Flip videos have proved to be useless in Malawi, with the only six people who have the latest divices crying foul over break downs and poor after services from the Flip Video Online Back Up Services team.
Malawi has, so far, six Flip Videos- including one Flip Video Minolta.
But all these are useless now, because they have broken down.
The owners of the Flip Videos, manufactured in China, have bemoaned poor after services, saying after they contacted the Flip Video Online team for assistance, they did not get satisfactory answers.
"The guys had the audecity to tell me that my Flip Video was just working by 'accident'(meaning, luck) because my computer is not compatible with the Flip Video programme. They are cheats; I have used the same Flip Video for two years and they were working. Do these guys mean Flip Videos misbehave, and work where they are not supposed to work. That means their product has gotten out of their hands, and shows how incompetent they are," said Michael Chanza, who has a Flip Video Minolta.
Zachimalawi has since contacted the Flip Video team for a response. Thee guys only promised to "come back in 15 hours" (three days ago). They are yet to.
So, Malawians, don't waste your time and resources on Flip Videos. They are useless until proven otherwise.
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Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Proud to be a Malawian, proud of Robray Matress Limited
As the Office of the Director of Public Procurement is busy in the papers, advising government departments to buy Malawian, I wish to congratulate the Department and urge Malawians to buy Malawian.
Talking about buying Malawian, the compony Robray Matress Limited comes to mind. It cannot be argued that the company manufactures the best quality matresses ever in Malawi, and that no Zambian, Zimbabwean and even South African company can compete with it locally.
The guys are just brilliant, and represent the true Malawian spirit.
That is the reason, on a personal note, I did not hesitate to buy two, eight inch matresses for home use.
I just enjoyed the Robray Matress experience.
Just a request to the Robray guys: please, reduce your prices for Malawians to enjoy your products. As I went home yesterday, people kept shouting: vimatilesi vozungu ivi; nyofwi-nyofwi.
That is a sad statement; it means many people cannot afford the matresses.
For the two I bought, I coughed K15,000 for each (amounting to K30,000). nO, Robray guys: think of my Agogo in Bolero, Rumphi. She simply cannot manage these prices.
As for the quality of your products; you make me proud.
Talking about buying Malawian, the compony Robray Matress Limited comes to mind. It cannot be argued that the company manufactures the best quality matresses ever in Malawi, and that no Zambian, Zimbabwean and even South African company can compete with it locally.
The guys are just brilliant, and represent the true Malawian spirit.
That is the reason, on a personal note, I did not hesitate to buy two, eight inch matresses for home use.
I just enjoyed the Robray Matress experience.
Just a request to the Robray guys: please, reduce your prices for Malawians to enjoy your products. As I went home yesterday, people kept shouting: vimatilesi vozungu ivi; nyofwi-nyofwi.
That is a sad statement; it means many people cannot afford the matresses.
For the two I bought, I coughed K15,000 for each (amounting to K30,000). nO, Robray guys: think of my Agogo in Bolero, Rumphi. She simply cannot manage these prices.
As for the quality of your products; you make me proud.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Ngwazi Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika
We love you.
Congratulations on your recent appointment as Africa Union Chairperson.
Sure enough, you have floored that power-maniac, Colonel Muammar Gadaffi. Well, the man Gadaffi is a power glutton.
Let him eat his 'oil', but we will tap from your wisdom and visionary leadership, Your Excelency.
Lastly, let me thank you for booting that idiot, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi.
The guy was useless at State House.
Whenever we met, he would never tire to tell those who cared to listen that he never wanted to be anywhere near me; that I was a rude bwai up to disgrace your government, Sir.
His communication strategy was hatred, that poor chap!
Well, now he is the Director of Information and had already proved how useless he is: yapping political quick-quacks instead of development.
Poor, useless chap.
That is why, Your Excellency Ngwazi Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, I say you are wise and visionary.
Boot that Chikumbutso Mtumodzi out of that big position, Sir.
The chap is useless.
By the way, I met him yesterday (Sunday) and he told me in the face he never wants to see me.
Poor chap, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi.
That is why I say, Sir, that you are visionary.
Because that guy, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi, will not stay long there; he will be fired and start Ulimi wansomba!!!
Yes, ulimi wansomba. That is where he belongs.
Congratulations on your recent appointment as Africa Union Chairperson.
Sure enough, you have floored that power-maniac, Colonel Muammar Gadaffi. Well, the man Gadaffi is a power glutton.
Let him eat his 'oil', but we will tap from your wisdom and visionary leadership, Your Excelency.
Lastly, let me thank you for booting that idiot, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi.
The guy was useless at State House.
Whenever we met, he would never tire to tell those who cared to listen that he never wanted to be anywhere near me; that I was a rude bwai up to disgrace your government, Sir.
His communication strategy was hatred, that poor chap!
Well, now he is the Director of Information and had already proved how useless he is: yapping political quick-quacks instead of development.
Poor, useless chap.
That is why, Your Excellency Ngwazi Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, I say you are wise and visionary.
Boot that Chikumbutso Mtumodzi out of that big position, Sir.
The chap is useless.
By the way, I met him yesterday (Sunday) and he told me in the face he never wants to see me.
Poor chap, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi.
That is why I say, Sir, that you are visionary.
Because that guy, Chikumbutso Mtumodzi, will not stay long there; he will be fired and start Ulimi wansomba!!!
Yes, ulimi wansomba. That is where he belongs.
Richard Chirombo on Privatisation, Trade and HIV/AIDS
PPPs shift to distort PC’s funding mechanism
BY RICHARD CHIROMBO
GOVERNMENT’S planned shift from privation to Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), currently awaiting cabinet approval, will affect traditional funding mechanisms for the Privation Commission (PC) as it places more responsibility on PPP-sponsoring ministries.
This contrasts sharply with present trends, where the PC sources its funds through appropriation of proceeds. This is done with prior approval of the Ministry of Finance, and is provided for in the Public Enterprises (Privatization) Act.
Under the PPP, however, it is intimated that the bulk of transactions’ costs will be identified by the sponsoring ministries because PPP projects will be conceived by government ministries and departments.
Sponsoring ministries are ministries under which government departments or statutory corporations fall. For instance, the National Lotteries Board (NLB) is a statutory corporation that falls under the Ministry of Finance (MoF). MoF is thus NLB’s sponsoring ministry in cases of PPPs transactions.
According to the PC’s 2008 Annual Report, the new arrangement will make it possible for ministries to opt for donor funding in case of huge transactions whose funds may not be sourced locally. Operational costs that may necessitate donor interventions will include complex feasibility studies, value for money assessments, management and procurement initiatives.
“(In fact) a Project Development Facility will be established by the Ministry of Finance to co-ordinate funding requirements for various PPP initiatives. It is envisaged that the MoF will mobilize donor funding to meet transaction costs in various ministries,” reads part of the report.
Malawi has intensified efforts towards establishing a PPPs framework, with the MoF taking the lead. The ministry currently leads a steering committee that is coordinating implementation of the framework.
Members of the steering committee include MoF (Chair), Office of the President and Cabinet, Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Office of the Director of Public Procurement and the Privation Commission.
The committee’s main task has been to draft a national PPP Policy and Bill, which has since been prepared and submitted to cabinet for approval. This came about after a comprehensive review of legal, institutional and regulatory frameworks.
The World Bank, through the Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility, has been in the fore-front bankrolling the review programmes. The bank was also instrumental in funding the Privatization and Utility Reform Project (Purp) in 2007, a programme remembered for two things back home: building capacity interventions that saw most professional staff at PC being equipped with PPPs management skills, and the dismissal of 10 staff members from the privatization implementation agency.
“The winding up of Purp saw the reduction in the Commission’s (PC) staff complement from 30 to 20,” says PC’s Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Lipunga in the report.
The report indicates that, while more work has already been done, more remained in the pipeline. After the draft bill and policy have been approved by cabinet, for example, there will be need to define the extent to which the PPP approach will be applied within the public sector.
This will be followed by a comprehensive public awareness campaign aimed at acquainting Malawians with the new concept as well as its role in public policy. It is hoped that this will help clear misconceptions about privation.
Already, the privatization programme, now wobbling through its last days, has been heavily criticized for creating job losses and creating less employment opportunities as some of those engaged are expatriates with questionable credentials.
Consumers Association of Malawi Executive Director, John Kapito, is less charitable in his appraisal of the programme. He says privatization has not translated into the much-needed improvements, in terms of customer service delivery and satisfaction.
“There are many areas that (still) leave a lot to be desired in terms of service delivery,” said Kapito.
The PC has, however, often cited the many privatized companies that are doing well on the market as the silver lining of the whole programme. These include S&A Cold Storage, Bakhresa Grain and Milling, Chitakale Tea Estates.
Indications are that the Ministries of Health, Transport and Public Works, Housing, Education and Tourism could generate a significant number of PPPs.
“This is (PPPs in these ministries) in keeping with the spirit of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy, which places much emphasis on infrastructure as a means of attaining economic growth and poverty reduction,” says Lipunga.
Adds Lipunga in the report: “Studies have shown that investment in infrastructure creates positive effects on not only the economic well being of citizens but also nearly all the social indicators. To the extent that the PPP policy framework will stimulate growth in infrastructure it, therefore, means that the quality of livelihoods at grass root level will, of necessity, improve- an essential ingredient in the attainment of Millennium Development Goals.”
The PC points at the Shire-Zambezi Waterway and its accompanying sub-projects, Mtwala and Nacala Development Corridors, Kapichira Power Plant, Cape Maclear Tourism Developemnt, rehabilitation and refurbishment of terminal and runways at Kamuzu and Chileka International Airports, Lilongwe and Blantyre Water Boards, strategic fuel reserves in Liwonde and oil pipeline from Nacala/Beira as some of the potential candidates for PPPs.
Service exports could help improve Malawi ’s Trade Balance
BY RICHARD CHIROMBO
AS Malawi continues to chalk persistent Trade Balance deficits on her economic sheets, indications are that the country could do more if it tightened its grip a bit tighter over service exports.
The country has for the past two decades failed to reach the bench-mark 15.6 per cent of service exports for developing countries and has, instead, continued to hover below 11 per cent. This has translated into five or more percentage points below the set standard for most African countries.
An International Trade Centre (ITC) Capacity Study to Promote Exports of Services from Malawi , released on January 31, 2005, indicated that the country had the potential to make it big in, at least, nine areas.
These include accounting, auditing and book keeping; educational services; equipment leasing; health-related services; legal services; management consulting; peace keeping and security services; agricultural and medical research, and; tourism related services.
In spite of this potential, Malawi has continued to perform below par since 1995. While the export percentage for goods declined by negative-0.8 per cent (from 94.8 per cent in 1995 to 89.5 per cent in 2002), service exports only grew by 10.7 per cent (from 5.2 per cent in 1995 to 10.5 per cent in 2002).
