistakes of others. But two wrongs don’t make a right. Malawi needs solutions that benefit all.



They were bashing President Bingu wa Mutharika for, as they put it, violating the Constitution and laws of Malawi. Former president Bakili Muluzi, who addressed rallies in Blantyre on Sunday, claimed political sainthood and branded Mutharika a law breaker.

Yet, for 45 minutes, Muluzi and his entourage were violating the rights of travellers in Machinjiri. The first meeting addressed by Muluzi was at Chirimba Primary School grounds, away from the main road. But at Luwanda in Machinjiri, the former president’s Land Rover, from where he was speaking, was parked less than five metres from the road. The pick-up that carried a generator for power was on the main road, thus being the first vehicle to block travellers.

Then followed vehicles that were part of the former president’s convoy. They parked right on the road and, from 2:45 pm until 3:30 pm, traffic came to a standstill. Minibus operators and passengers lost time and time is money. Even pedestrians were inconvenienced.

People had to walk for a distance because minibuses could not pass through the crowd and vehicles. "This is really bad," said one woman, a suitcase in her hand. "Why are they blocking the road?" The rest of what she said is unpublishable but it spoke of her anger.

The blocking of the road spoke a lot about hypocrisy: how people see a speck in another’s eye and miss their own log. This is typical of politicians—all politicians from Mutharika to opposition leaders to all of us. Politicians, especially, accuse others without offering national solutions that would benefit all.

Two wrongs do not make a right and this a philosophy the UDF is failing to adopt. Muluzi is not supposed to simply accuse Mutharika and his administration without offering practical solutions that would benefit Malawians. This, too, is what our opposition politicians have failed to do throughout the years.

Muluzi is able to see Mutharika violating human rights but was unable to see his own failure. His team is even against a common understanding about Muluzi’s eligibility to contest next year’s elections. His coalition partners dismissed talk that the Constitution bars their presidential candidate from contesting because he already served his two terms from 1999 to 2004.

This becomes clear from the meetings Muluzi addressed at four places in Blantyre.

Chirimba

Muluzi’s first stop at Chirimba was mainly a meeting of children and women, old women and young girls who had probably been sleeping and had nothing else to do on a Sunday afternoon.

What else would people do after church? It was a meeting of a couple of thousands, just a couple, nothing more than that. Isn’t Muluzi a politician who claims that thousands come to his rallies? Where do those pictures come from?

For months Muluzi has been placing pictures of his rallies in the press, describing them as part of the mammoth crowd. It might be interesting to study the faces and determine whether or not some do not appear on every picture.

His speech was as usual. In fact, it was surprising that the former president, who is also UDF national chairman, who is also UDF presidential candidate in next year’s elections (what titles?) is addressing rallies in different places. His speech was about change, but this is change he is not explaining in detail. What change? As he spoke, eloquently as he does, he engaged the audience by asking questions:

Zinthu zitani? As some women responded zisintha, a small boy, about 10 years, shouted, "Sizitheka". A few people laughed. But it was no laughing matter.

It showed that while there may be hundreds at Muluzi’s rallies, not all come because they support the UDF leader. This is true of all politicians. Some people come just to while away time, to run away from the boredom of small houses that are filled with children and adults—boys and girls, young and old.

The small boy’s response also showed that Muluzi is operating in the past; that he is using slogans that have lost meaning with time.

The change slogan was powerful in 1993, when all Malawians agreed there was need for change. The slogan was powerful not because Muluzi gave it strength but because it reflected the hopes of the majority and the majority in any democracy have power.

Muluzi and the UDF have failed to come up with new ways of engaging people. In 1993, the UDF reflected the wishes of people. Now—and this is a remarkable difference—the party is reflecting its own agenda, to get back into power at every cost. Yet this is not the wish of the majority of Malawians. They have not forgotten the UDF decade.

This, too, is a visible sign that the UDF, as a political product, has failed to manage its life-span. It was born, it grew up and now has reached maturity. In a life-span of a product, the UDF was supposed to rebrand itself, to be involved in a kind of rebirth lest it goes down into decline.

That time was 2004 when the party had Mutharika as its winning candidate. That was when Muluzi was supposed to let the party live beyond himself.

But that is not what the UDF did. Instead, Mutharika, as he says often, was forced to leave and form his own party, the Democratic Progressive (DPP). Now the UDF is on decline, falling faster than it rose to popularity.

The most important aspect of politics is popularity, not power; which is what the UDF did in 1993. Now it wants to get power without getting popular.

Machinjiri

The second stop for Muluzi and his entourage was at Luwanda in Machinjiri where a road was blocked for about one hour.

Maravi Peoples Party (MPP) president Uladi Mussa was the first to speak before Muluzi addressed a crowd of a couple of thousands. Again the crowd was not as big as people are told. Perhaps because these were not platform rallies.

But they were reflective of the situation, anyway. Children started to run after the convoy at Area 1 in Machinjiri. They were barefoot children without any programme on a Sunday afternoon; there were women chatting up each other while selling small things at the market; there were men drinking at pubs at Luwanda; and there were those who came to see the man: the UDF candidate.

"There are 22 reasons Bingu [wa Mutharika] shall lose next year’s election," said Mussa. "But because of time, I will not tell you all."

But he went on to list two reasons: that Mutharika is stingy and does not appreciate what people do to him and, secondly, that he cherishes people’s arrests. Stingy? Is the President supposed to be throwing bank notes on the roads for people to collect? The second accusation is difficult to prove and ends there, almost.

The truth of the matter is that the UDF is failing to sell an ideology to people which is sad because the country needs the UDF just as it needs the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and other parties. Perhaps the UDF was meant to be a transition party, as one biased analyst says, that after ruling for 10 years it should die and be forgotten, except in history texts.

