Accommodating the Deaf in Malawi: 50 Years On

A tense hush falls over the consulting room whenever Bryson Chimenya seeks medical attention at the country’s health facilities.

It comes as no surprise, therefore, that Zingwangwa Health Centre in Blantyre- located some five minutes away from his house in Zingwangwa Township- has become a destination so far away, courtesy of communication challenges.

“I hope I will now be able to go to Zingwangwa Health Centre with the assurance that I will be assisted,” Chimenya, speaking through interpreter Bruno Mwase, recently told a group of health workers in Blantyre.

Mwase, the interpreter, is the programme officer at Malawi National Association of the Deaf (Manad).

Even though Chimenya is the executive director at Manad- a not-so-ordinary position, he continues to face a horde of challenges, mainly bordering on people’s disregard for Sign Language.

His sentiments that he would like to one day go to his nearest health centre and access health services without facing communication gaps aptly summarises the challenges faced by deaf people in the country.

According to the 2008 Population and Housing Census, the country has 86,000 people with hearing challenges. Of the 86, 000, 5,000 are registered members of Manad, and benefit from its advocacy work in all the 30 districts of the country.

Chimenya says the platform in the country is strewn with huddles for deaf people. This means that, for an organisation like Manad- which was formed in 1992 and got registered under Trustees Incorporation Act in 1996- it is a sign that the road is still long and winding. 

Against the odds

For a long time, deaf people in the country have been left behind in issues of national development.

This, according to one of the people who advocates for the rights of deaf people, Juliana Mwase, is because “Firstly, Deafness is an invisible disability. It is difficult to identify on sight unless one attempts to communicate with an affected person”.

This, she says, is exacerbated by the problem of communication break-down.

“Deaf people rely on Sign Language for communication but this Sign language is unpopular, unrecognized and under-developed, which puts the deaf at a disadvantage because Sign language is their only mode of communication,” she points out.

All these challenges abound despite the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Article 29 and Malawi Disability Act Sections 17 and 18 having provisions that promote the participation of deaf people in national affairs.


Paving the way

Despite these unfavourable conditions, the Manad programme officer says efforts are being made to level the playing field for deaf people in the country.

He cites the promotion of Sign Language as a means of communication and the implementation of income-generating projects for its members as some of the activities that have raised the status of deaf people.

He says increased corroboration with organizations such as the World Federation of the Deaf and the Federation of Disability Organisations in Malawi has also helped expose challenges encountered by the deaf in their daily endeavours.

“We want Malawi to be a society in which the deaf enjoy equal opportunities,” he says. “At the moment, we are implementing an HIV/Aids Awareness and Prevention Project after observing that deaf people have been facing challenges when they want to access Voluntary Counseling and Testing services,” he says.

He says, as part of the initiative, HIV and Aids counselors and other health workers have been sensitised with the aim of getting rid of the huddles so commonplace in the country.

Currently being implemented in the seven districts of Blantyre, Mangochi, Lilongwe, Ntchisi, Salima, Mzimba and Karonga, the National Aids Commission-funded initiative started in April this year and is expected to run for one year.

“Our aim is to produce HIV and Aids materials, conduct awareness campaigns among the deaf community and schools that accommodate deaf students, and train 60 medical workers in Sign Language. We are also training deaf peer educators,” he says.

One of the people who have acquired skills in Sign Language, Blantyre-based Robert Malitoni, equates being ignorant about Sign Language to “living in the dark”.

“Knowing Sign Language makes communication easy. Before I knew sign language, I thought I did not need it, but my view of life has changed now,” Malitoni says.

Malitoni says it does not make sense to live with deaf people and, yet, fail to understand them, something he says is tantamount to being there, yet so far away.

On his part, Chimenya hopes that these efforts will go a long way in increasing the deaf community’s access to essential services including medical care.

“After we trained 20 healthcare workers from Blantyre and Mangochi in Sign Language recently, I started to feel that I can now go to Zingwangwa Health Centre and enjoy access to medical attention like everyone else. With some of those trained coming from Zingwangwa (Health Centre), I feel I stand a better chance of being assisted,” Chimenya says.

Indeed, Chimenya hopes for an end to the days when deaf people could be so near, “yet, so far away”.