During those years, travel and tourism grew from 3.7 per cent (in 1995) to 7.1 per cent in 2002 while transportation services (export) grew from 1.4 per cent to 3.4 per cent, among others.
This is also vindicated in International Monetary Fund Balance of Payment Statistics Yearbook (2004).
However, recent statistics from ITC indicate that the country has not improved much on service exports, despite indications that the area could help it cover up for some of its Trade Balance deficits.
“The average for developing countries is for services to be 15.6 per cent of total exports, and Malawi is considerably below that average,” says an ITC report, which also looks at Malawi ’s prospect for 2010.
It adds: “Under the next five years, the international context for Malawi ’s trade services will become increasingly liberalized, which will increase foreign competition for Malawi ’s service firms, both abroad and in the domestic market.”
However, indications are that the country was yet to attain this status- where the country’s service firms are much sought after both at local and international level. The proliferation of foreign firms in Malawi itself has resulted into wanton cries of exploitation that the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions, for instance, has since called for the deportation of all exploitative companies.
Most Malawians still go out to perform manual labour in such countries as South Africa, also, as the country still bathes in darkness over its unemployment rate. There is no official rate for unemployment, except sketchy details found in district strategic development plans.
This could explain why the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy does not explain anything about current unemployment rates, and, very much, the country’s blue print seeks to reduce such rates. The development ostensibly means the country can not calculate the overall value of its service exports, by looking at the number of skilled people who may help it offer services abroad, and how many need skilled training to compliment the labour force already contributing towards Malawi ’s service exports.
The Chikwawa District Strategic Investment Plan (2008-2015), for instance, indicates that only 10.7 per cent of the population is engaged in wage employment of some form or another while the national picture remains blank.
Globally, the most growing component of international trade has come to be that of ‘other services’. These are all services other than transportation, travel and government services.
Such services have grown at an average annual rate of 6.0 per cent since 1995.
ITC says Malawi’s ‘other services’ have included the export of professional services, business support services, educational services, financial services and health related services.
It, however, bemoans the general lack of information on the country’s ‘other services’ exports.
“It is unfortunate that there are no data on the volume of Malawi ’s ‘other services’ exports. (However) imports of ‘other services’ have increased from 1.7 per cent in 1995 to 4.1 per cent (in 2005) and have been growing at an average annual growth rate of 17.0 per cent since 1995,” says ITC.
Malawi has been exporting legal services to such countries as Belgium , Burundi , Canada , Ethiopia , Finland , France , Germany , Ghana , Greece , India , Italy , Japan , Kenya , Netherlands , Norway , Pakistan , Sudan , Switzerland , United Kingdom , USA , Zambia , Zimbabwe , among others.
The main importers of Malawi’s accounting services are Germany, Italy, India, Switzerland, South Africa, Sudan, Pakistan, among others, while the European Union, India, Pakistan are the main importers of architectural services.
ICT indicates that Malawi has also made some international in roads with such services as engineering, design services, medical services, midwives and nurses, computer services, agricultural services, equipment rental and leasing, property maintenance, among others.
Malawi ’s trade balance with the rest of the world widened by 31 per cent from K69.2 billion in 2007 to K90.4 billion during the 2008 trade year.
Government has, however, blamed the development on high crude oil and fertilizer prices. This forced government to dig dipper into depleted coffers as the two commodities continue to be some of the country’s strategic imports.
New Finance Minister, Ken Kandodo, has said the development was inevitable since government had to go ahead with the fertilizer subsidy programme but sees improved fortunes this year.
Trade balance is the difference in monetary value of a country’s imports and exports. Statistics indicate that, despite the potential to cover up for the country’s trade deficits, the country continues to consume what it does not produce, and import more than it exports.
This has incensed President Bingu wa Mutharika, who seems eager to shift the country’s focus from that of a net importer to one whose products and services saturate international markets. This has been government’s main policy goal for the past five years, a trend billed to continue- now that Mutharika has a legal cover of five more years.
How HIV and AIDS wedged between me and my sister
I come (rather came, for the two most important people in my life are long gone towards that way of all the earth) from the family of four children- two boys and girls. A family of equal opportunities, as that figuring implies. During the night of February 3, 1981, my father was busy working in the field in Chikwawa when a child cried at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital; to be so lucky as to be the first born, that dilemma newly-married couples face, and the questions: When and how to chase you out of their bedroom when they feel like you are old enough to know ‘some’ things.
It is an age old dilemma for the child, too. How to cope with a solitary bedroom and the darkness, for those whose parents may not afford housemaids as was the case with me. The first feel of the independence that is to come at one point in life, when one leaves the home to make out life by themselves. Mr. Leviano Simon Chirombo, that was my father’s name (which I have wholly adopted) and Mrs. Chirombo always made it a point to remind me that being first meant-born meant being a leader of the family in the absence of parents and older relatives. So, it sank into me that whoever came after me would respect me, and expect me to lead the path. I never expected something else. (This is the essence of this, my real life story).
My solitary room in house number 11 in Chitawira, Blantyre, which during the day served as a kitchen, would soon have to house two souls, following the birth on September18, 1983 of my brother Madalitso. That was before the first female of our family, Prisca, joined the world of the Chirombos on February 22, 1988. Shortly after, we got transferred to Salima district when it appeared to the Electricity Supply Commission (the term ‘corporation’ used now was not yet born) of Malawi (Escom) that their employee, Mr. Chirombo, needed to move on.
Those who have been to the lakeshore district can testify that it can be horribly hot. Add to this the relatively salty water people who live there have to put up with without noticing it. Old people in Salima say the salt in the drinking water (including washing, or whatever it be) is a ready-given cure to mosquito bites, one of the nuisances of the wonder that is Salima. God might be a real genius because, our moving to Salima- what I call our shift towards the heat and the salt- might have been a prophesy, the metaphor for a prophesy; that they represented the heat that life would throw at us, the pain that we would have to bear without the barest opportunity to fight back, or defend ourselves.
There, in Salima, I experienced the worst part of my life. Barely two years in the district, my mother fell sick. It was to be the beginning of a continuous ‘shifts’ of her sickness. It all started after the birth of the last born in our family, a sister called Donatta.
Mother, Maccullata remains her beautiful name, moved from one district to another- Salima, Zomba, Dedza, Ntchisi- in search of cure to her ‘mysterious’ disease. I was young, around 11 years old, and did know what she was suffering from- did not want to know because I feared the sadness that might have gripped me. That is when I learned the real meaning of love (my definition of love): Love is the feeling that holds us from visiting our parents and loved ones when they begin shedding off the very body they have built over so many years of good food, for fear of meeting our worst fears (not our best feelings). Those opposing, let them raise a finger against me!
The sickness went on for about three years. I was innocent, not knowing what it was mother suffered from. The last time I saw her, she had just come from a private clinic at Nsangu, along the Malawi College of Armed Forces road in Salima, where she had been for three months. We used to go, me and my brother (Prisca and Donatta were very young) to see her. Sometimes she would be of good cheer, sometimes she would be not. I remember the blue paint of sadness we wore on those days; her sadness was ours, too, our natural concern. Then, one day, she came home. Unable to walk; to stand on her own. People supported her on both sides, the left and the right hand sides.
What had happened? We knew that our mother was a walking being, who helped us walk.
The next day, mum left for Zomba- or so we were told- in the never ending search for good health. Life. Then, a month later, on June 21, 1993, the message came. She was dead.
I couldn’t grasp the reality that for all I am, I was only allowed to live with my mother for 12 years. I remember asking my nine-year old younger brother: “So, we will never see her again?” This, of course, was a stupid question. As the older one, I was supposed to know better, to be a leader in courage and strength.
Let me also say here that I never saw mum in state; how she looked when she was dead. Absolutely no picture. This is because we arrived in Kantchito Village, in the area of Traditional Authority Kamenyagwaza late, an hour after burial. It pains, that I was not even allowed to see my mum in state.
She must have known that she was dying, however. Because, in the interim as she searched for medicine, she had arranged that my two sisters- Donatta and Prisca- go and live with her elder sister in Rumphi district once she was dead. The two went, on June 28, 1993. We would never see each other for the next 11 years, until September 21, 1998. This is long after my father died on September 18, 1998.
He had been to Salima District Hospital, admitted for Tuberculosis. He had been to Mtengowanthenga, seeking treatment for shingles. He had been to so many places, Mr. Leviano Simon Chirombo, only to be overtaken by pneumonia. That September night, children were playing outside our house in Takomana, when my father died at home but we couldn’t tell them to keep quite because, even after two years of continued sickness, the reality could not sink in just like that. That a father was gone, and with him, our colourful past.
I remember one of our cousins, we had lived with him for almost 11 years, telling me: Kids, you have entered another phase of your life. No luxury. I thank Nisphore Gervasio Chirombo, now deceased, for that peace of advice.
These details are important to keep you in context of what I have to say next.
My youngest sister, Donatta, is the first one I saw on September 21, 2004. She had come to visit in Chilomoni, Blantyre, where I had lived with my uncle since 1998. That day, I arrived ‘home’ around 7:00pm to hear that Donatta, now 11, had been waiting for me for close to two hours. She had arranged to sleep here, anyway. I found her sitting on the verandah, surrounded by the whole family of my uncle- four children plus the aunt (only the uncle was not home).
She did not greet me, she just started (here, she will be DC and I, RC):
DC: Where have you been?
RC: Mbayani. I was visiting my friends –Justice Mponda and Lucius Phaiya.The stay together.
DC: Who asked you to mention that? Is this your house? Coming at 7:00pm?Answer me now!
RC: Quiet -Thinking: this 11 year old must be mad)
DC: Answer me. Since when have you had a house of your own to come home this late: Is this your house?
RC: (Quiet -Looking at her to see if it really was coming from her. She was breathing hard; she was angry. I saw it more than felt it. The others just watched. I think they felt sorry for me, stripped like this n public).
DC: Ok, you must be as stubborn and inconsiderate as your father. Like him, you never came to visit us in Rumphi, you hard-heartened creatures!
Your father, he was a very bad man, you know. We have heard that he used to move from one place to another as he worked for the Transmission Department of Escom at Salima. Today he would be in Nkhotakota, tomorrow Chintheche or Nkhatabay.
RC: (Listening)
DC: You know what he used to do? Sleep with different ladies. One day mum caught him. He was a bad man, your father. Let me tell you something…………
RC: (Listening)
DC: Your father infected my mother with HIV. They died of AIDS. It was AIDS that killed them!
I stormed out of the verandah, in anger. My own sister couldn’t be speaking as if my father was not her father. Anyone who hates my father hates me, I said, and that’s what I maintain to this day- hate him and hate me. That night in my bedroom (there was no bed!) I made enemies with her. That same night, she lost a brother. I don’t know f she knew that. I did not even escort her the next day because she had shamed me in ‘public’, before all those people.
