Foreign Affairs Minister Eisenhower Mkaka who chartered a Malawian Airlines plane to Somaliland is in that country to get millions of dollars for himself and a few government officials which will result in Malawi establishing diplomatic relations with the newly created Somaliland.
We can reveal that Mkaka chartered the plane so that he does not have problems with immigration officials in other countries if he were to fly commercial.
A top government official revealed that Mkaka will have no problems bringing contraband into the country because of the charter plane.
“He is going there to get money, lots of it for himself and a few other cronies in government. That’s the truth. In the end we will be told that Malawi has established diplomatic relations with Somaliland,” said the Capital Hill official.
Insiders said this is not the first time Mkaka has been pocketing bribes since becoming Foreign Affairs Minister six months ago.
He is said to have collected US$900,000 from the Indian government to make sure that the statue of former Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi is erected in Lilongwe after it faced resistance from Malawians in Blantyre including a court order stopping the exercise.
Mkaka is also involved in the escape of self styled Prophet Shepherd Bushiri from South Africa a few weeks ago. He was pictured with Bushiri aides at a Hotel in South Africa where he received payment to help Bushiri escape South Africa where he is answering fraud charges.
Hot headed Foreign Affairs Minister Eisenhower Mkaka chartered a Malawian Airlines plane to Somaliland leaving hundreds of customers stranded after the airline canceled flights.
We can reveal that Mkaka who is on an ‘official visit’ to Somaliland demanded that government charters the plane for him and a few officers from Foreign Affairs ministry.
“I am almost always outside the country representing Malawians on foreign policy. I need a plane dedicated to this great task. Find a way to make it happen,” ordered Mkaka.
Then Malawian Airlines canceled all their flights and gave the only plane they have to Mkaka to travel to Somaliland. Malawia Airlines does not fly to Somaliland which has nothing that will significantly benefit Malawi.
This is the first time in the history of the country where a mere cabinet minister would charter a plane leaving commercial passengers stranded.
Pictures from Somaliland show Mkaka disembarking from a Malawian Airlines plane at Hargeisa International Airport in Somaliland Saturday afternoon.
Mkaka is said to be one of the powerful cabinet ministers who has publicly boasted that he cannot be ‘touched’ by President Lazarus Chakwera as he is the one who controls the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) which Chakwera leads but do not have grassroots support
Somaliland is a breakaway, semi-desert territory on the coast of the Gulf of Aden. Somaliland declared independence after the overthrow of Somali military dictator Siad Barre in 1991. Even though not internationally recognised, Somaliland has a working political system, government institutions, a police force and its own.
In 2011, the Government of Tanzania and SADC super power, South Africa through their foreign Affairs ministers said that they would not recognise Somaliland and preferred that Somalia which is very rich with minerals remained a single country. Only 35 countries in the world do recognize Somaliland as a a defacto state but has no de-jure recognition from internationally recognized country. It is also well known for keeping militiamen.
Even United Nations (UN) does not recognise Somaliland as a state.
Dumisani Mfune (left) with NBM plc Head of IT John Mitchell (centre) and Fudzulani
Listed National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc Saturday night awarded innovators in various categories in the ICT Association of Malawi (ICTAM) Innovation Jam awards in Mangochi.
Software systems developer Samson Fiado emerged overall winner in the Fintech category with his ‘Easy Books Accounting’, a simple to use and affordable web-based accounting package developed to manage financial data for small and medium sized institutions.
As one of the overall winners, Fiado will be rewarded with an NBM plc sponsored trip to the Africa Innovations Summit where he will have the opportunity to learn of new technologies and engage with fellow innovators on the global scene.
Kazako (centre) presents the award to winners
Fiado was over the moon after being crowned overall winner and thanked NBM plc for sponsoring the Innovation Jam saying the gesture will unearth various innovations that will help improve the economy and the general welfare of the people in the country.
“I am very grateful to NBM plc for continuing to support the Innovation Jam. This will motivate more innovators to come forward with their amazing innovations,” said Fiado who runs a software company known as EasyBooks Solutions.
Amanda Phiri of Proxima emerged overall winner in the Open Innovations category which comprised of Education, Agriculture, Artificial Intelligence and E-Health. Phiri’s submission in the Education Category showcased a solar powered laptop innovation to provide affordable laptops to the youth.
Fiado (left) receives the award from Kazako
As an overall winner in the Open Innovations category, Phiri will also go on to attend the Annual Innovations Summit in 2021 courtesy of NBM plc.