Let's Not Forget Lessons From the The Outcomes Of The 19th Session Of The Conference Of Parties To The United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change Held In Warsaw, Poland

GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALAWI

MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE MANAGEMENT

PRESS BRIEF

On The Outcomes Of The 19th Session

Of The Conference Of Parties

To The United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change

Held In

Warsaw, Poland

11th – 23rd November 2013

3RD DECEMBER 2013

1. A Brief Background About the Climate Change Convention

With 195 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 192 of the UNFCCC Parties. For the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, 37 States running up to 2012, the highly industrialized countries assumed legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments, most of which were not fulfilled.

In Doha in 2012, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol adopted an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, known as the “Doha Amendment” that extends its period and establishes the second commitment period for emissions reductions.

The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

2. About the Warsaw 2013 Conference

1. Organization of work

The UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw ended on Saturday 23rd November, keeping governments on a track towards a universal climate agreement in 2015 and including significant new decisions that will cut emissions from deforestation and on loss and damage.

The Conference attracted over 8,000 delegates from government, civil society, international observers, the church, business community, and the academia. Overall, the Warsaw Climate Change Conference concluded successfully, to a great extent, but did not succeed well in certain elements. For instance, it was difficult to make substantial progress in all agenda items due to various legitimate factors.

2. Agenda items negotiated under the established Convention and Kyoto Protocol Bodies

Altogether, there were 189 agenda items being discussed in five thematic bodies, as briefly highlighted below:

• The 19th Conference of the Parties – finance, Green Climate Fund, Long –term finance, and key issues referred to it from the other four bodies.
• The 9th Conference of the Parties also serving as meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol – emissions reduction targets, Adaptation Fund, clean development mechanism.
• The Subsidiary Body for Implementation – finance, Global Environment Facility, national communications, national adaptation plans, loss and damage to impacts of climate change.
• The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice – scientific issues about green house gases inventories, research and systematic observation, agriculture, Nairobi work programme on impacts, vulnerability and assessments, land use, land use change and forestry, clean  development mechanism, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
• The Ad Hoc Working Group on Enhanced Action for Mitigation – pre-2020 mitigation ambition, finance.

3.0 Purpose, Objectives and Processes of COP-19/CMP-9

The Warsaw 2013 Conference was considered crucial due to the fact that the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, which is the legal instrument for the Convention, expired on 31st December 2012, and Parties agreed to the second commitment period to run from 1stJanuary 2013 to 31st December 2020. As such, member countries were expected to agree, and agree on fair and ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets for the second and subsequent commitment periods, beyond 2012. In addition, the Conference was expected to agree on sources and scale of long-term finance from 2013 and beyond, and also on the operationalization of the Green Climate Fund that was established at Cancun, Mexico in 2010.

The Conference sought to advance, the implementation of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, as well as the Bali Action Plan agreed at CoP13 in 2007, the Cancun Agreements reached at CoP16 in 2010, the Durban Platform adopted at COP17 in South Africa in 2011, and the Doha Gateway adopted at Doha, Qatar in December 2012.

4.0 Key Decisions and Outcomes of COP-19/CMP-9

The key thematic outcomes adopted at this Conference include decisions that pave the way for future progress on:

• Further advancing the Durban Platform for enhanced action on mitigation (ADP),
• Fully operationalizing the Green Climate Fund and Long-term Finance,
• Establishment of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with climate change impacts, and
• Establishment of the Warsaw Framework for REDDplus.

SELECTED KEY SPECIFIC OUTCOMES

5. Climate finance

Several decisions were taken related to climate finance, as highlighted below:

1. Long-term Climate Finance

The Warsaw meeting resulted in concrete announcements of forthcoming contributions of public climate finance to support developing nations’ actions. Developed countries that made the announcements included Norway, the United Kingdom, European Union, United States of America, Republic of Korea, Japan, Sweden, Germany and Finland.

2. Green Climate Fund

Meanwhile, the Green Climate Fund Board is to commence its initial resource mobilization process as soon as possible and developed countries were asked for ambitious, timely contributions by COP 20, in December, next year, to enable an effective operationalization of the Fund.

Local level action:  Stakeholders are encouraged to develop projects on adaptation and mitigation that will be submitted to the Fund once it becomes operational. The country also needs to nominate a national implementing entity for the Green Climate Fund, as required in the Instrument of the Fund.

3. Adaptation Fund

Developed countries such as Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Norway and Switzerland made financial contributions to the Adaptation Fund to a level of a hundred million United States dollars (US$100 million). The Adaptation Fund was established under the Convention to support developing countries implement concrete adaptation activities.

