Africa’s Most Popular Reality Show, Big Brother Naija, will return for its seventh season this July with a double launch show on Saturday, 23 July and Sunday, 24 July 2022.

Both shows will air from 7pm on Africa Magic Showcase, Africa Magic Urban and Africa Magic Family channels and the 24-hour show on DStv channel 198 and GOtv channel 29. BBNaija fans across Africa will also watch the show live via the African online streaming service, Showmax.

BBNaija is staying true to its reputation of having the biggest cash prize for any reality competition on the continent. This season’s winner will take home a grand prize worth $240,000 (USD) that includes $120,000 (USD) cash and other exciting prizes.

For the seventh season, the show will witness a return of a few pre-COVID 19 elements including the fan-favourite ‘Ninjas’ and a live studio audience. Fans can also expect a line-up of more engaging tasks, unpredictable twists and Big Brother’s wit. In addition, 30 fans of the show will also win $2,400 (USD) each in the Fave Lock-In promo exclusive to DStv and GOtv customers.

The show will also retain its voting style from last year. Voting will only be on the Big Brother Naija website, mobile site, and the MyDStv and MyGOtv apps for active customers. The number of votes each subscriber gets will be determined by their subscription packages, with DStv Premium and GOtv SUPA subscribers receiving the most votes.

DStv customers who would like to opt out of viewing the show can do so by sending “(Smart card number) [space] BBOUT” to 30333, while GOtv customers can do the same by sending “(IUC Number) [space] BBOUT” to 4688. Additionally, customers can activate the parental control option on their DStv and GOtv decoders for viewers younger than 18 years.

To find out more about BBNaija Season 7, visit www.africamagic.tv/bigbrothernaija.  Follow the official Big Brother Naija social media pages for news and updates with the hashtag #BBNaija on Twitter @bbnaija, Instagram @bigbronaija and Facebook www.facebook.com/bigbrothernaija .

The FDH Bank sponsored Lilongwe Mayor’s Trophy finals for primary schools will be staged this weekend at the Bingu National Stadium where eight primary schools in both netball and football will be battling for honours of the trophy.

In netball, Kamuzu Barracks primary school will play Nankhaka primary school competing for the third place while Ngwenya primary school will battle it out with Kamdogola primary school in the finals. In the football category Kalambo primary school will play Kabwabwa primary school in the third-place play-off while Kamuzu Barracks primary school will face Chiwoko primary school in the finals.

Speaking in Blantyre ahead of the finals, FDH Bank Head of Marketing and Communications Levie Nkunika said the Bank, which sponsors Mayor’s trophy in three cities of Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Zomba at the tune of K165 million for three years, is happy with the progress of the competition in the three cities.

“Educating and supporting our youth is the most optimal way to invest in a successful future. Development of grassroots sports and the building of healthy and vibrant youth and talent development for the future national teams – football and netball stars. These are the people who will play for the successful Flames and Queens of tomorrow.”

“As a home-grown bank, we take a long-term view for the development of sports in particular and building our economy and our country in general,” said Nkunika.

He said the Bank, which sponsors the trophies in partnership with the city councils, has pumped in K15 million for the Lilongwe City Mayor’s Trophy.

“The partnership with the councils has been there for the past 2 years and continues. We thank Mayor’s Trophy organising committees for their effective planning by making sure that these games are executed successfully,” said Nkunika.

The Mayor’s Trophy finals for Mzuzu city will take place on 30 July 2022 at Mzuzu stadium while the Zomba Mayor’s Trophy finals will take place on 5^th August 2022.

The winners from all the cities will play in the inter-city tournament to find the overall winner and Nkunika said the Inter-city Mayors trophy finals playing dates will be announced later.

FDH Bank Plc is also the official sponsor of the national football and netball teams aka the ‘Flames’ and the ‘Queens’ respectively and also sponsors the most lucrative football cup in Malawi, the FDH Bank Cup.

Ethanol Company (EthCo), a subsidiary of conglomerate Press Corporation plc has supported girls education at Majiga Community Day Secondary School in Dwangwa, Nkhotakota by  donating K31 million through tuition fees, sponsorship and completion of a school block under construction.

EthCo Chief Executive Officer Lusubilo Chakaniza, accompanied by Press Corporation plc Acting Chief Executive Officer Lyton Chithambo handed over two cheques, one worth K20 million to carter for tuition fees for 20 girls for four years and another one worth K11 million for the completion of a school block.

Chakaniza said the  initiative is part of EthCo’s Creation of Shared Value (CSV) policy to support girls’ education.

“We believe that we are creating shared value in society, and that this creation of shared value is not just for infrastructure, but we are also looking at sustainability in terms of the development of our people. So, one of our pillars of the CSV policy is education and this year we decided to focus on that. When we came here for a tree planting exercise we noted the need for completion of a school block which we thought we could help out with,” said Chakaniza.

She further said the company used the opportunity to re-launch a coaching and mentoring program at the school after failing to implement it in 2019 due to Covid-19.

“We noticed that there is a gap in the company in terms of gender balance. Our company is highly male-dominated, it’s a stem environment, and we thought we should launch a program that will sponsor girls and encourage them to pursue careers in the stem environment as part of our coaching and mentoring program,” explained Chakaniza.

She was however quick to note that the mentorship sessions will not only focus on girls, but boys as well.