To day the truth, I knew nothing about the HIV and AIDS issue. And I never even suspected anything from my parents’ deaths. For her, then, to say it like that pained me. I have never been troubled like that before. I will never be. I even told this story to the people I knew to be my enemies so I could get angry at Donatta every time they reminded me about it. It was a way of not wanting to forget it.
Donatta went and, over time, crossed the path of those who were doing everything for her (I still believe the spirits were angry with her for defaming the dead), and they abandoned her in the village, Dedza. There, she has missed school since 2007. She was in form one. My younger brother told me she had started moving about- Lilongwe, Dedza boma, Ntchisi- without taking leave at home or saying where she was going. I did not care; she was my enemy. That thing about my parents dying of HIV and AIDS.
Then, on January 10 this year, she called me, asking if she could come over and continue with her schooling after almost a two-year break. I told her no, she needed to find her real ‘brothers’ who could help her. I would not be sisters with someone who talks ill of my father, about the things I know nothing about, and in ‘public’. I was not one of them.
I hang the phone. But the next day, she called again, and said we needed to forgive each other. That, perhaps, it was the people she had been staying with who misinformed her. She said she regretted saying it the way she did.
I still said no.
Then, on January 18, 2009, I met my long-time friend Jonathan Kaliveni who told me ‘live’ that his parents had died of HIV and AIDS, and that it was common knowledge in their family.
That’s how I got my break-through over the issue of HIV and AIDS and my parents. If Jonathan can say it in the open, and without being asked, what is so shameful about being HIV-positive? What if they really died from its related illnesses but just kept it under raps because I was young? Or, put in other words, if they died of other health problems not related to HIV and AIDS, can I bring them back? No.
That’s why I invited Donatta home. Now, I happily pay her school fees, and she really takes good care of the home. HIV and AIDS will never divide us again; it must unite us as we seek that will help us curtail the same.
We are family again.
BY RICHARD CHIROMBO
GOVERNMENT’S planned shift from privation to Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), currently awaiting cabinet approval, will affect traditional funding mechanisms for the Privation Commission (PC) as it places more responsibility on PPP-sponsoring ministries.
This contrasts sharply with present trends, where the PC sources its funds through appropriation of proceeds. This is done with prior approval of the Ministry of Finance, and is provided for in the Public Enterprises (Privatization) Act.
Under the PPP, however, it is intimated that the bulk of transactions’ costs will be identified by the sponsoring ministries because PPP projects will be conceived by government ministries and departments.
Sponsoring ministries are ministries under which government departments or statutory corporations fall. For instance, the National Lotteries Board (NLB) is a statutory corporation that falls under the Ministry of Finance (MoF). MoF is thus NLB’s sponsoring ministry in cases of PPPs transactions.
According to the PC’s 2008 Annual Report, the new arrangement will make it possible for ministries to opt for donor funding in case of huge transactions whose funds may not be sourced locally. Operational costs that may necessitate donor interventions will include complex feasibility studies, value for money assessments, management and procurement initiatives.
“(In fact) a Project Development Facility will be established by the Ministry of Finance to co-ordinate funding requirements for various PPP initiatives. It is envisaged that the MoF will mobilize donor funding to meet transaction costs in various ministries,” reads part of the report.
Malawi has intensified efforts towards establishing a PPPs framework, with the MoF taking the lead. The ministry currently leads a steering committee that is coordinating implementation of the framework.
Members of the steering committee include MoF (Chair), Office of the President and Cabinet, Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Office of the Director of Public Procurement and the Privation Commission.
The committee’s main task has been to draft a national PPP Policy and Bill, which has since been prepared and submitted to cabinet for approval. This came about after a comprehensive review of legal, institutional and regulatory frameworks.
The World Bank, through the Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility, has been in the fore-front bankrolling the review programmes. The bank was also instrumental in funding the Privatization and Utility Reform Project (Purp) in 2007, a programme remembered for two things back home: building capacity interventions that saw most professional staff at PC being equipped with PPPs management skills, and the dismissal of 10 staff members from the privatization implementation agency.
“The winding up of Purp saw the reduction in the Commission’s (PC) staff complement from 30 to 20,” says PC’s Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Lipunga in the report.
The report indicates that, while more work has already been done, more remained in the pipeline. After the draft bill and policy have been approved by cabinet, for example, there will be need to define the extent to which the PPP approach will be applied within the public sector.
This will be followed by a comprehensive public awareness campaign aimed at acquainting Malawians with the new concept as well as its role in public policy. It is hoped that this will help clear misconceptions about privation.
Already, the privatization programme, now wobbling through its last days, has been heavily criticized for creating job losses and creating less employment opportunities as some of those engaged are expatriates with questionable credentials.
Consumers Association of Malawi Executive Director, John Kapito, is less charitable in his appraisal of the programme. He says privatization has not translated into the much-needed improvements, in terms of customer service delivery and satisfaction.
“There are many areas that (still) leave a lot to be desired in terms of service delivery,” said Kapito.
The PC has, however, often cited the many privatized companies that are doing well on the market as the silver lining of the whole programme. These include S&A Cold Storage, Bakhresa Grain and Milling, Chitakale Tea Estates.
Indications are that the Ministries of Health, Transport and Public Works, Housing, Education and Tourism could generate a significant number of PPPs.
“This is (PPPs in these ministries) in keeping with the spirit of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy, which places much emphasis on infrastructure as a means of attaining economic growth and poverty reduction,” says Lipunga.
Adds Lipunga in the report: “Studies have shown that investment in infrastructure creates positive effects on not only the economic well being of citizens but also nearly all the social indicators. To the extent that the PPP policy framework will stimulate growth in infrastructure it, therefore, means that the quality of livelihoods at grass root level will, of necessity, improve- an essential ingredient in the attainment of Millennium Development Goals.”
The PC points at the Shire-Zambezi Waterway and its accompanying sub-projects, Mtwala and Nacala Development Corridors, Kapichira Power Plant, Cape Maclear Tourism Developemnt, rehabilitation and refurbishment of terminal and runways at Kamuzu and Chileka International Airports, Lilongwe and Blantyre Water Boards, strategic fuel reserves in Liwonde and oil pipeline from Nacala/Beira as some of the potential candidates for PPPs.
Service exports could help improve Malawi ’s Trade Balance
BY RICHARD CHIROMBO
AS Malawi continues to chalk persistent Trade Balance deficits on her economic sheets, indications are that the country could do more if it tightened its grip a bit tighter over service exports.
The country has for the past two decades failed to reach the bench-mark 15.6 per cent of service exports for developing countries and has, instead, continued to hover below 11 per cent. This has translated into five or more percentage points below the set standard for most African countries.
An International Trade Centre (ITC) Capacity Study to Promote Exports of Services from Malawi , released on January 31, 2005, indicated that the country had the potential to make it big in, at least, nine areas.
These include accounting, auditing and book keeping; educational services; equipment leasing; health-related services; legal services; management consulting; peace keeping and security services; agricultural and medical research, and; tourism related services.
In spite of this potential, Malawi has continued to perform below par since 1995. While the export percentage for goods declined by negative-0.8 per cent (from 94.8 per cent in 1995 to 89.5 per cent in 2002), service exports only grew by 10.7 per cent (from 5.2 per cent in 1995 to 10.5 per cent in 2002).
During those years, travel and tourism grew from 3.7 per cent (in 1995) to 7.1 per cent in 2002 while transportation services (export) grew from 1.4 per cent to 3.4 per cent, among others.
This is also vindicated in International Monetary Fund Balance of Payment Statistics Yearbook (2004).
However, recent statistics from ITC indicate that the country has not improved much on service exports, despite indications that the area could help it cover up for some of its Trade Balance deficits.
“The average for developing countries is for services to be 15.6 per cent of total exports, and Malawi is considerably below that average,” says an ITC report, which also looks at Malawi ’s prospect for 2010.
It adds: “Under the next five years, the international context for Malawi ’s trade services will become increasingly liberalized, which will increase foreign competition for Malawi ’s service firms, both abroad and in the domestic market.”
However, indications are that the country was yet to attain this status- where the country’s service firms are much sought after both at local and international level. The proliferation of foreign firms in Malawi itself has resulted into wanton cries of exploitation that the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions, for instance, has since called for the deportation of all exploitative companies.
Most Malawians still go out to perform manual labour in such countries as South Africa, also, as the country still bathes in darkness over its unemployment rate. There is no official rate for unemployment, except sketchy details found in district strategic development plans.
This could explain why the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy does not explain anything about current unemployment rates, and, very much, the country’s blue print seeks to reduce such rates. The development ostensibly means the country can not calculate the overall value of its service exports, by looking at the number of skilled people who may help it offer services abroad, and how many need skilled training to compliment the labour force already contributing towards Malawi ’s service exports.
The Chikwawa District Strategic Investment Plan (2008-2015), for instance, indicates that only 10.7 per cent of the population is engaged in wage employment of some form or another while the national picture remains blank.
Globally, the most growing component of international trade has come to be that of ‘other services’. These are all services other than transportation, travel and government services.
Such services have grown at an average annual rate of 6.0 per cent since 1995.
ITC says Malawi’s ‘other services’ have included the export of professional services, business support services, educational services, financial services and health related services.
It, however, bemoans the general lack of information on the country’s ‘other services’ exports.
“It is unfortunate that there are no data on the volume of Malawi ’s ‘other services’ exports. (However) imports of ‘other services’ have increased from 1.7 per cent in 1995 to 4.1 per cent (in 2005) and have been growing at an average annual growth rate of 17.0 per cent since 1995,” says ITC.
Malawi has been exporting legal services to such countries as Belgium , Burundi , Canada , Ethiopia , Finland , France , Germany , Ghana , Greece , India , Italy , Japan , Kenya , Netherlands , Norway , Pakistan , Sudan , Switzerland , United Kingdom , USA , Zambia , Zimbabwe , among others.
The main importers of Malawi’s accounting services are Germany, Italy, India, Switzerland, South Africa, Sudan, Pakistan, among others, while the European Union, India, Pakistan are the main importers of architectural services.
ICT indicates that Malawi has also made some international in roads with such services as engineering, design services, medical services, midwives and nurses, computer services, agricultural services, equipment rental and leasing, property maintenance, among others.
Malawi ’s trade balance with the rest of the world widened by 31 per cent from K69.2 billion in 2007 to K90.4 billion during the 2008 trade year.
Government has, however, blamed the development on high crude oil and fertilizer prices. This forced government to dig dipper into depleted coffers as the two commodities continue to be some of the country’s strategic imports.
New Finance Minister, Ken Kandodo, has said the development was inevitable since government had to go ahead with the fertilizer subsidy programme but sees improved fortunes this year.
Trade balance is the difference in monetary value of a country’s imports and exports. Statistics indicate that, despite the potential to cover up for the country’s trade deficits, the country continues to consume what it does not produce, and import more than it exports.
This has incensed President Bingu wa Mutharika, who seems eager to shift the country’s focus from that of a net importer to one whose products and services saturate international markets. This has been government’s main policy goal for the past five years, a trend billed to continue- now that Mutharika has a legal cover of five more years.