Local level action : Malawi needs to finalize the process of nominating and accrediting a national implementing entity with the Adaptation Fund Board. The entity will serve as a clearing house for adaptation projects to be submitted to the Board for consideration for funding.

“The funds listed above are important for Malawi to implements its climate change related interventions as indicated in the Climate Change Investment Plan. Over the years, the country has been able to access projects amounting to over 10 billion United States dollars (US$10 b)spread across variopus government institutions and the civil society. These projects have activities on adaptation, early warning systems, disaster risk management, capacity building, renewable energy, land management, and other focal areas “.

4. Fifth review of the financial mechanism

The CoP adopted the updated guidelines for the Fifth review of the financial mechanism and requested the Standing Committee on Finance to continue to provide expert input to the review, with a view to the review being finalized by the Conference of the Parties at its twentieth session (December 2014). The review will, among others, examine relevant sources, channels and means of financing, as indicated in Article 11, paragraph 5, of the Convention.

5. Guidance to the Global Environment Facility

The CoP requested the Global Environment Facility to give due consideration in its sixth replenishment period to funding for small island developing States and the least developed countries  in order to enable them to address their urgent needs and to comply with their obligations under the Convention.

“Firewall” – In spite of the announcements made to the Adaptation Fund and the Least Developed Countries Fund, developing countries, including Malawi, did express concerns caused mainly by the lack of progress on the main issues about finance, i.e. how to mobilize funds up to the already pledged US$100 billion a year by 2020, to help developing countries take climate actions. There was no agreement on a road map to mobilize the required resources between now and the 2020 deadline.

6. Durban Platform on Enhanced Action on pre-2020 Mitigation Ambition

Another major outcome of the Conference was a decision on how to take forward the talks in the next two years that will lead to a new climate change agreement in December 2015.

The Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) was established at the 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP17) at Durban, South Africa in December 2011, with a purpose to allow Parties negotiate a comprehensive climate change agreement, which will cover all countries of the world, by 2015 at the latest. Principles of equity, historical responsibility, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities will play a key role in this agreement.  

Discussions under this thematic body centered on how various countries will have to “contribute” their efforts to addressing mitigation and adaptation activities, especially whether there is to be differentiation and if so what type of differentiation, and the issue of securing the support of financing and technology for developing countries.

Local level action: The country is contributing already to mitigation actions, through various programmes on renewable energy, carbon sequestration and projects under the clean development mechanism, and will continue contributing through nationally appropriate mitigation actions and projects supported through the USAID on enhancing capacity for low emissions development strategies.

7. Adaptation

The CoP welcomed progress made in the implementation of the Adaptation Committee’s three-year rolling work programme, and the establishment of a task force on national adaptation plans.

8. Nairobi work programme on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change

Recognizing the importance of indigenous and traditional knowledge and practices, and gender-sensitive approaches and tools for adaptation to climate change, the CoP decided to continue the Nairobi work programme on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, and decided also that activities under the Nairobi work programme should integrate gender issues, indigenous and traditional knowledge, and the role of and impacts on ecosystems. The CoP further decided that in undertaking its work, the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice should cover the following sectors, among others: Ecosystems; Human settlements; Water resources; and Health.

9. The Warsaw international mechanism on loss and damage associated with climate change impacts

The climate conference held in Warsaw has set up a new international mechanism to help developing countries affected by loss and damage from climate change, such as the Philippines typhoon.

The setting up of a loss and damage international mechanism was the major achievement of the 19th Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC (COP19) that ended on Saturday 23 November evening, a full day after its scheduled conclusion.

The new mechanism is tasked to provide countries with technical support, to facilitate actions and improve coordination of work inside the UN Climate Convention as well as with other organisations.

Most importantly, it will also mobilize and secure funds, technology and capacity building activities to address loss and damage associated with climate change impacts.

10. Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDDplus)

An agreement was reached on a significant set of decisions on ways to help developing countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and the degradation of forests, which account for around one fifth of all human-generated emissions. The Warsaw Framework for REDD+ is backed by pledges of 280 million dollars financing from the United States of America, Norway and the United Kingdom.

Local level action and benefit: Malawi stands to benefit from this facility once it gets accredited under the United Nations REDD Programme. In this regard, Department of Forestry is required to designate a national focal point on this facility, and also follow up on the accreditation process under the UNREDD Programme, but also expedite the development of the REDDplus strategy.

11. Climate Technology Centre and Network

Governments completed work on the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) so that it can immediately respond to requests from developing countries for advice and assistance on the transfer of technology.