Tadala Mtimuni emerged runner up in in the Fintech category with a Banki Mkhonde (Village Bank) innovation while Timothy Kamanga with his Worktech Insight Platform innovation was named runner up in the Open Innovations category.
The two runners up received K1 million each from NBM plc.
Other winners were Noble Agriculture and Smart Farming System by Chiku Walani in the Agriculture category, Gloria Kasambwe’s Landitseni Platform and Innocent Bvalani’s Healthpass in the Health category, Dumisani Mfune and Vocal Hospital in Artificial Intelligence category.
NBM Plc Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Commercial Officer Harold Jiya said NBM Plc fully understands and appreciates the pivotal role that innovations and technology play and will continue to play in Malawi’s developmental agenda.
“NBM Plc has a continuing partnership with ICTAM on ICT innovation and this investment in ICT development is a vehicle for the creation of employment for the youth and by resourcing the ICT sector we are harnessing and leveraging on the energies and determination that is latent in our youth to foster rapid economic growth by fueling the birth and nurturing the growth of businesses that start from scratch and have potential to grow into mega corporations,” said Jiya.
Minister of Information Gospel Kazako who was a guest of honour at the 2020 ICT conference also presented the awards to the winners and commended NBM Plc for supporting the awards.
Youthful Mansoor Karim Chief Executive Officer for K Motors, one of the top panel beating companies in the country has challenged fellow youths that age and gender should not be a limiting factor in engaging in entrepreneurship.
Speaking at a Youth entrepreneurship and gender issues seminar in Blantyre at the weekend, Karim dared the youths to go into entrepreneurship giving an example of himself on how he started K Motors.
“K Motors was registered in February 2020 but started operations in March 2020. It all started with a dream, a vision and a passion I have for love of cars. When you love what you do, time is not a limiting factor. When you do what you love, you never work a day in your life. Age and Gender cannot and should not limit what a person can do and achieve. Only your mindset can,” said Karim.
He said every business and career path comes with challenges which he argued set the course and builds a foundation and frame of resilience of a business or career.
“Some of the challenges we faced included acquiring financial capital, putting together the best team, finding key and central premises, starting up a network of clientele and keeping them and other challenges.”
“When we first started operating, we started with a team of 5 people and 3 vehicles to spray paint and 10 months down the line, our employee head count has reached 51 and at any given point K Motors has at least 70 vehicles being worked on and this has lead us to open a second branch in Blantyre to cater for the increasing workload as space becomes a challenge,” explained Karim.
Karim speaks at the conference
He also spelt out some of the qualities of a good entrepreneur saying they should be persistent, have patience, purpose, should plan properly, create mutually beneficial relationships with people and also know how to manage and use profits from their business.
Karim also noted that gender inequalities are deeply entrenched in our society and cautioned that they will not be any changes unless people start balancing out the pivot at local levels.
“K Motors sets the balance by having female employees in Administration, Marketing and in the workshop. Yes! believe it or not, we have a female mechanic and she is one of the best mechanics K Motors has. We cannot have a mindset that limits what women can and cannot do,” said Karim.
Quoting former United States of America (USA) President Franklin Roosevelt, Karim said; “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”
Minister of Gender and Social Welfare Patricia Kaliati who was Guest of Honor at the seminar conquered with Karim on building the youth for the future advising the youths not to be scared of their age and gender in ‘building your future’.
“But we need to advise our youths that nothing comes on a silver platter, they need to work hard and be self-independent, it is possible just like the way Karim has showed us,” said Kaliati.
Karim was awarded with a Youth for Change Innovation award in the motor industry.
Other speakers at the seminar included musician Patience Namadingo, Chairperson of Marcus Hall Corporation Michelle Pires Mbilizi, Chief Executive Officer for KIPS Yaseen Shafiq Giga and Youth advocate Pemphero Mphande.
Charity Joy Mseka new Board Chairperson for FDH Bank plc
The Board of Directors of FDH Bank plc has appointed finance expert Charity Joy Mseka as its new Board Chairperson effective 27 November, 2020.
Mseka has extensive experience in Banking and Finance and previously served as Director of Banking, Director of Accounting and Finance and Chief Accountant at the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM).
She also served as a Non-Executive Director of National Integrated Technologies Limited (NITEL) and Export Development Fund Limited. She currently also sits on the Board of Tilitonse Foundation and was recently appointed Council Member for the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR).