How HIV and AIDS wedged between me and my sister
I come (rather came, for the two most important people in my life are long gone towards that way of all the earth) from the family of four children- two boys and girls. A family of equal opportunities, as that figuring implies. During the night of February 3, 1981, my father was busy working in the field in Chikwawa when a child cried at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital; to be so lucky as to be the first born, that dilemma newly-married couples face, and the questions: When and how to chase you out of their bedroom when they feel like you are old enough to know ‘some’ things.
It is an age old dilemma for the child, too. How to cope with a solitary bedroom and the darkness, for those whose parents may not afford housemaids as was the case with me. The first feel of the independence that is to come at one point in life, when one leaves the home to make out life by themselves. Mr. Leviano Simon Chirombo, that was my father’s name (which I have wholly adopted) and Mrs. Chirombo always made it a point to remind me that being first meant-born meant being a leader of the family in the absence of parents and older relatives. So, it sank into me that whoever came after me would respect me, and expect me to lead the path. I never expected something else. (This is the essence of this, my real life story).
My solitary room in house number 11 in Chitawira, Blantyre, which during the day served as a kitchen, would soon have to house two souls, following the birth on September18, 1983 of my brother Madalitso. That was before the first female of our family, Prisca, joined the world of the Chirombos on February 22, 1988. Shortly after, we got transferred to Salima district when it appeared to the Electricity Supply Commission (the term ‘corporation’ used now was not yet born) of Malawi (Escom) that their employee, Mr. Chirombo, needed to move on.
Those who have been to the lakeshore district can testify that it can be horribly hot. Add to this the relatively salty water people who live there have to put up with without noticing it. Old people in Salima say the salt in the drinking water (including washing, or whatever it be) is a ready-given cure to mosquito bites, one of the nuisances of the wonder that is Salima. God might be a real genius because, our moving to Salima- what I call our shift towards the heat and the salt- might have been a prophesy, the metaphor for a prophesy; that they represented the heat that life would throw at us, the pain that we would have to bear without the barest opportunity to fight back, or defend ourselves.
There, in Salima, I experienced the worst part of my life. Barely two years in the district, my mother fell sick. It was to be the beginning of a continuous ‘shifts’ of her sickness. It all started after the birth of the last born in our family, a sister called Donatta.
Mother, Maccullata remains her beautiful name, moved from one district to another- Salima, Zomba, Dedza, Ntchisi- in search of cure to her ‘mysterious’ disease. I was young, around 11 years old, and did know what she was suffering from- did not want to know because I feared the sadness that might have gripped me. That is when I learned the real meaning of love (my definition of love): Love is the feeling that holds us from visiting our parents and loved ones when they begin shedding off the very body they have built over so many years of good food, for fear of meeting our worst fears (not our best feelings). Those opposing, let them raise a finger against me!
The sickness went on for about three years. I was innocent, not knowing what it was mother suffered from. The last time I saw her, she had just come from a private clinic at Nsangu, along the Malawi College of Armed Forces road in Salima, where she had been for three months. We used to go, me and my brother (Prisca and Donatta were very young) to see her. Sometimes she would be of good cheer, sometimes she would be not. I remember the blue paint of sadness we wore on those days; her sadness was ours, too, our natural concern. Then, one day, she came home. Unable to walk; to stand on her own. People supported her on both sides, the left and the right hand sides.
What had happened? We knew that our mother was a walking being, who helped us walk.
The next day, mum left for Zomba- or so we were told- in the never ending search for good health. Life. Then, a month later, on June 21, 1993, the message came. She was dead.
I couldn’t grasp the reality that for all I am, I was only allowed to live with my mother for 12 years. I remember asking my nine-year old younger brother: “So, we will never see her again?” This, of course, was a stupid question. As the older one, I was supposed to know better, to be a leader in courage and strength.
Let me also say here that I never saw mum in state; how she looked when she was dead. Absolutely no picture. This is because we arrived in Kantchito Village, in the area of Traditional Authority Kamenyagwaza late, an hour after burial. It pains, that I was not even allowed to see my mum in state.
She must have known that she was dying, however. Because, in the interim as she searched for medicine, she had arranged that my two sisters- Donatta and Prisca- go and live with her elder sister in Rumphi district once she was dead. The two went, on June 28, 1993. We would never see each other for the next 11 years, until September 21, 1998. This is long after my father died on September 18, 1998.
He had been to Salima District Hospital, admitted for Tuberculosis. He had been to Mtengowanthenga, seeking treatment for shingles. He had been to so many places, Mr. Leviano Simon Chirombo, only to be overtaken by pneumonia. That September night, children were playing outside our house in Takomana, when my father died at home but we couldn’t tell them to keep quite because, even after two years of continued sickness, the reality could not sink in just like that. That a father was gone, and with him, our colourful past.
I remember one of our cousins, we had lived with him for almost 11 years, telling me: Kids, you have entered another phase of your life. No luxury. I thank Nisphore Gervasio Chirombo, now deceased, for that peace of advice.
These details are important to keep you in context of what I have to say next.
My youngest sister, Donatta, is the first one I saw on September 21, 2004. She had come to visit in Chilomoni, Blantyre, where I had lived with my uncle since 1998. That day, I arrived ‘home’ around 7:00pm to hear that Donatta, now 11, had been waiting for me for close to two hours. She had arranged to sleep here, anyway. I found her sitting on the verandah, surrounded by the whole family of my uncle- four children plus the aunt (only the uncle was not home).
She did not greet me, she just started (here, she will be DC and I, RC):
DC: Where have you been?
RC: Mbayani. I was visiting my friends –Justice Mponda and Lucius Phaiya.The stay together.
DC: Who asked you to mention that? Is this your house? Coming at 7:00pm?Answer me now!
RC: Quiet -Thinking: this 11 year old must be mad)
DC: Answer me. Since when have you had a house of your own to come home this late: Is this your house?
RC: (Quiet -Looking at her to see if it really was coming from her. She was breathing hard; she was angry. I saw it more than felt it. The others just watched. I think they felt sorry for me, stripped like this n public).
DC: Ok, you must be as stubborn and inconsiderate as your father. Like him, you never came to visit us in Rumphi, you hard-heartened creatures!
Your father, he was a very bad man, you know. We have heard that he used to move from one place to another as he worked for the Transmission Department of Escom at Salima. Today he would be in Nkhotakota, tomorrow Chintheche or Nkhatabay.
RC: (Listening)
DC: You know what he used to do? Sleep with different ladies. One day mum caught him. He was a bad man, your father. Let me tell you something…………
RC: (Listening)
DC: Your father infected my mother with HIV. They died of AIDS. It was AIDS that killed them!
I stormed out of the verandah, in anger. My own sister couldn’t be speaking as if my father was not her father. Anyone who hates my father hates me, I said, and that’s what I maintain to this day- hate him and hate me. That night in my bedroom (there was no bed!) I made enemies with her. That same night, she lost a brother. I don’t know f she knew that. I did not even escort her the next day because she had shamed me in ‘public’, before all those people.
To day the truth, I knew nothing about the HIV and AIDS issue. And I never even suspected anything from my parents’ deaths. For her, then, to say it like that pained me. I have never been troubled like that before. I will never be. I even told this story to the people I knew to be my enemies so I could get angry at Donatta every time they reminded me about it. It was a way of not wanting to forget it.
Donatta went and, over time, crossed the path of those who were doing everything for her (I still believe the spirits were angry with her for defaming the dead), and they abandoned her in the village, Dedza. There, she has missed school since 2007. She was in form one. My younger brother told me she had started moving about- Lilongwe, Dedza boma, Ntchisi- without taking leave at home or saying where she was going. I did not care; she was my enemy. That thing about my parents dying of HIV and AIDS.
Then, on January 10 this year, she called me, asking if she could come over and continue with her schooling after almost a two-year break. I told her no, she needed to find her real ‘brothers’ who could help her. I would not be sisters with someone who talks ill of my father, about the things I know nothing about, and in ‘public’. I was not one of them.
I hang the phone. But the next day, she called again, and said we needed to forgive each other. That, perhaps, it was the people she had been staying with who misinformed her. She said she regretted saying it the way she did.
I still said no.
Then, on January 18, 2009, I met my long-time friend Jonathan Kaliveni who told me ‘live’ that his parents had died of HIV and AIDS, and that it was common knowledge in their family.
That’s how I got my break-through over the issue of HIV and AIDS and my parents. If Jonathan can say it in the open, and without being asked, what is so shameful about being HIV-positive? What if they really died from its related illnesses but just kept it under raps because I was young? Or, put in other words, if they died of other health problems not related to HIV and AIDS, can I bring them back? No.
That’s why I invited Donatta home. Now, I happily pay her school fees, and she really takes good care of the home. HIV and AIDS will never divide us again; it must unite us as we seek that will help us curtail the same.
We are family again.
Congratulations Ngwazi Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika for becoming African Union Chairperson
I am proud today.
And it's because of you, Your Excellency the State President of the Republic of Malawi- Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika.
You are the man today, the African Union Chairperson.
We love you Your Excellency; you are great.
Today, I am so happy to be a Malawian I have always been.
To Libyan President Muammar Gadaffi, I say: Shame on you. Shame on you!
Africa is not your personal estate.
How can a guy who is saying NGOs cannot operate in his country because everything in Libya belongs to the State be elected AU Chairperson, in the first place?
Brother Leader Muammar Gadaffi, receive my two 90-Kg bags full of ridicule and scorn.
To your backers, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Tunisia, I tell them to go get hanged by a spider's web. You are two other shames.
As for us, we love our Mutharika. Highly educated.
I have never heard anything about Gadaffi's qualifications.
Failure Gadaffi.
And it's because of you, Your Excellency the State President of the Republic of Malawi- Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika.
You are the man today, the African Union Chairperson.
We love you Your Excellency; you are great.
Today, I am so happy to be a Malawian I have always been.
To Libyan President Muammar Gadaffi, I say: Shame on you. Shame on you!
Africa is not your personal estate.
How can a guy who is saying NGOs cannot operate in his country because everything in Libya belongs to the State be elected AU Chairperson, in the first place?
Brother Leader Muammar Gadaffi, receive my two 90-Kg bags full of ridicule and scorn.
To your backers, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Tunisia, I tell them to go get hanged by a spider's web. You are two other shames.
As for us, we love our Mutharika. Highly educated.
I have never heard anything about Gadaffi's qualifications.
Failure Gadaffi.
Shoprite Malawi selling expired food stuffs
Shoprite Malawi is selling expired food stuffs to Malawians, most of who act on impasse buying.
The food stuffs affected include confectioneries. These are being 'dumped' to customers through cheap prices.
On Monday, February 1, 2010, for example, Shoprite was selling expired milk scones and cakes that left four people vomiting just outside the business mall.
Sympathetic till operators were also warning unsuspecting customers that some of the food stuffs were expired, a development that resulted into piles and files of confectionery products being dumped at five tills.