The Sixteenth  Conference of the Parties (CoP16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Cancun, Mexico in December 2010, decided to establish a Technology Mechanism, to enhance action on technology development and transfer to support action on mitigation and adaptation. The CTCN shall manage the process of receiving and responding to requests from developing country Parties and shall work with the Network to respond to such requests.

The CTCN is open for business and is encouraging developing countries to set up focal points to accelerate the transfer of technology.

Local level action: Malawi needs to finalize accreditation process for a national designated entity that becomes the country’s contact point, and institution responsible to undertake actions related to the development and transfer of technologies.

12. Issues relating to agriculture

The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) acknowledged with appreciation the rich exchange of views by Parties during the in-session workshop on the current state of scientific knowledge on how to enhance the adaptation of agriculture to climate change impacts while promoting rural development, sustainable development and productivity of agricultural systems and food security in all countries, particularly in developing countries, taking into account the diversity of the agricultural systems and the differences in scale as well as possible adaptation co-benefits. The SBSTA agreed to consider at SBSTA 40 (June 2014), the report of the in-session workshop

13. Advancing the goal of gender balance and gender sensitive policy

The COP adopted gender conclusions released by the SBI Chair using information from submission from parties, in session gender workshop and the negotiations on options and ways to advance gender balance as mandated by decision 23/CP.18. However, parties failed to agree on concrete options

14. Clean development mechanism

The CoP welcomed the progress made in establishing the regional collaboration centres to promote the clean development mechanism in regions underrepresented in the mechanism and to support stakeholders at the regional and national levels; and requested the Executive Board to develop guiding tools to assist designated national authorities, upon the request of the host Party and on a voluntary basis, in monitoring the sustainable development benefits in its territory of clean development mechanism project activities and programmes of activities, recognizing that the use of such guiding tools is the prerogative of Parties and subject to the availability of funds from developed country Parties. 

15. Bilateral meetings

In the margins of the Warsaw Climate Change Conference, the Malawi delagation met with several bilateral and cooperating partners to further advance our relationships. These partners included representatives from German, Norwegian and  Scotish governments, European Union, Global Environment Facility, World Bank, Mary Robinson Foundation on Climate Justice, United Nations Development Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization, Oxfam International and Act Alliance.

Some of the partners have on-going programmes in Malawi, hence they offfered to continue providing support for climate change related activities in Malawi, whereas the others pledged their willingness to support the country in mitigation and adaptation actions.

During these meetings, and at a side event that we organized, we showcased our national best practicies on climate change and shared with the international community the recently developed National Climate Change Investment Plan, and other efforts which will lead to sustainable development in the country.

Some of the areas include development of National Adaptation Plans, National Appropriate Mitigation Actions, REDDplus strategy and other programmes related to technology and capacity building.

Annex 1: Programmes Funded Through Initiatives In The Climate Change Negotiations

1. On-going

• Climate Adaptation for Rural Livelihoods and Agriculture - US$3million (is under full implementation in Karonga, Dedza and Chikwawa) – from the Least Developed Countries Fund of the Global Environment Facility through the African Development Bank.

• Climate proofing local development gains in rural and urban areas of Machinga and Mangochi Districts – being finalized, funds from the Least Developed Countries Fund of the Global Environment Facility through UNDP - $5.3m (Approved).

• Strengthening Climate Information And Early Warning Systems In Eastern And Southern Africa For Climate Resilient Development And Adaptation To Climate Change – from the Least Developed Countries Fund of the Global Environment Facility through the UNDP - $4m, implementation to start soon next year).

• Implementing urgent adaptation priorities through strengthened decentralized and national development plans – from the Least Developed Countries Fund of the Global Environment Facility through UNDP- $4.5m (being finalized.)

• The Shire River Basin Management, under full implementation with the  World Bank with a contribution of US$5million from the Least Developed Countries Fund.

• Climate smart Agriculture project in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security through the Food and Agriculture Organization.

2. Projects At Different Stages Of Development With The GEF And Its Agencies

• Pesticides Risk Reduction in Malawi, Project Information Form (PIF) submitted on 14th August 2012 through the Food and Agriculture Organization to a tune of US$ 3,000,000- UNIDO - approved.

• Frameworks for the Prevention of Management of Biological Invasions in Malawi, Project Identification Form (PIF) submitted on 4th October 2012 through the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to a tune of US$1.1 million – approved.