Bangwe

The first to speak at Bangwe, the final place for the rallies, was Congress for Development (Code) president Ralph Kasambara.

He proclaimed his profession, that he is a lawyer and that he understands Section 83 (3): "The President, the First Vice-President and the Second Vice-President may serve in their respective capacities a maximum of two consecutive terms..."

This, said Kasambara, does not stop Muluzi from contesting next year’s election. He qualified this by saying he is an educated lawyer trained in Malawi and India.

This is not all. Kasambara should have added that he is a brilliant lawyer; that he is the only Malawian to get almost a distinction in the Faculty of Law at Chancellor College. The faculty has never produced a distinction since its establishment in late 1960s. Kasambara got an average 69.5 percent, just about a distinction which starts at 70.

Such a brilliant lawyer has spoken and Malawi must listen: Section 83 (3) does not bar Muluzi from contesting next year.

Other voices

Still it is important to listen to other voices. The relevant authorities have spoken, too, on Section 83 that taking the matter to court is overstretching the Judiciary. The Law Commission is of the view that the framers of the Constitution meant to restrict consecutive presidential terms to a maximum of two.

Some prominent lawyers have said so, too. Everybody else says Section 83 prevents Muluzi from contesting. It is only those in UDF whose reading of Section 83 is different from the rest.

Edge Kanyongolo is perhaps the country’s most respected lawyer. He told the BBC in a recent interview that his reading of Section 83 is that it bars a former president from running for the office again. This is the ordinary reading of the Constitution and it makes sense because the Constitution is a document for people, ordinary people, hence the language is for them.

One trick the UDF has to live with is that judges presiding over cases of constitutional matters consult academics from Chancellor College. This was made clear by former High Court judge Dunstain Mwaungulu in a My Turn column article in defence of his 1997 ruling in a case involving the late Fred Nseula who was accused of crossing the floor in Parliament.

Mwaungulu ruled that Nseula ceased to be an MP when he was sworn in as deputy minister because the law does not allow a person to hold two public offices. This ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeal which held that a person can be an MP and a Cabinet minister.

Mwaungulu, in the My Turn which he wrote to respond to criticism, said he consulted Chancellor College academics in the Faculty of Law and they agreed with his reading of the law. This shows how much trust the judges have in academics.

Now that Kanyongolo has spoken on Section 83, it is doubtful any judge would want to go against legal views of an internationally acclaimed scholar. This is where the UDF has fallen into a pit, partly because in their quest for power they want to gain favours of law, not people; they want to be popular with the law which does not vote.

The UDF has got its tactics wrong, mostly. The party missed a re-branding opportunity. It is now in a crisis of identity that comes with decline.

All popular products from Coca Cola to Lifebouy go through a rebrand of somekind. This is necessary to keep the products on the market. This is what the MCP did in the 1990s. Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda brought in Gwanda Chakuamba.

The party’s ideology also changed to adopt multiparty democracy. The party which opposed multiparty vehemently, was able to win more seats in Parliament in 2004 than any other party.

The country did not take time to study why the MCP emerged the strongest after the last elections. One reason—this is just one of the factors—is that the MCP has been rebranding itself over the years with leadership changing from Chakuamba to John Tembo until the former left to form his own party.

The majority of voters now are the youth, those aged between 18 and 35 years. These do not often go to rallies. They have ways of spending time. Parties should, therefore, find ways of courting this group of voters.

Conclusion

The UDF and its allies are in danger of fielding a candidate who might not be allowed to contest in next year’s elections.

This should worry all Malawians because the party needs to take an active role in the elections and the party needs to prepare well, not to be caught unawares at last minute, just about time for elections. This will be sad and the UDF must save Malawi from such political tragedy.

The UDF should concentrate its energies on preparing its own house and not pointing fingers at Mutharika and the DPP.

One way to do that is to offer a concrete plan of its participation in next year’s elections which should come with rebranding. People want to see something new, something never seen before. It pays and that is the reason old brands spend millions to rebrand products.

Does the UDF now see the log in its eye?

Masm reaps from good economic policies

The Window on Malawi

The Medical Aid Society of Malawi (Masm), a member-owned health insurance scheme, said on Friday good economic management in the country contributed to the growth of its membership from 81,000 to 92,000 last year.

Masm deputy board member Wilson Chirwa told the 24th Annual General Meeting of the Society held in Mzuzu on Friday that growth in membership positively affected Masm as, for example, member contributions rose from K876 million to K1.3 billion, representing a 14 percent growth.

Chirwa, a consulting engineer by profession and is retiring after failing to secure re-election into the board, also told the meeting that due to a good operating environment and increased marketing efforts Masm managed to retain its members as well as woo new ones.

He also said member claims totalled K970 million compared to K740 million in 2006 which represents a 31 percent increase.

"Government remained committed to fiscal discipline which together with post harvest drop in food prices and other factors culminated in the reduction of the inflation rate from 9.6 percent at the beginning of the year and 7.5 percent at the year end of the year," said Chirwa.

In his presentation, auditor Shiraz Yusuf from Ernst and Young said apart from sound government economic policies Masm’s good tidings were also a result of transparency and efficiency by Masm management.

For his part, Masm chief executive officer Sydney Chikoti said the increased income contributions from the grown membership will enable Masm buy additional emergency ambulances to enhance good service delivery to member patients.

During the meeting, Masm members also voted into the board a new firm member, Harvey Nyasulu, a farmer and director of Phwezi Foundation for Education in Rumphi.

Nyasulu beat Chirwa by 18 -9 votes.

Chikoti challenged Nyasulu to work out strategies that would increase Masm membership in the Northern Region.

Before starting the day’s proceedings delegates paid tribute to the late Masm board chairman Paul Gundumulani who died in a road accident in Blantyre on May 17 this year.