Shoprite officials could not immediately comment, as they wanted to verify the information.
However, one of the Malawian officials indicated that the trend started when Michael Brendon, a Shoprite official from South Africa, came to Malawi and noticed that workers were dumping a lot of goods.
Brendon accused the Malawian workers of being extravagant with raw materials, and advised them never to throw expired food away but, instead, reduce the prices of such goods.
So, the next time you go to Shoprite- either buy the expensive fresh foods, or get lost. Buying cheap goods will give you diaarhoea.
Zachimalawi has spoken.
The food stuffs affected include confectioneries. These are being 'dumped' to customers through cheap prices.
On Monday, February 1, 2010, for example, Shoprite was selling expired milk scones and cakes that left four people vomiting just outside the business mall.
Sympathetic till operators were also warning unsuspecting customers that some of the food stuffs were expired, a development that resulted into piles and files of confectionery products being dumped at five tills.
Shoprite officials could not immediately comment, as they wanted to verify the information.
However, one of the Malawian officials indicated that the trend started when Michael Brendon, a Shoprite official from South Africa, came to Malawi and noticed that workers were dumping a lot of goods.
Brendon accused the Malawian workers of being extravagant with raw materials, and advised them never to throw expired food away but, instead, reduce the prices of such goods.
So, the next time you go to Shoprite- either buy the expensive fresh foods, or get lost. Buying cheap goods will give you diaarhoea.
Zachimalawi has spoken.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Malawians: Have Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga been imprisoned?
Well, today I just wanted to comment on my own story; the one about over 40 international organisations condemning the "imprisonment" of Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza.
My question: Have they been imprisoned?
And the answer is a big NO. The issue is still in court.
Makes one wonder why the international organisations have already sentenced and convicted Monjeza and Chimbalanga to a custodial sentence.
Eh, hee! Anthu akunja mabodza!
Vimphonongolo onthu okunja inu; vimilomo!!!
My question: Have they been imprisoned?
And the answer is a big NO. The issue is still in court.
Makes one wonder why the international organisations have already sentenced and convicted Monjeza and Chimbalanga to a custodial sentence.
Eh, hee! Anthu akunja mabodza!
Vimphonongolo onthu okunja inu; vimilomo!!!
Malawi: Condemnation of Country's Discriminatory Laws
PRESS RELEASE BY 47 INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS:
Civil society organisations have expressed strong opposition to the imprisonment of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, a gay couple, in Malawi. More than 40 African civil society organisations have called for the immediate release of this couple, and for the repeal of discriminatory laws against same-sex relationships.
We, the undersigned organizations, write to express our deep concern at the imprisonment and prosecution of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga under provisions of Malawi's penal code criminalizing private sexual behavior. We further call on Malawian authorities to drop all charges against both men and repeal sections 153 and 156 of the penal law.
On 28 December 2009, police officers arrested Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, at their home charging them under sections 153 and 156 of the Malawian penal code for "unnatural offences" and "indecent practices between males." This happened two days after Monjeza and Chimbalanga conducted a traditional engagement ceremony, an event that was widely reported in the Malawian press. On 6 January 2010, they were taken to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital where Chimbalanga was forced to undergo a medical examination ostensibly to ascertain whether he had sexual relations with another man. The following day both men were subjected to a psychiatric evaluation. They are being held in Chichiri Prison in Blantyre and have been denied bail by a Magistrate Court. Despite critical constitutional and legal issues raised by their lawyers in the High Court and to the Chief Justice as a Constitutional Court issue, the criminal trial continues. The penalty if they are found guilty is up to the maximum of 14 years in prison with hard labour.
The government has to prove with evidence the charges against Monjeza and Chimbalanga. Regardless of whether they are accurate, the prosecution has caused a widespread fear among persons engaged in same-sex relations-a group the Malawian government has recognized is vulnerable to discrimination and critical to its efforts to effectively respond to the HIV epidemic. The National HIV/AIDS Policy states: "Government and partners shall put in place mechanisms to ensure that HIV/AIDS/STI prevention, treatment, care and support and impact mitigation services can be accessed by all without discrimination, including [persons engaged in same sex sexual relations]. Dr. Mary Shawa, the Principal Secretary for Nutrition, HIV and AIDS in the President's Office reportedly acknowledged the need to "incorporate a human rights approach in the delivery of HIV and AIDS services to men who have sexual intercourse with men." She further asked men who have sex with men (MSM) to come out in the open in order to assist in HIV prevention efforts. This cannot be done given recent statements by governmental officials denouncing MSM, which has served to further drive this already vulnerable community further underground.
The importance of reaching out to persons having same-sex relations as a critical component of the response to HIV has been well-recognised by leading medical institutions as well as UNAIDS, UNDP and the World Health Organisation. According to an August 2009 research paper published in the Lancet, the world's leading medical journal, "The HIV/AIDS community now has considerable challenges in clarifying and addressing the needs of [men having sex with men (MSM)] in sub-Saharan Africa political and social hostility are endemic. An effective response to HIV/AIDS requires improved strategic information about all risk groups, including MSM. The belated response to MSM with HIV infection needs rapid and sustained national and international commitment to the development of appropriate interventions and action to reduce structural and social barriers to make these accessible."
Finally, the arrest and prosecution of Monjeza and Chimbalanga not only undermines the response to HIV but is a violation of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Malawian Constitution. Specifically, the Malawian Constitution guarantees that every person has the right to liberty, human dignity, freedom and security of the person, and to be free from discrimination on all grounds. These rights guaranteed under the Constitution are reinforced under Malawi's regional and international legal obligations. The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, ratified by Malawi in 1989, prohibits discrimination' provides for the right to equality; dignity; and liberty. Similarly, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which Malawi has also ratified provides for freedom from discrimination; equality; liberty; and dignity.
Sections 153 and 156 of the Penal Code undermine the response to HIV and violate the fundamental rights guaranteed under Malawi's legal obligations. We call on the Malawi government to release and drop all charges against Monjeza and Chimbalanga and repeal sections 153 and 156.
Endorsed by:
National Women's Lobby and Rights Group, Malawi
Umunthu Foundation, Malawi
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, Malawi
Centre for the Development of People, Malawi
SCARJOV, Angola
Botswana Treatment Literacy Coalition
Association Nationale des Séropositifs et Sidéens (ANSS), Burundi
HALT-SIDA, Democratic Republic of Congo
Protection Enfants SIDA, Democratic Republic of Congo
Sambatra Izay Salama (SISAL) Madagascar
Collectif Arc en Ciel, Mauritius
Prevention Information Lutte Contre le Sida (PILS), Mauritius
Associaçao Mulher, Lei e Desenvolvimento (MULEIDE), Mozambique
Legal Assistance Centre, Namibia
The Rainbow Project, Namibia
Women's Solidarity Network, Namibia
Centre for the Study of AIDS, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Artists for a New South Africa
Community Health Media Trust, South Africa
Engender, South Africa
Intersex South Africa
Out in Africa SA Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
The Lesbian and Gay Equality Project, South Africa
Unit for Social Behavioural Studies in HIV/AIDS and Health, University of South Africa
Women and HIV/AIDS Gauge, South Africa
Swaziland for Positive Living (SWAPOL)
Women and Law in Southern Africa, Swaziland
Children's Dignity Forum, Tanzania
Children Education Society (CHESO), Tanzania
Copperbelt Health Education Project, Zambia
Network of Zimbabwean Positive Women (NZPW+)
Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ)
RAVANE+ (People Living with HIV Network in the Indian Ocean Region)
AIDS & Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA)
African Council of AIDS Service Organizations (AfriCASO)
AIDS & Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA)
AIDS Legal Network, Southern Africa
Behind the Mask, Africa
Southern Africa Treatment Access Movement (SATAMO)
Relevant Links
Southern Africa
Malawi
Human Rights
Legal Affairs
NGO
Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS)
Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC)
International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) Collaborative Fund, Africa Programme
Treatment Action Group
ATHENA
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)
AIDS-Free World
Black Gay Men's Network, United States
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
Center for Reproductive Rights
Friends of the Treatment Action Campaign, United Kingdom
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights, United States
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Physicians for Human Rights
Positive Voice, Greece
US Positive Women's Network
Women Organized to Respond to Life Threatening Diseases (WORLD)
Andrew Feinstein, former Member of Parliament, African National Congress
Jape Heath, International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV or AIDS (INERELA)
Phyllis Orner, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Reverend Steven Lottering, South Africa
Civil society organisations have expressed strong opposition to the imprisonment of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, a gay couple, in Malawi. More than 40 African civil society organisations have called for the immediate release of this couple, and for the repeal of discriminatory laws against same-sex relationships.
We, the undersigned organizations, write to express our deep concern at the imprisonment and prosecution of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga under provisions of Malawi's penal code criminalizing private sexual behavior. We further call on Malawian authorities to drop all charges against both men and repeal sections 153 and 156 of the penal law.
On 28 December 2009, police officers arrested Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, at their home charging them under sections 153 and 156 of the Malawian penal code for "unnatural offences" and "indecent practices between males." This happened two days after Monjeza and Chimbalanga conducted a traditional engagement ceremony, an event that was widely reported in the Malawian press. On 6 January 2010, they were taken to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital where Chimbalanga was forced to undergo a medical examination ostensibly to ascertain whether he had sexual relations with another man. The following day both men were subjected to a psychiatric evaluation. They are being held in Chichiri Prison in Blantyre and have been denied bail by a Magistrate Court. Despite critical constitutional and legal issues raised by their lawyers in the High Court and to the Chief Justice as a Constitutional Court issue, the criminal trial continues. The penalty if they are found guilty is up to the maximum of 14 years in prison with hard labour.
The government has to prove with evidence the charges against Monjeza and Chimbalanga. Regardless of whether they are accurate, the prosecution has caused a widespread fear among persons engaged in same-sex relations-a group the Malawian government has recognized is vulnerable to discrimination and critical to its efforts to effectively respond to the HIV epidemic. The National HIV/AIDS Policy states: "Government and partners shall put in place mechanisms to ensure that HIV/AIDS/STI prevention, treatment, care and support and impact mitigation services can be accessed by all without discrimination, including [persons engaged in same sex sexual relations]. Dr. Mary Shawa, the Principal Secretary for Nutrition, HIV and AIDS in the President's Office reportedly acknowledged the need to "incorporate a human rights approach in the delivery of HIV and AIDS services to men who have sexual intercourse with men." She further asked men who have sex with men (MSM) to come out in the open in order to assist in HIV prevention efforts. This cannot be done given recent statements by governmental officials denouncing MSM, which has served to further drive this already vulnerable community further underground.