• Establishment of a National Regulatory Framework for Access and Benefit Sharing in Malawi, PIF submitted on 5th October 2012 through UNEP to a tune of US$1 million

• Building Climate Resilience in the Fisheries sector in Malawi, PIF submitted on 18th December 2012 through the FAO to a tune of US$6,138,000 million –approved.

• Endorsement for Increasing Access to Clean and Affordable Decentralized Energy Services in Selected Vulnerable Areas of Malawi- PIF submitted through UNDP on 18th April 2013 to a tune of US$2million pending.

3. Requests Still Under Consideration

1. Technical support from UNEP and UNDP under the GEF Global Support Programme for Malawi to engage on the roadmap for formulation of National Adaptation Plans

UNEP and UNDP have teamed up together to assist Malawi. We will engage a national consultant to work with a team of national experts in this exercise. The National Climate Change Programme may provide some resources to support the exercise.

The need: an expedited approach since Malawi is also being featured as a case study in this process by the LDCs Adaptation nit at the UNFCCC Secretariat.

2. Request to GEF through UNEP for Malawi to develop its Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) – request was addressed to Dr Maryam Niamir-Fuller on 24th July 2013

Dr George Manful at the UNEP has been assigned to work with Malawi, as such what is needed is an expedited approach.

The country has engaged on “A Road Towards a Low Carbon Emissions Development Pathway” whose purpose is to develop a low carbon growth path for Malawi. By undertaking this task, Government will engage in a Green Economy Pathway through implementation of sustainable low carbon emissions technologies. Pursuant to the decisions taken in Copenhagen and Durban, Malawi has developed its Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) Concept note, as attached. 

In order to develop a complete NAMA and develop an MRV Framework, Malawi has requested for financing of US$2,000,000 (two million United States dollars) from our GEF-5 System for Transparent Allocation (STAR) climate change allocation. 

3. Request to the GEF through the UNEP for Malawi’s Biennial Update Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – sent on 24th July 2013 to Dr Maryam Niamir-Fuller

In response to the decisions taken at the sixteenth session (COP 16) and the seventeenth session of the Conference of Parties (COP 17) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for the preparation of biennial update reports by non-Annex I Parties, Malawi submitted this request for financing in order to prepare its biennial update report.

It is the wish of Government that we should be able to complete and submit our first biennial update report by December 2014, as a stand-alone update report.

Malawi is ready and willing to work with the UNEP in this project using the current enabling activities template. The total financing that was requested for this project from GEF-5 funds is US$352, 000 (three hundred fifty two thousand United States Dollars).

4. Request to the GEF for financing for review of Malawi’s National Capacity Self-Assessment and Capacity Development for Implementation of the three Rio Conventions – request was specifically submitted through Mr William Ehlers on 24th July 2013

Malawi developed its National Capacity Self Assessment Report in 2007, and officially submitted it to the GEF in 2012. The Report established that, in the implementation of the three Rio Conventions on Biodiversity, Climate Change and Combat Desertification, a number of individual, institutional and systemic gaps exist.

In order to address some of the inadequacies that were identified in the Report, a request was made for financing of US$500,000 (five hundred thousand United States dollars) from the GEF- Capacity Development Window for developing countries. In this regard, Malawi has requested the UNEP to assist in the preparation of a Project Identification Form (PIF) to enable us access the resources.

A Story of Malawi's Economy

Malawi has not fully recovered from the serious macroeconomic challenges it faced between 2011 and 2012 as a result of misplaced policies of former president Bingu wa Mutharika’s administration. These misplaced economic policies led to a growing fiscal deficit, rising inflation and the depletion of international gross reserves in a context of an overvalued exchange rate.

However, the administration of President Joyce Banda, which came into power on April 7, 2012, attempted to institute bold macroeconomic policy adjustment measures to address the imbalances. These measures included the devaluation of the Malawi kwacha (MKW) by 49 percent in 2012, with a move towards a flexible exchange rate regime, the tightening of monetary and fiscal policy, and a removal of subsidies on fuel. The government also re-engaged the International Monetary Fund, resulting in the resumption of direct budget support by donors.

These reforms, somehow, yielded positive results, with fuel supplies returning to normal, and forex reserves propping up, resulting in the easing of fuel shortages and improved access to foreign exchange by the business community. Economic recovery, however, remained fragile and the exchange rate may take time to stabilise given the excess demand for foreign exchange.

Unfortunately for Malawi, development partners have frozen financial aid in the wake of free-for-all plunder at the seat of government, Capital Hill, putting Malawi in danger of facing similar serious macroeconomic challenges that were characteristic of the twilight days of the Bingu wa Mutharika regime. 

