FDH Bank plc has donated K1 million to the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Malawi Chapter towards its annual lake conference scheduled for next month in Mangochi.

FDH Bank Marketing Manager Ronald Chimchere said they decided to support CIM because the organization has been in existence for a long time and has spearheaded a lot of changes in the marketing sphere.

“We understand that this year’s theme of the conference is ‘Business agility in the face of disruption’. This is the best theme in the current times especially considering the Covid-19 pandemic, that is why as FDH Bank we decided to help,” said Chimchere.

CIM-Malawi Chapter president Golden Banda thanked FDH Bank plc for the donation saying the bank has been their partner and supported their cause for the past years.

“We are very proud of FDH Bank plc because of its innovations especially the digital innovations, this shows that our marketers are making research to help serve your customers better,” said Banda.

He also said the conference will discuss several issues especially the disruptions that have affected businesses like the Covid-19 situation, the demonstrations and the fresh presidential elections.

“We will discuss and find ways how businesses can overcome these disruptions and finding new ways of marketing for continued business growth,” said Banda.

He also announced that this year’s conference will be headlined by a keynote address by State Vice President Saulos Chilima, an accomplished marketer himself.

Banda also said CIM-Malawi will be transitioning to the Institute of Marketing in Malawi (IMM) and currently going all legislative process at the moment.

CDH Investment Bank on Monday donated K3.5 million to Beit Cure International Hospital as part of its efforts to improve community health especially in children.

The donation was made in order to help the hospital sustain charitable paediatric surgeries in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Making the donation, CDH Investment Bank’s Chief Treasury Officer Paul Nyachiwowa noted that in the midst of COVID-19 hardships, operations for the Beit Cure Hospital have been affected and this has impacted some of their main operations including the provision of post-operative rehabilitative care and mobility devices to children who have received treatment at the Hospital.

“We believe that this donation will go a long way in helping the hospital to keep performing charitable surgeries on children and ensure that the children live normal lives as any other child,” said Nyachiwowa.

Receiving the donation Beit Cure Hospital Medical Director Dr. Kaisy Raphael thanked CDH Investment Bank for the gesture and expressed confidence that the funds will go a long way in providing mobility devices and post-surgery care for many children at the hospital.

He further said that some children fail to enjoy normal life regardless of COVID-19 restrictions because of their lack of basic life support resources and post-surgery care.

“With partnership such as the one exhibited by CDH Investment Bank today, the Hospital now has the capacity to build a better life for the children with special needs. For the sake of children and the development of the nation there is need to immediately start addressing the needs of disabled children and ensure that they access education as any other child,” said Raphael.

CDHIB, a leading investment bank in Malawi, opened for business on 2nd April 2012 following the successful conversion from Continental Discount House Limited (CDH) which had operated in the financial sector for 14 years since August 1998.

Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Patricia Kaliati on Monday visited the young girl who was defiled in Chikwawa last week.

The minister who was accompanied by the Chikwawa Chapter of UTM Women for Change, expressed shock at this barbaric and animosity act.

She warned men who are involved in this behaviour to stop with immediate effect.

“No sane man can have an excuse in doing this to young girls. This is insane. It is uncalled for. This kind of barbarism has no place in this civilized century we are now in,” said Kaliati.

She also warned parents who fail to take care of their children especially the girl child making them vulnerable to rape cases, will also be punished.

Recently, Kaliati was trending on social media saying men who target young girls leaving women of their size should be taught on how to ‘propose to a woman’.

Sounding sarcastic, Kaliati stressed that many men seem to be shy to ask a lady out and that is why they end up raping infants.

Commenting on the issue, UTM Women for Change Chikwawa Chapter teamleader Loster Kambwemba said that all men who are caught raping young girls should not be given an opportunity of bail.

She further pleaded with all mothers in the country to be taking good care of their girl children for fear of rapists. Last week, a man aged 38 defiled a girl aged 11 in Chikkwawa.

According to the police report, the man, Leonard Kanyama of Dziwazina village T/A Maseya in Chakwawa district took the young girl(name withheld) on his bicycle saying he would cycle her to her father.

However, the suspect diverted to the nearby bush with the girl where he defiled her.

He was later caught and arrested by the villagers who took him to police. Currently, the victim is admitted at Chikwawa district hospital for medical treatment.

The suspect will appear in court soon. This is happening when Malawi is fighting gender based violence in highest terms, teen pregnancies and early marriages championed by Kaliati.

SAY NO TO GENDER BASED VIOLENCE AND VICTIMISING OUR YOUNG GIRLS

By Mc Donald Chapalapata, a Contributor

National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc and the ICT Association of Malawi (ICTAM) have made a call for submissions from Innovators for the 2020 Innovation Jam Challenge, results of which will be announced at the Annual ICT Innovations Awards scheduled for 11-12^th December 2020.

This follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between NBM plc and ICTAM to manage the Innovations Jam from 2019 to 2022 in a bid to enhance innovation of both products or services and processes within industries and societies across the country.

Making the joint announcement on Friday in Blantyre, ICTAM President Bram Fudzulani said the objective of the Innovations Jam is to promote innovative ICT based solutions in the country by encouraging and rewarding excellence in original inventions or innovations.

“We expect the Innovation Jam to provide a platform for the industry to interact and promote innovations that can have a ripple effect on the national economy in accordance with Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS III). This will also serve as a platform for nurturing hidden ICT talent in the country, which can be used to simplify manual business processes and procedures,” said Fudzulani.  

The 2020 Innovation Jam submissions will primarily focus on categories namely Agriculture (Agritech), Health (E-health), Education (Edutech), Financial Technology (Fintech) and Artificial Intelligence.

“As the world recovers from and adjusts to the new normal created by the COVID-19 pandemic, a looming question is how to avoid reverting to the cumbersome and cautious legacy practices and risk-averse decision-making that had hobbled innovation performance in many organizations. The Jam will provide for a platform to engage policy makers on ways in which we can move forward with the local innovations at national level while supporting job creation opportunities,” explained Fudzulani.

Fudzulani said the innovation forum will focus on working with solutions with scalable impact and market ready concepts.

He said among other criteria for submission for the awards are that those submitting must be Malawians and they must be willing to work with hubs if selected for the incubation and acceleration of their innovations. There are no age restrictions for entrants, but the products brought forward should at least have a working prototype.

NBM plc Head of IT John Mitchell said the Bank is keenly interested in leveraging on innovations to drive industries and communities, especially at a time when unexpected disruptions such as Covid-19 abruptly alter market trends.

 “Digital Inclusion is well aligned to the Digitalization focus of our five-year strategy as a Bank and therefore we continue to work with ICTAM on the Innovations jam and other ICT related initiatives. As a Bank of the Nation, we are committed to providing a platform for innovators to reveal work that will benefit the entire country,” said Mitchel.

In 2019, the top two winners in the Fintech category were flown by NBM plc on an all-expenses paid trip to Kigali, Rwanda to attend the Africa Tech summit while the second runner up received a K1million cash prize.

This year, the deadline for receiving submissions for the Innovations Jam is the 16th of November 2020 and the shortlisted innovations will be released on 27th November 2020.

Chipembere Community Development Organization (CCDO) has distributed Personal Preventative Equipment (PPE) to Bvumbwe health facility, Bvumbwe and other support service institutions in rapid response to health threats posed by Covid19 to the frontline health workers in their line of duty.

Other Institutions include Bvumbwe police station and Mphezo, Nyambalo and Ligowe primary schools.

Presenting such PPEs as hand washing buckets, soap and face masks during stakeholders advocacy meeting, CCDO Executive Director , Dalitso Chiwayula said Covid19 has negatively impacted on health care delivery systems by impeding access to quality preventive and curative health services to the general public.

Chiwayula observed that the pandemic has significantly affected levels of access to treatment, care and support among the populations with health pre-conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHIV) in Thyolo district.

“This is mainly due to the shift of focus by the overstretched health service providers whose much concentration is on treating Covid19 cases, with less health attention to other illnesses”, observed Chiwayula.

He said in response to the pandemic, CCDO is carrying out campaign in which it is engaging authorities at the District Health Office (DHO) in a bid to advocate for a multi-month-ARV dispensing through Home-Based health service delivery.

“Adopting this way will ensure social distancing is observed and exposure to Covid19 at the health facility among PLWHIV is reduced. The approach will also enhance ARV adherence for the targeted population in hard-to-reach areas,” he explained.

In response, one key stakeholders from the health facilities around Thyolo district, Lawrence Liffa observed that CCDO’s advocacy agenda was worth considering and said they would liaise with the relevant authorities to fast-track the multi-month dispensing of ARVs process to ensure continued access to ART treatment among PLWHIV Amin’s Covid19.

One of the community beneficiaries attending the advocacy meeting, 30 year old Mary Mulohva, commended CCDO for the initiative saying this would save time and transport cost incurred during her routine visits to the health facility to get ARV.

“I have long waited for such initiative as this: accessing ART right from my doorstep will ease the burden of walking long distances to get ARVs from the health facility,” said Mulohva.

CCDO is implementing the project in Thyolo district in emergency response to Covid19 with support from Frontline AIDS in United Kingdom.

The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has demanded an investigation into the procurement process that led to the awarding of a contract to Jiangsu Suzhong Construction Group Company Limited/Plem Construction joint venture by the Southern Region Water Board (SRWB).

The demand follows revelations that SRWB awarded Jiangsu Suzhong Construction Group Company Limited/Plem Construction Limited joint venture at $16.3 million, leaving a local company, Kuwait Dynamic Limited/Fisd, which quoted the contract at $12.3 million.