The importance of reaching out to persons having same-sex relations as a critical component of the response to HIV has been well-recognised by leading medical institutions as well as UNAIDS, UNDP and the World Health Organisation. According to an August 2009 research paper published in the Lancet, the world's leading medical journal, "The HIV/AIDS community now has considerable challenges in clarifying and addressing the needs of [men having sex with men (MSM)] in sub-Saharan Africa political and social hostility are endemic. An effective response to HIV/AIDS requires improved strategic information about all risk groups, including MSM. The belated response to MSM with HIV infection needs rapid and sustained national and international commitment to the development of appropriate interventions and action to reduce structural and social barriers to make these accessible."
Finally, the arrest and prosecution of Monjeza and Chimbalanga not only undermines the response to HIV but is a violation of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Malawian Constitution. Specifically, the Malawian Constitution guarantees that every person has the right to liberty, human dignity, freedom and security of the person, and to be free from discrimination on all grounds. These rights guaranteed under the Constitution are reinforced under Malawi's regional and international legal obligations. The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, ratified by Malawi in 1989, prohibits discrimination' provides for the right to equality; dignity; and liberty. Similarly, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which Malawi has also ratified provides for freedom from discrimination; equality; liberty; and dignity.
Sections 153 and 156 of the Penal Code undermine the response to HIV and violate the fundamental rights guaranteed under Malawi's legal obligations. We call on the Malawi government to release and drop all charges against Monjeza and Chimbalanga and repeal sections 153 and 156.
Endorsed by:
National Women's Lobby and Rights Group, Malawi
Umunthu Foundation, Malawi
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, Malawi
Centre for the Development of People, Malawi
SCARJOV, Angola
Botswana Treatment Literacy Coalition
Association Nationale des Séropositifs et Sidéens (ANSS), Burundi
HALT-SIDA, Democratic Republic of Congo
Protection Enfants SIDA, Democratic Republic of Congo
Sambatra Izay Salama (SISAL) Madagascar
Collectif Arc en Ciel, Mauritius
Prevention Information Lutte Contre le Sida (PILS), Mauritius
Associaçao Mulher, Lei e Desenvolvimento (MULEIDE), Mozambique
Legal Assistance Centre, Namibia
The Rainbow Project, Namibia
Women's Solidarity Network, Namibia
Centre for the Study of AIDS, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Artists for a New South Africa
Community Health Media Trust, South Africa
Engender, South Africa
Intersex South Africa
Out in Africa SA Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
The Lesbian and Gay Equality Project, South Africa
Unit for Social Behavioural Studies in HIV/AIDS and Health, University of South Africa
Women and HIV/AIDS Gauge, South Africa
Swaziland for Positive Living (SWAPOL)
Women and Law in Southern Africa, Swaziland
Children's Dignity Forum, Tanzania
Children Education Society (CHESO), Tanzania
Copperbelt Health Education Project, Zambia
Network of Zimbabwean Positive Women (NZPW+)
Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ)
RAVANE+ (People Living with HIV Network in the Indian Ocean Region)
AIDS & Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA)
African Council of AIDS Service Organizations (AfriCASO)
AIDS & Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA)
AIDS Legal Network, Southern Africa
Behind the Mask, Africa
Southern Africa Treatment Access Movement (SATAMO)
Relevant Links
Southern Africa
Malawi
Human Rights
Legal Affairs
NGO
Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS)
Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC)
International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) Collaborative Fund, Africa Programme
Treatment Action Group
ATHENA
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)
AIDS-Free World
Black Gay Men's Network, United States
Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
Center for Reproductive Rights
Friends of the Treatment Action Campaign, United Kingdom
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights, United States
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Physicians for Human Rights
Positive Voice, Greece
US Positive Women's Network
Women Organized to Respond to Life Threatening Diseases (WORLD)
Andrew Feinstein, former Member of Parliament, African National Congress
Jape Heath, International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV or AIDS (INERELA)
Phyllis Orner, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Reverend Steven Lottering, South Africa
Dismiss all Bakili Muluzi cases- Billy Banda
Malawi Human Rights Watch Executive Director, Billy Banda, has reiterated the need for President Bingu wa Mutharika's government to pardon former president Bakili Muluzi and dismiss all cases he is answering to.
But Information Minister Leckford Thotho has called the sentiments reckless, saying there was no way government could go about "pardoning people who have done nothing wrong".
"Do these civil society leaders mean to say that Dr. Muluzi is guilty? The issue, as far as we know, is in court. These civil society organisatioins are filled with people who are ignorant about the laws of this country and court procedures," said Thotho, tearing into Banda.
Banda has been advocating for the Zero-casing of Muluzi in Malawian courts.
But Information Minister Leckford Thotho has called the sentiments reckless, saying there was no way government could go about "pardoning people who have done nothing wrong".
"Do these civil society leaders mean to say that Dr. Muluzi is guilty? The issue, as far as we know, is in court. These civil society organisatioins are filled with people who are ignorant about the laws of this country and court procedures," said Thotho, tearing into Banda.
Banda has been advocating for the Zero-casing of Muluzi in Malawian courts.
Dr. Bakili Muluzi doing very well, family members
Former President, Bakili Muluzi's family says he is doing well, and has since called on Malawians to pray for the flamboyant leader.
Muluzi's son, Atupele, told Zachimalawi his father was responding well to treatment, and thanked Malawians for their "untiring prayers".
His sentiments follow complaints from interim United Democratic Front president, Friday Jumbe, that he was not being updated on Muluzi's condition.
Muluzi retired from the party's chairmanship position recently, and now wants to lead a life out of the active political spotlight.
He retirement, though, has been humpered by illness.
Muluzi's son, Atupele, told Zachimalawi his father was responding well to treatment, and thanked Malawians for their "untiring prayers".
His sentiments follow complaints from interim United Democratic Front president, Friday Jumbe, that he was not being updated on Muluzi's condition.
Muluzi retired from the party's chairmanship position recently, and now wants to lead a life out of the active political spotlight.
He retirement, though, has been humpered by illness.
Charges withdrawn against 2 who Twittered police location
The Allegheny County District Attorney has dropped all charges against two New York men accused of posting locations of police officers on Twitter during the G-20 summit.
Elliot M. Madison and Michael T. Wallschlaeger, both of New York City, had charges pending before a district judge. Before that case came up, their attorney brought a motion to unseal police affidavits that backed a search warrant in their case. Today before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman the district attorney's office withdrew all charges against the men.
"The charges were ill-thought, ill-conceived and they never should have been filed to begin with," said Claudia Davidson, who represents both men.
Mike Manko, spokesman for the district attorney, said the office decided to withdraw charges after consulting with other law enforcement agencies.
He said, "After an extensive review of the facts and circumstances underlying those two arrests that took place on Sept. 24, 2009, there appears to be sufficient evidence to suggest that certain acts that occurred during the G-20 summit were not isolated incidents confined to Allegheny County but instead may have been related to more expansive activities that went beyond the Pittsburgh G-20 in both time and substance. That being the case, a determination was made that until further investigative activities by law enforcement agencies can be completed, it would be more prudent to have the current charges withdrawn rather than prosecuted at this time."
According to a criminal complaint filed against Mr. Madison, Pennsylvania State Police served a search warrant on Room 238 of the Carefree Inn on Kisow Drive in Kennedy early in the afternoon of Sept. 24. It was the first day of the G-20 summit and also the day set for unsanctioned protests in Lawrenceville.
In the motel room, police discovered Mr. Madison and Michael Wallschlaeger sitting in front of personal computers listening to both police and EMS scanners.
They were using headphones, microphones and maps to alert protesters about the movements of law enforcement, the complaint said. They sent the information out via cell phones and Twitter.
The pair also face charges for their G-20 activities in federal court in New York after the FBI searched their home in Queens for 16 hours.
The New York Post reported that agents seized "computers, political writings, anarchist literature, gas masks and a pound of liquid mercury."
Their defense attorney on the federal case, Martin R. Stolar, obtained a temporary restraining order against the FBI in the Eastern District of New York.
Ms. Davidson, the Pittsburgh-based attorney, said her "read" on Mr. Manko's statement is that "there was another jurisdiction that didn't want the DA's office to show their hand here."
"That doesn't mean an investigation elsewhere is going to turn up any crimes. We maintain their actions were always lawful. Use of electronic equipment to exercise their first amendment rights by anyone is not unlawful," she said.
Elliot M. Madison and Michael T. Wallschlaeger, both of New York City, had charges pending before a district judge. Before that case came up, their attorney brought a motion to unseal police affidavits that backed a search warrant in their case. Today before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman the district attorney's office withdrew all charges against the men.
"The charges were ill-thought, ill-conceived and they never should have been filed to begin with," said Claudia Davidson, who represents both men.
Mike Manko, spokesman for the district attorney, said the office decided to withdraw charges after consulting with other law enforcement agencies.
He said, "After an extensive review of the facts and circumstances underlying those two arrests that took place on Sept. 24, 2009, there appears to be sufficient evidence to suggest that certain acts that occurred during the G-20 summit were not isolated incidents confined to Allegheny County but instead may have been related to more expansive activities that went beyond the Pittsburgh G-20 in both time and substance. That being the case, a determination was made that until further investigative activities by law enforcement agencies can be completed, it would be more prudent to have the current charges withdrawn rather than prosecuted at this time."
According to a criminal complaint filed against Mr. Madison, Pennsylvania State Police served a search warrant on Room 238 of the Carefree Inn on Kisow Drive in Kennedy early in the afternoon of Sept. 24. It was the first day of the G-20 summit and also the day set for unsanctioned protests in Lawrenceville.
In the motel room, police discovered Mr. Madison and Michael Wallschlaeger sitting in front of personal computers listening to both police and EMS scanners.
They were using headphones, microphones and maps to alert protesters about the movements of law enforcement, the complaint said. They sent the information out via cell phones and Twitter.
The pair also face charges for their G-20 activities in federal court in New York after the FBI searched their home in Queens for 16 hours.
The New York Post reported that agents seized "computers, political writings, anarchist literature, gas masks and a pound of liquid mercury."
Their defense attorney on the federal case, Martin R. Stolar, obtained a temporary restraining order against the FBI in the Eastern District of New York.
Ms. Davidson, the Pittsburgh-based attorney, said her "read" on Mr. Manko's statement is that "there was another jurisdiction that didn't want the DA's office to show their hand here."
"That doesn't mean an investigation elsewhere is going to turn up any crimes. We maintain their actions were always lawful. Use of electronic equipment to exercise their first amendment rights by anyone is not unlawful," she said.
Bakili Muluzi doing well, family members
Former President, Bakili Muluzi's family says he is doing well, and has since called on Malawians to pray for the flamboyant leader.
Muluzi's son, Atupele, told Zachimalawi his father was responding well to treatment, and thanked Malawians for their "untiring prayers".
His sentiments follow complaints from interim United Democratic Front president, Friday Jumbe, that he was not being updated on Muluzi's condition.
Muluzi retired from the party's chairmanship position recently, and now wants to lead a life out of the active political spotlight.
He retirement, though, has been humpered by illness.
Muluzi's son, Atupele, told Zachimalawi his father was responding well to treatment, and thanked Malawians for their "untiring prayers".