In other words, Joyce Banda found a demolished wall and reconstructed it; and, then, demolished it again through the plunder of public resources dubbed Cashgate. 

When President Peter Mutharika won the May 20 Tripartite Elections, he knew very well that he was inheriting an economy in crisis. Malawi's development partners are yet to unfreeze the much-needed financial aid. The only sector getting resources from development partners is, to some extent, the non-state actors' sector. Even even there a drought looms.

The situation is further worsened by the fact that the country is approaching a farming and also a lean season. Being a farming season, this is a time when the country imports a lot of farm inputs thus it may lead to a serious erosion of our import cover. Being a lean season, prices of food commodities, especially maize traditional go up and this year the situation is further compounded by the fact that the country is facing hunger. 

These challenges pose the potential of further leading to a growing fiscal deficit, rising inflation and the depletion of forex reserves which inadvertently will impact the lives of poor Malawians. Given this dire situation, it is important for the government to revise its budget, alter budget lines that we can do without as a country and put the money where it is absolutely necessary.

In conclusion, the situation is not promising at the moment. Malawi is back to Square One.

John Benito, Malawi's Upcoming Keyboardist

Some express their reservations behind his back, while others are so impatient that they express it in his presence. But 19-year-old John Benito says he has not given up on his dream to become one of Malawi’s best keyboardists as he continues to mesmerise music lovers with his wizardly on the keys.

Those who were part of the crowd that descended on Mankhokwe (or Chileka Airport) ground to be part of the Chileka Memorial Show on Saturday will bear witness that there were no blemishes in the teenager’s act when he backed Young Generation Band and Jupiter Band.

The Chilimba-based keyboardist delivered a perfect act despite playing the keyboard for musicians and music groups he did not rehearse with, a development that was clear when one of Young Generation’s members, Jangisi Khan, exclaimed as the equipment was being tested: “Hey, the boy is too small. He will not manage!”

But Benito did not abandon ship, and went on to deliver a masterful performance- to the bewilderment of Khan and others present.

“A lot of people belittle me when they see me for the first time, but I have become used to that. I have learned to just go on with my job, and let my performance speak for me,” Benito says.

The third-born in a family of six traces his interest in the keyboard to 2009, when he joined Hope of Glory Church. This is the church that has shaped the Chitheka Family.

“The church gave us a chance to learn music equipment including the keyboard. I opted for the keyboard and, slowly, started mastering it,” Benito says.

Using that knowledge, the teenager later started working with the Blantyre-based Jamison Salvation Band.

He has also manned the keyboard during McFilly’s performances at Mount Soche Hotel in Blantyre.

“But these are not the only ones I have worked with. I play with Jupiter Band and other groupings that require my services, and are ready to take my music career to the next level,” Benito says.

Benito, who wants to study Business Accounting, sat for Malawi School Certificate of Education examinations at Ndirande Hill Secondary School in 2013.

He says he was inspired into music by Grecium Mukwena of Impact Band, whom he regards as a “master of music equipment”.

He parries aside the notion that there is no money in the local music industry, saying what is needed is the production of quality music and everything will fall into place.

Where does he want to be in 10 year’s time?

“I want to establish my own music grouping, and help young people achieve their goals in music,” Benito says.

But, asked about his ambitions in education, Benito says he wants to concentrate on music for the time being.

Born on April 10th, 1994, the up-coming keyboardist hails from Mgabu Village in the area of Traditional Authority Thawalawe in Nsanje. He is the only one interested in music in his family.

The Labours of Freedom

It must be oppression that spurs one to run towards life's rough edge.

If not, what else- if not the heavy yoke of oppression- could have impressed the minds of those we call Malawian and African martyrs to embrace the idea of embracing death with equanimity? No wonder that, when the frontiers of oppression hindered the entry of what we call martyrs into the gates of the abstract feel-good endeavour called 'freedom', only one thing impressed their mind: Death. 

They had to die, and put a full stop to this trail of oppression!

Capture, for instance, the scene 99 years ago, when the very Reverend John Chilembwe saw agents of the colonial administration secreting self-importance wherever they went, while treating the natives with contempt in estates. He could no longer watch the scene with muted fury.

In deed, as John E. Farley’s book, Majority-Minority Relations: Forth Edition, rightly observes, the actions of freedom fighters and liberty seekers are not always influenced by a “criminal element” as suggested by the ‘Riffraff Theory’.