Making the announcement in Blantyre on Thursday, FDH Bank plc Company Secretary Juliano Kanyongolo said Mseka, a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), holds a Master of Science Degree in Strategic Business Management from Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom and a Diploma in Business Studies from the Polytechnic, a constituent college of the University of Malawi.
“With over 35 years’ experience as a regulator, Mrs. Mseka brings to the Board rich expertise in institutional leadership, banking services, finance and risk management, among others. She takes over from Mr. Arthur Oginga who has left the Board due to other commitments,” said Kanyongolo in the statement.
FDH Bank plc listed on the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) on 3rd August 2020 and saw its initial public offer (IPO) being oversubscribed by over K300 million.
National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc has challenged the ICT entrepreneurs and young innovators to think globally and compete internationally, saying the Bank is ready to provide funding to help them realize their dreams of creating socio economic viability for their initiatives which will positively impact on their communities and the economy at large.
Speaking at the 2020 ICT Association of Malawi (ICTAM) conference on Friday in Mangochi, NBM plc Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Commercial Officer Harold Jiya said NBM plc fully understands and appreciates the pivotal role that innovations and technology play in Malawi’s developmental agenda.
“NBM plc has a continuing partnership with ICTAM on ICT innovation. This Investment in ICT development by National Bank of Malawi is a vehicle for the creation of employment for the youth. By resourcing the ICT sector we are harnessing and leveraging on the energies and determination that is latent in our youth to foster rapid economic growth by fueling the birth and nurturing the growth of businesses that start from scratch and have potential to grow into mega corporations.”
“It is also the realization and appreciation of this very fact and reality that the bank recently established the NBM Development Bank. This is a subsidiary of the Bank that is offering lines of financing to business startups. It has provided an avenue where brilliant ideas find a base to anchor potentially powerful businesses.”
“The ICT sector needs a lot of resourcing and that calls for specialized financing; therefore the timing of the coming in of the NBM Development Bank is most opportune,” explained Jiya.
He also appealed to other private sector players to support the local ICT industry and young innovators by among others, utilizing local talent and local ICT companies.
Opening the conference, Minister of Information Gospel Kazako hailed NBM plc and other partners for sponsoring the ICT Innovations conference saying such partnerships are needed for the country to move forward in narrowing the digital and innovation gap.
“Each one of the partners has a stake in ICT or in knowledge and products coming from ICT thus nurturing such partnerships will go a long way towards achieving the country’s transformative agenda,” said Kazako. The conference further honoured innovators for their submissions in the Fintech and General innovations category of the NBM Plc Innovation Jam awards.
CHIWAYULA: Unfriendly attitude by some health service providers keep the key populations away from seeking health services
Chipembere Community Development Organization (CCDO), Executive Director Dalitso Chiwayula has urged Government and key stakeholders to work together in addressing challenges facing marginalized population including minority groups in accessing Health Services amid covid19.
The director was speaking this on Wednesday during an advocacy meeting with policy makers and health services Providers at Bvumbwe, Thyolo in Blantyre.
Chiwayula observed that in the wake of Covid19, the minority groups were at high risk of new infections due to some restricting conditions when seeking health services which do not often meet their health needs.
“The key populations Living with HIV do not easily access health services including HIV/Aids prevention and Covid19 information due to stigma and discrimination, and increased cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV).
“Unfriendly attitude by some health service providers keep the key populations away from seeking health services. Therefore, instead of preventing new infections including Covid19, a certain section of our society lack information and because is left unattended and thus unknowingly spreading the virus,” he explained.
Concurring with Chiwayula, one of the beneficiaries from the key population attending advocacy meeting who sought for anonymity, complained that he often did not visit the health facility because most health workers were not approachable and often ask questions that make him reluctant to go for health services.
Responding to these remarks, a Clinical Officer at Bvumbwe Health Centre, Madalitso Banda said one of the challenges restricting the provision of quality health services at the health facility was lack of a special private room designated for such key populations and medicine for Sexually transmitted infections (STI) treatment.
“We must admit that sometimes we send back members of such special groups seeking treatment at the health center because we are running out of stock for STI medicine, and despite reporting the issue to the district health authorities, takes long to get a feedback,” said Banda, sending out an SOS to the responsible authorities at the district level.