His sentiments follow complaints from interim United Democratic Front president, Friday Jumbe, that he was not being updated on Muluzi's condition.
Muluzi retired from the party's chairmanship position recently, and now wants to lead a life out of the active political spotlight.
He retirement, though, has been humpered by illness.
Malawi govt. to cough K16 million for Calista Chimombo's trip
President Bingu wa Mutharika left for Ethiopia to attend the African Union summit at which he is largely expected to take over its chairmanship from Lybia's Muammar Gadaffi.
This must have been good news for Malawians, but reports from State House officials indicate that government will cough a whopping K16 million in accommodation costs for First-Lady-In Waiting Calista Chapola Chimombo, just because the former Tourism Minister has had the luck of happening to be Mutharika's next wife.
State House officials said part of the chunk will also go towards Chimombo's allowances, despite the fact that she is yet to wed the president.
Observers have been left wondering in what capacity Chimombo is having a free cake of tax payers money, when she is not yet officially engaged to Mutharika.
This must have been good news for Malawians, but reports from State House officials indicate that government will cough a whopping K16 million in accommodation costs for First-Lady-In Waiting Calista Chapola Chimombo, just because the former Tourism Minister has had the luck of happening to be Mutharika's next wife.
State House officials said part of the chunk will also go towards Chimombo's allowances, despite the fact that she is yet to wed the president.
Observers have been left wondering in what capacity Chimombo is having a free cake of tax payers money, when she is not yet officially engaged to Mutharika.
50 African states for Bingu
The rope is tightening for Lybian leader, Muammar Gadaffi, who wants to have another go at the African Union chairmanship despite union rules indicating that positioning will be on rotational basis.
But, so far, it seems things are going on well for Malawi's Bingu wa Mutharika- who has been nominated by the Southern African Development Community to take over from Gadaffi, now that it is the bloc's turn.
Foreign Affairs Minister Ettah Banda told Zachimalawi that, so far, 50 African states have assured Sadc of the AU chairmanship.
Banda said that the countries do not want a situation where unelected leaders, such as Gadaffi, would want to cling on to power and soil Africa's good governance picture.
But, so far, it seems things are going on well for Malawi's Bingu wa Mutharika- who has been nominated by the Southern African Development Community to take over from Gadaffi, now that it is the bloc's turn.
Foreign Affairs Minister Ettah Banda told Zachimalawi that, so far, 50 African states have assured Sadc of the AU chairmanship.
Banda said that the countries do not want a situation where unelected leaders, such as Gadaffi, would want to cling on to power and soil Africa's good governance picture.
CBS News Poll: 83% of Speech Watchers Approve of Obama's State of the Union Proposals
A large majority of Americans who watched President Obama's State of the Union Address generally approve of the proposals he outlined in his speech, according to a CBS News Poll conducted online by Knowledge Networks immediately after the President's address.
Of the randomly selected 522 speech viewers questioned by CBS, 83 percent said they approved of the proposals the President made. Just 17 percent disapproved — typical of the high support a president generally receives among those who choose to watch the State of the Union. In January 2002 — when George W. Bush gave the State of the Union Address a year into his presidency — 85% of speech watchers approved.
Six in 10 of those asked said they thought Mr. Obama conveyed a clear plan for creating jobs, and seven in 10 said his plans for the economy will help ordinary Americans. Another seven in 10 said President Obama has the same priorities for the country as they have.
Special Report: Obama's 2010 State of the Union
The same individuals were interviewed both before and after Wednesday's State of the Union, and after the speech, 70 percent said Mr. Obama shares their priorities for the country, up from 57 percent before the speech.
However, a sizable 57 percent said the President will not be able to accomplish all of the goals he set out in his speech. Most Democrats who viewed the speech (63 percent) said the man they elected would be able to accomplish all of his goals, but only 11 percent of Republicans and 33 percent of independent voters agreed.
Most Democrats and independents who watched said the president shares their priorities, while most Republicans did not.
Read the Complete Poll
In his speech President Obama said jobs would be "the number one focus in 2010," and here the president seems to have changed the minds of many speech watchers. After listening to the president, 59 percent of viewers said Mr. Obama has a clear plan for creating jobs, while 41 percent said he does not. Before the speech those numbers were almost exactly reversed.
Seventy-six percent of speech watchers generally approved of Mr. Obama's plans for dealing with the economy, up 21 percentage points from before the speech. President Obama laid out a plan for freezing spending for discretionary government programs for three years starting in 2011, and this seems to have resonated — 72 percent of those questioned approved of the plan.
Viewers were also more optimistic about the impact of President Obama's economic plans after watching the speech. Seventy-one percent said his economic plans will help ordinary Americans – up from 55 percent before the speech — and 56 percent were left thinking his plans will reduce the budget deficit in the long run, up from 41 percent.
On health care, President Obama reiterated the need for reform, and most speech watchers (67 percent) approved of the president's plan for dealing with the issue. Prior to his speech, 54 percent said they supported his plans.
The Commander in Chief also garnered approval for his handling to the war in Afghanistan with his speech Wednesday, with those supporting his strategy increasing from 58 percent before the address to 74 percent afterward.
Perhaps predictably, Americans who watched the speech were more Democratic than the nation as a whole. Historically, a President's supporters are more likely than his opponents to watch State of the Union addresses. Forty-four percent of speech viewers in this poll described themselves as Democrats while only 21 percent said they were Republican.
More Coverage of Obama's State of the Union:
Obama Vows to Fight for Jobs
Full Text of Obama's Speech
Bob McDonnell: The Government Is "Trying to Do Too Much"
Obama Upbeat as He Seeks to Reset Presidency
Dem, GOP Leaders Spar Over Obama's Community Banks Plan
Ohio Voters: Obama Needs More Details on Jobs Plan
Obama Priorities Revealed in State of the Union Speech
Obama's Speech Leveraged His Strengths
Photos: The State of the Union
Full Video of Obama's State of the Union
Katie Couric's Webcast: Analysis and Interviews
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This CBS News Poll was conducted online by Knowledge Networks among a nationwide random sample of 522 viewers of the President’s Address to Congress. Knowledge Networks, a Silicon Valley company, conducted the poll among a sample of adult members of its household panel who said in recent days that they intended to watch the speech. The Knowledge Networks panel is a nationally representative sample given access to the Internet. This is a scientifically representative poll of viewers’ reaction to the speech. The margin of sampling error could be plus or minus 4 percentage points for the entire sample of speech watchers.
Of the randomly selected 522 speech viewers questioned by CBS, 83 percent said they approved of the proposals the President made. Just 17 percent disapproved — typical of the high support a president generally receives among those who choose to watch the State of the Union. In January 2002 — when George W. Bush gave the State of the Union Address a year into his presidency — 85% of speech watchers approved.
Six in 10 of those asked said they thought Mr. Obama conveyed a clear plan for creating jobs, and seven in 10 said his plans for the economy will help ordinary Americans. Another seven in 10 said President Obama has the same priorities for the country as they have.
Special Report: Obama's 2010 State of the Union
The same individuals were interviewed both before and after Wednesday's State of the Union, and after the speech, 70 percent said Mr. Obama shares their priorities for the country, up from 57 percent before the speech.
However, a sizable 57 percent said the President will not be able to accomplish all of the goals he set out in his speech. Most Democrats who viewed the speech (63 percent) said the man they elected would be able to accomplish all of his goals, but only 11 percent of Republicans and 33 percent of independent voters agreed.
Most Democrats and independents who watched said the president shares their priorities, while most Republicans did not.
Read the Complete Poll
In his speech President Obama said jobs would be "the number one focus in 2010," and here the president seems to have changed the minds of many speech watchers. After listening to the president, 59 percent of viewers said Mr. Obama has a clear plan for creating jobs, while 41 percent said he does not. Before the speech those numbers were almost exactly reversed.
Seventy-six percent of speech watchers generally approved of Mr. Obama's plans for dealing with the economy, up 21 percentage points from before the speech. President Obama laid out a plan for freezing spending for discretionary government programs for three years starting in 2011, and this seems to have resonated — 72 percent of those questioned approved of the plan.
Viewers were also more optimistic about the impact of President Obama's economic plans after watching the speech. Seventy-one percent said his economic plans will help ordinary Americans – up from 55 percent before the speech — and 56 percent were left thinking his plans will reduce the budget deficit in the long run, up from 41 percent.
On health care, President Obama reiterated the need for reform, and most speech watchers (67 percent) approved of the president's plan for dealing with the issue. Prior to his speech, 54 percent said they supported his plans.
The Commander in Chief also garnered approval for his handling to the war in Afghanistan with his speech Wednesday, with those supporting his strategy increasing from 58 percent before the address to 74 percent afterward.
Perhaps predictably, Americans who watched the speech were more Democratic than the nation as a whole. Historically, a President's supporters are more likely than his opponents to watch State of the Union addresses. Forty-four percent of speech viewers in this poll described themselves as Democrats while only 21 percent said they were Republican.
More Coverage of Obama's State of the Union:
Obama Vows to Fight for Jobs
Full Text of Obama's Speech
Bob McDonnell: The Government Is "Trying to Do Too Much"
Obama Upbeat as He Seeks to Reset Presidency
Dem, GOP Leaders Spar Over Obama's Community Banks Plan
Ohio Voters: Obama Needs More Details on Jobs Plan
Obama Priorities Revealed in State of the Union Speech
Obama's Speech Leveraged His Strengths
Photos: The State of the Union
Full Video of Obama's State of the Union
Katie Couric's Webcast: Analysis and Interviews
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This CBS News Poll was conducted online by Knowledge Networks among a nationwide random sample of 522 viewers of the President’s Address to Congress. Knowledge Networks, a Silicon Valley company, conducted the poll among a sample of adult members of its household panel who said in recent days that they intended to watch the speech. The Knowledge Networks panel is a nationally representative sample given access to the Internet. This is a scientifically representative poll of viewers’ reaction to the speech. The margin of sampling error could be plus or minus 4 percentage points for the entire sample of speech watchers.
Secret Investigation Against G-20 Twitterer Has Minnesota Connection
In September 2008, the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, saw considerable pre-emptive arrests of activists and journalists, including raids on independent media spaces and the Tin Can Comms Collective office, which coordinated a series of Twitter feeds during the surrounding protests relating to activist actions, legal support, and street medic teams. This update from an anarchist collective in New York, who saw members raided and arrested for a similar Tin Can Comms Twitter deployment during the September 2009 G-20 protests in Pittsburgh, PA, was reposted anonymously with the above title on Twin Cities Indymedia’s website. Local charges had been dropped against the Pittsburgh G-20 Twitterers because of an ongoing “national” investigation, presumably in lieu of pending but not yet announced federal charges.