“We want the students to be properly guided in their careers. In future, we will also consider sponsoring boys boarding, but this time we came for girls because this school only offers such to girls only,” she said.

A student representative, Caroline Zakariya commended EthCo for the support saying girls from around the area face a lot of challenges to travel to school.

“Most of us come from far away areas and we use bicycles. We reach here tired, it’s worse in the rainy season. The support for our boarding will therefore help to give us ample time to study as we have these obstacles eliminated by EthCo,” said the 17-year-old form four girl.

Majiga Primary School Headteacher Harriet Kayira said the school has five school blocks for 400 students, half of which are girls.

“We thank EthCo because now we will be able to have two classes in a block,” Kayira said.

Guest of Honour at the event, Nkhotakota District Education Manager, Getrude Chipeta said more girls need support in the district, and therefore appealed to EthCo to extend their hands to other facilities.

She then asked the school and the girls to utilise the opportunity by making good use of it.

Apart from the tuition fees, the K20 million will also cater for the girl’s other boarding needs at the school.

EthCo is working in partnership with Girls Education Trust.

Eisenhower Nduwa-Saxon Mkaka lied!
When Malawians raised alarm last year about him owning a top range Mercedes Benz last year, the Malawi Congress Party Secretary General looked down upon the surprised Malawians with cynicism.

He even went to town bragging that he had bought the vehicle using ‘my own money which I got when I got retrenched at one of the banks’.

He did not know that truth will catch up with him and it has done so very brutally.

Documents are circulating showing that the K30 million Merc 5350 was given to him by Zuneth Sattar who is currently under investigation in the United Kingdon for influencing politically exposed people to gain favours to get Malawi government contracts.

Sattar was arrested by the UK’s National Crimes Agency who had raided his homes and offices in Leicester.

A bill of lading shows that the vehicle was exported from the United Kingdom by Dada Motors of Leicester with Mkaka being on the documents as the recipient.

In August 2020, Malawi Revenue Authority issued a Certification for entry of goods duty free for privileged persons No 108184, which Mkaka himself completed indicating his TPIN number as 31719688, dated 21 August 2020.

Now it seems Mkaka will have some further explaining to do as it is alleged that of the 84 people on the so-called Sattar list as given to President Lazarus Chakwera by the ACB, a number of them are MPs. Mkaka is Member of Parliament from Lilongwe.

Tomorrow, as he takes to the podium at MCP’s tax-payer funded political rally in Mangochi, he will be painfully aware that this could be as well be as his last major political outing.

BLANTYRE-Barely days after Malawi Fiscal Police on Monday, July 11, 2022 pounced on Kukoma Oil Company owner Shiraz Karim home in Blantyre for money laundering worth US$4 million, new reports show that he has been invading taxes on raw materials imported into the country.

Not only that but also declaring already made products as raw materials which is theft.

Karim is taking advantage of Malawi’s state of forex shortage to steal Malawi’s hard earned taxes

Sources within Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) say Karim has been conniving with Tonse government officials to escape taxes when importing raw materials.

This is come when the company products cooking oil has been overpriced despite government removing 16.5% Valued-Added Tax.

The company is reaping Malawians on cooking oil high prices.

Currently, one litre cooking is pegged at MK3, 800 while 2 litre MK6, 800 and 5 litre is now MK15,500.

Apart from law materials’s tax invasion has been keeping such huge some of money meant to be externalise out of the country.

Kukoma oil owner’s fiscal fraud also comes amid the country’s forex shortage.

The country’s graft body Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has been alerted on the matter as Karim is reportedly also corrupted government officials on other government business contracts.

Shiraz however continues refusing to comment on the matter when contacted on several attempts.

More to come……

The MultiChoice Expansion Program – Project Pamodzi, which is being launched in Malawi, is set to revolutionise the African TV sector, taking industry skills to a new level and boosting the quality of content for audiences across the continent.

This initiative will be a collaborative project between MultiChoice, local television channels and industry bodies in various African territories through industry expert led Masterclasses, driven by MultiChoice Talent Factory – the MultiChoice industry development and training programme.

“MultiChoice prides itself with being Africa’s number one storyteller. So it is with great excitement that we are proud to announce that later this year, MultiChoice will be putting out a call for proposals for the first ever Malawian series to be produced for and aired on Zambezi Magic channel” said Christopher Puta, MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy Director.

“The first phase of this programme is aimed at upskilling professionals at our local Free-To-Air broadcasters” said Puta. “We hope that through providing skills development opportunities for local TV professionals we will provide our audience with more choice and greater representation in productions and through content” added Puta.

Project Pamodzi will consist of online learning courses, masterclasses, and practical training.

MultiChoice will partner with local broadcasters to help develop skills in the various territories. It will include certified short courses in critical production skills such as post-production, sound, screenwriting, 3D animation and cinematography.

The programme’s online-learning component enables MultiChoice to reach as many content creators as possible, across the continent, while also allowing working professionals to do courses at their own pace.

The programme will initially reach 300 broadcast workers who are already producing content in their local markets through e-learning.

They will then be able to instantly apply their learnings on domestic productions. “Local broadcasters are the grassroots of the TV industry in every country,” said Puta. “By building the industry we are enabling local job creation, enabling an industry to contribute to the economy and responding to the ongoing consumer demand for quality local entertainment.” ENDS