To make a martyr

Farley argues: “Another widely believed but incorrect explanation is the so-called ‘Riffraff Theory’. This view holds that most of the trouble was caused by a criminal element and that racial grievances were merely an excuse used by this small minority of blacks. This explanation, too, has been soundly disproved by research.”

The truth, according to him, is that, “There was, however, also an attempt by whites more generally to maintain a system in which whiteness conferred status- a system of ‘social distance. Under slavery, doing so had been easy; everyone knew that whites were masters and blacks were slaves. This in itself created an unequal relationship from which the whites gained psychological and material benefit. 

"If whites were to maintain such a relationship after slavery, however, they would have to find a new way to proclaim and enforce the norm of racial equality. They did this by establishing segregation- in effect by replacing social distance with physical distance.”

While this scenario largely manifested itself in the United States of America, where Farley places more emphasis than Africa in the book, it is clear that the British colonial masters simply borrowed a leaf from their American counterparts, and applied the same principles in Malawi during the time of Chilembwe.

Not surprisingly, Chilembwe,  who worked for fundamentalist missionary Joseph Booth between 1892 and 1895 and, thanks to Booth, went on to study theology at a black theological college, the Virginia Theological College in the USA, quickly grasped life’s simplest lesson that, in order to buy one’s freedom, one has to fight for that freedom.

According to www.about.com/ African History, Chilembwe made up his mind when he came across the works of pan-Africanists  such as JE Casely Hayford, Marcus Garvey and Booker T. Washington.  That knowledge was like a seed buried deep in his heart.

When Chilembwe came back to his motherland in 1900 and founded the Providence Industrial Mission at Mbombwe, the seed was still there- being nurtured by the oppression he saw being inflicted on the natives. As the situation worsened, the seed became a hot bed of fury.

And, then, the situation could not be controlled anymore, according to the website.

“In 1913, an influx of refugees from Mozambique led to a reduction of employment standards in Nyasaland's plantations. Chilembwe's Baptist missionary work was seen as nationalistic revolution by the plantation owners, and some of his churches were burnt down. Two years later, in response to the cruelty of white plantation owners, John Chilembwe led an uprising (of about 200 followers) against British rule,” it says, adding:

“It has been suggested that he was also disgusted by the use of African soldiers against German forces in East Africa during World War I.) Chilembwe and his followers attacked the estate of a particularly ruthless white owner, William Jervis Livingstone, killing him and several of the white estate managers. (Livingstone was beheaded in front of his wife and children.) Their heads were put on display in Chilembwe's church.”

This, says the website, made Chilembwe one of the first nationalists in the Southern African Development Community region, a position he claimed by sealing his conviction in social justice with his own blood on February 3, 1915.

There is nothing strange with the fact that, for his convictions, he willingly took on the colonial masters and their representatives, and died trying to send home the message that his people were not losers.  As Farley observes, “Divisions and competition between poorer members of the majority and minority groups are critical elements in a rigid, competitive system of race relations and are a crucial reason for the mergence of such a system.

What is strange, though, is that his own people (those from other districts) failed to support him.
“Chilembwe failed to gain support from the surrounding districts and his revolt was rapidly quelled.

Chilembwe was shot by the police on 3 February 1915,” observes the website, www.about.com /African History.

But, for being forsaken, he got his reward: An appearance on the country’s banknotes, and a day (January 15) celebrated in his memory.

Universality of freedom

While Chilembwe’s actions during the events that have come to be known as ‘The Chilembwe Uprising’ might have the appearance of randomness; but the fact that other Malawians continued the cause for justice after him indicates that, other than being a random occurrence, it is in the psyche of the Malawian to fight for freedom.

For classic examples, we just have to go back to the events of 1953 and 1959, in that order. What comes out clearly is the fact that the ‘oppressors’ were always developing plans to strangle freedom. Self-centred, disingenuous, and bursting with surplus machismo, they stood for everything callous!

Everywhere the natives looked- be it North, South, West or East- all they detected was nothing but the pervasive presence of injustice, social, political, economic and otherwise. But they were wise enough to know that, beyond the unjust skyline circulated the purer air of freedom. And the likes of Orton Chirwa, Henry Masauko Chipembere, Kanyama Chiume, Kamuzu Banda, among others, rose to the occasion.

These people might have found it hard to look at the injustices without a creeping sadness. ‘This gulf between the races must be bridged’, they might have thought.

So, in a way, they were willing to become the ‘vehicles’ who could negotiate this wilderness of injustice, oppression, and violence!