CCDO is implementing the project called “Accelerating Access to ART in response to Covid19” in Thyolo district under Covid19 Rapid Response Fund with financial support from Frontline AIDS in United Kingdom. Mana/em
Malawi Observer deeply regrets and apologizes for the erroneous facts it presented in a story titled “CORRUPT MWENYE ABDUL MASTER NYIOMBO BRIBES NATION NEWSPAPER”
The story wrongly accused Nation Publications Limited of getting bribes from businessman Abdul Master to prevent the media house from publishing negative stories about him and any of his companies.
We concede that the story had malicious traits against and carried information that is false and damaging to the Newspaper, character of Mr. Abdul and his entire business interests.
The inconvenience caused by this whole misrepresentation of facts is deeply regretted.
Kazako (centre) with Jiya (left) and Ubuthu Net Alliance CEO Dr Matthews Mtumbukaafter the oppening session
Minister of Information Gospel Kazako has said Information Communication Technology (ICT) and innovation are critical drivers and enablers economic transformation.
Kazako spoke on Friday morning in Mangochi when he opened the 2020 ICT Association of Malawi (ICTAM) conference.
“ICT and innovation move economies towards more productivity and resilience, especially in these hard times when the world is grappling with effects of COVID-19 on our economies. We need to be proactive in maximizing the use of ICT as well as seeking new and innovative sources of socio-economic development,” said Kazako.
NBM plc Head of Client Coverage Wilkins Mijiga (right) emphasises a point to Kazako and Jiya
“The developmental challenges that our country is currently facing require efficient technological and innovative solutions adapted to the needs of the country. A classic example of such solutions is the development of Pfeizer and Mordenna COVID-19 vaccines. It is a foregone conclusion, therefore, that innovation is increasingly becoming an essential ingredient for curbing this pandemic, and other pandemics that we are fighting every day,” added Kazako.
He hailed National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc and other partners for funding the Innovation awards saying such partnerships are essential for the country to move forward in narrowing the digital and innovation gap.
Speaking earlier, NBM plc Deputy Chief Executive Officer Harold Jiya said ICT is important to the Malawi economy and by extension and inclusion is everything that will move Malawi into a vibrant economy and a viable nation.
Kazako (left) speaks to Dr Mathews Mtumbuka
“Everything in the modern economy and the global village depends on ICT. Without a thriving ICT sector and industry no economy can develop, let alone grow. No society, organization, business or individual can thrive.”
“ICT has an overarching and cross cutting impact on the whole spectrum of Malawi’s development trajectory: finance, commerce, business, trade, investment, health, education, agriculture, and literally everything else,” said Jiya.
In his keynote address, IT expert and UbuthuNet Alliance Chief Executive Officer Dr Matthews Mtumbuka said there is need for a quick establishment of the Data Centre for all government service platforms like immigration, road traffic directorate and others to be online.
“Everybody now knows that with IT you can work remotely anywhere in the world and the world moves on despite Covid-19 and this is a big opportunity where everyone agrees that digital is the way to go,” said Mtumbuka.
Kazako (right) with Jiya at the conferenceA group photograph
Ambali (left) and Chimchere after sealing the deal
Listed FDH Bank plc has signed a partnership agreement with health insurance provider Medical Aid Society of Malawi (Masm) to simplify digital payment processes for their clients.
Signing the agreement in Blantyre on Monday, FDH Bank marketing Manager Ronald Chimchere said as the world continues to go digital, everyone needs to adapt including essential services of financial services and health.
“FDH Bank Plc and Medical Aid Society of Malawi (MASM) being providers of key essential services under health and financial services have worked together over a long period of time, we are now taking the partnership further to bring convenience to our mutual clients by simplifying the digital payment process.”
“MASM payments can now be done instantly with FDH Bank Plc without the need to take proof of payment to MASM offices for activation. This can be done using FDH Mobile, Ufulu Digital Account, FDH wallet and any FDH Bank outlet, all under the *525# code or Mobile App or FDH One Click as well as FDH WhatsApp Banking,” said Chimchere.
He said the facility will bring the utmost convenience to customers and save time in fast paced world.
“We appreciate that health is critical and sensitive and even the slightest delays can lead to complications or loss of life; streamlining services in this sector is imperative. We are honored to have partnered with MASM on this and we look forward to future partnerships and innovations that improve the lives of our mutual customers and the country,” said Chimchere.
MASM Acting Chief Commercial Officer Bernard Ambali said the partnership with FDH Bank means that they have increased modes of payments of premiums for the convenience of their members.
“Once they make a payment, the upgrades are done instantly and they won’t be any need for them to come to our offices to do the manual upgrades, it is instant,” said Ambali.