This means the project will go at a cost of MK1.6 billion more than what the lowest bidder had offered.

CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa, in a statement released on Saturday afternoon, expresses concern that the multi-million Kwacha contract is being awarded at a time when the Malawi government is struggling to provide essential services to its citizens such as drugs in our public health facilities across the country.

 The country is further struggling to offset the huge external debts from international financial institutions.

“And yet SRWB can afford the luxury of offering a contract to a very expensive bidder! It is a well-known fact that the loan for the project from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, will be paid using taxpayers’ money,” reads the statement in part.

Namiwa says it is high time the country started reducing its external debts through prudent use of funds, and not by being extravagant, thereby exposing Malawians to more untold misery.

He acknowledges that there are some technicalities in procurement process, which enabled SRWB to award Jiangsu Suzhong Construction Group Company Limited.

 “However, the reservations that have been expressed by the local procurement experts, have prompted CDEDI to speak out on the matter. What is more surprising is that the SRWB evaluation report, which the newspaper was privileged to have gotten hold of, shows that the lowest bidder “passed both preliminary examination and detailed technical evaluation, but was not picked purportedly because the bidder’s pricing offer showed lack of understanding of the “technicalities and complexities of the project.

Such a justification has been shot down by local procurement experts who say that at financial stage, the evaluation should’ve considered financial related matters and not technical issues.  From this school of thought, it is crystal clear that some corners have been cut,” suspects Namiwa.

He says investigations CDEDI conducted revealed that the lowest bidder has done a similar job for the SRWB before, an indication that the bidder is well conversant with the job in question, if the bidder’s track record is anything to go by.

 He stresses that what SRWB has done to award a contract to a foreign based bidder, is similar to a decision made by the Ministry of Health to award a contract to a foreign based bidder to supply ambulances to the ministry, of which scenarios, the decisions have been made under the administration of the Tonse Alliance government.

 “In the SRWB scenario, the decision to award a contract to a foreign based bidder has been made at the watch, and/or with consent from the parastatal’s cohort of board members who have just been recently hired by President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera.

 Ironically, the Tonse Alliance government was ushered into office on trust that the administration would honour its promise of creating one million jobs in the country. On the contrary, the one million jobs are now being exported to foreign based bidders, and in the process the country is also losing the much-needed Forex,” Namiwa states.

 “It is against this background that Malawians who are taxpayers and CDEDI as an advocacy institution feel duty bound to demand the SRWB to reconsider its decision to award a contract to a foreign based bidder, and save MK1.6 billion.

RWB should further consider waiving some procurement procedures to enable local contractors to have a fair share of the project by either awarding them the contract wholly, or pairing them with the foreign based contractors, in the spirit of promoting the indigenous business people, and abiding by the Tonse Alliance philosophy.”

Lastly, but not the least, CDEDI is asking the Anti- Corruption bureau to zero in and investigate the whole procurement process at the SRWB, since it looks very suspicious, and with very flimsy justification from the concerned staff at the parastatal,” he concludes.

By Mc Donald Chapalapata, a Contributor

National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc has partnered with a cancer awareness and rights organization, Think Pink Malawi to hold this year’s annual breast cancer awareness virtual walk slated for this Saturday (tomorrow).

NBM plc Marketing and Corporate Affairs Manager Akossa Hiwa said in an interview yesterday that due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, this year’s walk will be a ‘virtual’ one where people are supposed to observe social distancing rules.

“As you are aware, the month of October is the Breast Cancer awareness month and each year, Think Pink Malawi holds an annual breast cancer awareness walk where women, men, boys and girls wear pink and walk distances to bring awareness of the disease. This year due to Covid-19, we will be having a virtual walk where people will be walking for at least 2 kilometres in their preferred environment,” said Hiwa.

She said people can walk alone or with friends as long as they observe the social distancing rules.

“People are urged to take selfies or videos of themselves walking or running and post them on social media with the hashtag #ShowYouCareBeAware. They can then tag NBM plc and Think Pink Malawi social media pages to further raise awareness,” said Hiwa.

Think Pink Malawi Co-Founder Eleanor Nkosi said pink T-shirts for the walk are available for sale at K6,000 at Urban Café in Lilongwe or August House number 242 Tsoka Road Area 10 in Lilongwe. Those looking to purchase T-Shirts from other cities may call Think Pink Representatives on 0885 134 269.

“Others can also get sponsors to sponsor them for every kilometer they walk for K2,000 per kilometer and donate the funds raised to Think Pink Malawi for use in planned outreach programs,” said Nkosi.

Earlier this month, NBM plc donated K2.5 million towards cancer screening and treatment of vulnerable men and women through Think Pink Malawi.

Nkosi thanked NBM plc for the support and reiterated that Think Pink Malawi, which was established in 2014, will continue advocating for inclusive healthcare for all cancer patients. She emphasized that the support from NBM plc was an encouraging gesture in creating awareness to the public on breast cancer.