A New Year, A New Tortuga House Update, January 27, 2010
It has been several months since our last communication regarding the “situation” here at Tortuga House, but with nothing more than the seemingly interminable filing of legal motions by our defense to unseal the secret affidavits authorizing the raids in Pittsburgh and New York, counter-motions by prosecutors to keep these affidavits sealed, and judicial providence obviously favoring the side which signs their checks, we may as well be submitting a blank sheet of paper for all the real news we have. With the affidavits in our case remaining sealed—the motives and strategy of the state remain in the realm of speculation and will obviously not do for any public statement. However, a recent court date in Pittsburgh has since brought us several scraps of useful information that we felt it was important to share with others.
On January 15th, a court date/rubber-stamping procedure regarding a request by the state of Pennsylvania to keep the affidavit, which authorized the September 24th raid on a motel just outside of Pittsburgh and the arrest of two of our housemates during the G-20 protests, sealed for yet another 30 days yielded a bit more than the inevitable ruling in favor of the prosecution. The judge in the case, perhaps bored or suffering indigestion from eating a rich lunch, asked the state to explain why this affidavit—in a case where all charges against the accused had been dropped—required the extension of the seal.
Amid the standard spiel of the on-going investigation and grand jury in New York, the prosecution also claimed in oral arguments that this investigation now included Minnesota. In the application to the court, the prosecution wrote: “…certain alleged acts that occurred during the G-20 Summit were not isolated incidents confined to Allegheny County but instead may have been related to more expansive activities that went beyond the Pittsburgh G-20 both in time and in substance.” Also in the application to the court, is the first official mention of informants in the investigation. “The affiants are requesting the original search warrants be sealed for an additional 30 days to protect the informants involved in the investigation as well as an ongoing, more expansive investigation.”
It is worth noting that the prosecution manipulated facts in oral arguments about the investigation in New York—claiming that investigators could not move forward with the case until a decision was reached by the US Supreme Court (which is not true in any respect), as well as claiming the reason that the state has still not gone through our computers is because our hard drives are “booby-trapped” and would “self-destruct” if removed! Of course our lawyer objected to such outright fabrications and of course the judge, after the enormous strain of asking a legitimate question, extended the seal on the affidavit once more. The seal is currently set to expire on February 21st.
We wish we had more than these meager scraps from the dungheap of justice to provide—but this points to the necessity of unsealing the affidavits in both Pennsylvania and New York, as well as why the state is fighting to keep these documents sealed. What we now know is that prosecutors in Pennsylvania claim there are multiple informants in this investigation—which has repeatedly been described as “multi-state” and “ongoing” in court documents—and if we can believe them, that the investigation now includes Minnesota. According to the January 15th application to the court, they also state that included in the investigation are “activities that [go] beyond the Pittsburgh G-20 both in time and in substance.” However, it is unclear what activities they are referring to or where they think they might have taken place. Unfortunately, this is all the precious information we have—everything else remains conjecture.
While this new information is certainly not comforting, our goal in sharing this information is definitely not to frighten others into inactivity. State repression attempts to douse the inevitable flames of rebellion by targeting individuals with the hope that in striking one (or two or three) they will frighten many. By sharing our experiences in being openly targeted by the state, we hope we can collectively overcome their attempts to control those who refuse their authority and find ways to fight back while navigating the treacherous waters of life under capitalism. No matter what they do they will never succeed in putting out our fire—can’t stop won’t stop.
A New Year, A New Tortuga House Update, January 27, 2010
It has been several months since our last communication regarding the “situation” here at Tortuga House, but with nothing more than the seemingly interminable filing of legal motions by our defense to unseal the secret affidavits authorizing the raids in Pittsburgh and New York, counter-motions by prosecutors to keep these affidavits sealed, and judicial providence obviously favoring the side which signs their checks, we may as well be submitting a blank sheet of paper for all the real news we have. With the affidavits in our case remaining sealed—the motives and strategy of the state remain in the realm of speculation and will obviously not do for any public statement. However, a recent court date in Pittsburgh has since brought us several scraps of useful information that we felt it was important to share with others.
On January 15th, a court date/rubber-stamping procedure regarding a request by the state of Pennsylvania to keep the affidavit, which authorized the September 24th raid on a motel just outside of Pittsburgh and the arrest of two of our housemates during the G-20 protests, sealed for yet another 30 days yielded a bit more than the inevitable ruling in favor of the prosecution. The judge in the case, perhaps bored or suffering indigestion from eating a rich lunch, asked the state to explain why this affidavit—in a case where all charges against the accused had been dropped—required the extension of the seal.
Amid the standard spiel of the on-going investigation and grand jury in New York, the prosecution also claimed in oral arguments that this investigation now included Minnesota. In the application to the court, the prosecution wrote: “…certain alleged acts that occurred during the G-20 Summit were not isolated incidents confined to Allegheny County but instead may have been related to more expansive activities that went beyond the Pittsburgh G-20 both in time and in substance.” Also in the application to the court, is the first official mention of informants in the investigation. “The affiants are requesting the original search warrants be sealed for an additional 30 days to protect the informants involved in the investigation as well as an ongoing, more expansive investigation.”
It is worth noting that the prosecution manipulated facts in oral arguments about the investigation in New York—claiming that investigators could not move forward with the case until a decision was reached by the US Supreme Court (which is not true in any respect), as well as claiming the reason that the state has still not gone through our computers is because our hard drives are “booby-trapped” and would “self-destruct” if removed! Of course our lawyer objected to such outright fabrications and of course the judge, after the enormous strain of asking a legitimate question, extended the seal on the affidavit once more. The seal is currently set to expire on February 21st.
We wish we had more than these meager scraps from the dungheap of justice to provide—but this points to the necessity of unsealing the affidavits in both Pennsylvania and New York, as well as why the state is fighting to keep these documents sealed. What we now know is that prosecutors in Pennsylvania claim there are multiple informants in this investigation—which has repeatedly been described as “multi-state” and “ongoing” in court documents—and if we can believe them, that the investigation now includes Minnesota. According to the January 15th application to the court, they also state that included in the investigation are “activities that [go] beyond the Pittsburgh G-20 both in time and in substance.” However, it is unclear what activities they are referring to or where they think they might have taken place. Unfortunately, this is all the precious information we have—everything else remains conjecture.
While this new information is certainly not comforting, our goal in sharing this information is definitely not to frighten others into inactivity. State repression attempts to douse the inevitable flames of rebellion by targeting individuals with the hope that in striking one (or two or three) they will frighten many. By sharing our experiences in being openly targeted by the state, we hope we can collectively overcome their attempts to control those who refuse their authority and find ways to fight back while navigating the treacherous waters of life under capitalism. No matter what they do they will never succeed in putting out our fire—can’t stop won’t stop.
Friday, January 29, 2010
I have no appetite for women- Davis Mpanda
Davis Mpanda, owner of Under-14 soccer outfit Davis Babies, has revealed to Zachimalawi that he has no appetite for women, hence his decision to go on and sleep with minors.
Mpanda has pleaded guilty to charges of having unnatural sex at Machinjiri Magistrates Court and is now awaiting his sentence, having pleaded guilty.
Said Mpanda: "What could I do? I have no appetite for women. I believe I am gay. I have never had sex before."
There have been increased civil society outcries on the need to legalise homosexuality in Malawi, ring leaders being the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, Centre for the Development of People and the Malawi Gay Rights Movement.
But government officials have gagged the civil society organisation, saying it was premature to talk about legalising homosexuality when the issue of Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza was still in court.
Mpanda has pleaded guilty to charges of having unnatural sex at Machinjiri Magistrates Court and is now awaiting his sentence, having pleaded guilty.
Said Mpanda: "What could I do? I have no appetite for women. I believe I am gay. I have never had sex before."
There have been increased civil society outcries on the need to legalise homosexuality in Malawi, ring leaders being the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, Centre for the Development of People and the Malawi Gay Rights Movement.
But government officials have gagged the civil society organisation, saying it was premature to talk about legalising homosexuality when the issue of Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza was still in court.
Jacob Juma rebuffs Muammar Gadaffi on plot against Bingu
South African President, Jacob Juma, on Wednesday received a phone call from Libyan president, Muammar Gadaffi, on the possibility of assurping the African Union chairmanship from Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika.
The AU chairmanship rotates and, this time, it is the turn of the Southern African Development Community to choose a representative.
SADC settled for Mutharika but reports indicate that Gadaffi has developed some insatiable thirst for power and wants another run.
Foreign Affairs Minister Ettah Banda confirmed the development in an interview, saying she was informed of the issue by her South African counterpart.
"We have been assured that Dr. Mutharika will take over the chairmanship so Malawians should not worry. We are aware of what is happening," said Banda.
She said Zuma rebuffed Gadaffi on the issue, and maintained that it was SADC's turn.
South African government officials are yet to respond to an e-mail from Zachimalawi.
The AU chairmanship rotates and, this time, it is the turn of the Southern African Development Community to choose a representative.
SADC settled for Mutharika but reports indicate that Gadaffi has developed some insatiable thirst for power and wants another run.
Foreign Affairs Minister Ettah Banda confirmed the development in an interview, saying she was informed of the issue by her South African counterpart.
"We have been assured that Dr. Mutharika will take over the chairmanship so Malawians should not worry. We are aware of what is happening," said Banda.
She said Zuma rebuffed Gadaffi on the issue, and maintained that it was SADC's turn.
South African government officials are yet to respond to an e-mail from Zachimalawi.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Malawi in bird flu vaccination campaign
Malawi is not taking the possible threat of bird flue lightly. Believing that the adage which purpots that once beaten, twice shy often strikes true, the country plansd to start vaccinating its citizens.
This follows four reports of bird flue during its peak last year, leading to the death of a Mangochi man.
The campaign,coming courtesy of the United States Government, is being implemented by the Ministry of Health.
This follows four reports of bird flue during its peak last year, leading to the death of a Mangochi man.
The campaign,coming courtesy of the United States Government, is being implemented by the Ministry of Health.
Hunger imminent
Malawi could face hunger for the first time in five years.
This follows continued dry-spells in various parts of the country.
AZachimalawi tour of Thyolo, Mulanje, Chiradzulu, Dedza, Kasungu and Nkhotakota reveals that wilting of crops is common place, and farmers expressed fear they may have no food this year.
"Government should start redistributing farm inputs now," said Jonathan Banda at Nkhotakota Boma.
President Bingu wa Mutharika has acknowledged the possibility of hunger, but says Malawi has enough stocks.
Zachimalawi is now in Chitpa and will file an assessment report tomorrow.
This follows continued dry-spells in various parts of the country.
AZachimalawi tour of Thyolo, Mulanje, Chiradzulu, Dedza, Kasungu and Nkhotakota reveals that wilting of crops is common place, and farmers expressed fear they may have no food this year.
"Government should start redistributing farm inputs now," said Jonathan Banda at Nkhotakota Boma.
President Bingu wa Mutharika has acknowledged the possibility of hunger, but says Malawi has enough stocks.
Zachimalawi is now in Chitpa and will file an assessment report tomorrow.
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