Historian Melvin E. Page- a history lecturer who has, among other education institutions, lectured at East Tennessee University and worked in Malawi until 1991- writes in  a report posted on www.africafiles.org and titled ‘Malawi: Revolution without leadership?’ that the events of the 1950s were fuelled by feelings that locals were being excluded from the economic benefits that seemed to “flow to the few, most notably the European elite”.

“In these circumstances, small, scattered, spontaneous demonstrations began. Then in August 1953, a series of riots began in the Thyolo district. African resentments spewed out into attacks on European property. The police responded with tear gas and charged the crowd; at least one demonstrator was killed and several were wounded. The disturbances spread throughout the southern portion of the Protectorate and there were more deaths and injuries,” says Page.

However, Page observes that, despite the genuineness of the grievances, the government did not bulge and the majority of those who had participated were rounded up, a development he blames on the lack of “Africans willing to seize the opportunity and offer leadership to the mass of disaffected Malawians”.

He blames it on the inactivity of the National African Congress.

 “Only the emergence of new, younger leaders such as Henry Chipembere and Kanyama Chiume (who had returned from studies in South Africa and Uganda) resuscitated the Congress. And not until Dr. Banda was recalled from abroad did the nationalist movement really take fire,” observes Page.

He adds: “It was part of Banda's leadership genius that he realized the inherent weakness of the NAC and its failure to seize opportunity in 1953. Thus when the NAC was banned by the colonial government in the wake of the massive 1959 detentions, he directed the formation of a new entity, the Malawi Congress Party which was able to fill the leadership vacuum in the country.”



Continued battle

 Only then, he says, did the dispirited air among the people recede.  The people whose voiced had, just a decade before, melted into helpless solicitude were able to replace the unbearable emptiness with the hope for a brighter future.

However, Jonathan Chakalamba, a Chigumula resident in Blantyre, feels that, 50 years down the lane of independence, Malawians are going back to the old days of unbearable emptiness.

“Look at things like the plunder of public resources at Capital Hill, the poverty in the land, and the tendency by our leaders to accumulate worth questionably,” says Chakalamba.

Chakalamba adds that, the way things are moving, it is easy to think that Malawians are taking the “sacrifice” of the Chilembwes and other nationalists “for granted”.

“Where is the sacrifice when our leaders think only of themselves? We have lost that love; that communal spirit of Malawi that peddled us forward, in good or bad times,” says Chakalamba.

It is a point human rights activist Billy Banda seconds.

“Look, how can we be proud to be Malawians when public officers are looting billions of kwacha and getting away with it? How can we claim to promote the cause of the poor when there are no drugs in public hospitals? Where are human rights when people are being denied the right to know how their taxes went missing in broad daylight? We need to put our house in order,” says Banda, who leads the Malawi Watch Human Rights, a local NGO.

 All these problems, he says, have meant that the ceiling of freedom- once up and flying high- has now dropped so low that sight has been impinged and the future is dim.

And, among the citizens like Chakalamba, the look on their faces is that of the familiar odd, wan emptiness that spurred others to a fight for freedom.

“Freedom is all we want. We want economic freedom. We want social freedom. We want political freedom. And we want freedom to from fear; you know how security has gone to the dogs these days!” Chakalamba sums the situation up.

Everything, it seems, hinges on freedom. Truth is, there have always been calls for freedom: Sometimes loud, sometimes freedom! 

Mining in Malawi: Curse or Blessing?

...Turning mining from curse to development tool

To take stock, or not take stock at all? That is the question.

And Paramount Chief Kyungu often opts not to count the awards community members have received as a token of appreciation from miners there.

“I strongly feel that thee is more that mining companies can do to neighbouring communities than is currently the case. Things like promoting quality education and access to good health,” says Kyungu.

This disappointment means he fights the nudge to count the benefits,  afraid that, if he does (count), he may not be able to psych himself into the anxiety that will fall over him.

And Kyungu is not the only one affected. His subjects have often teamed up with civil society organisations to call for more benefits from mining activities taking place in Karonga, arguing that good corporate citizenship cannot be limited to the construction of a health centre.

“Of course, we know that mining companies are not the government but, at least, they should go beyond employing people from neighbouring villages, constructing tarred roads or health centres; I know of countries where community members around mines get scholarships and other things,” says Michael Nseteka, a Karonga-based businessman.



Doing more
As if buying into the community members’ line of thinking, a coalition of civil society organisations in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) has ganged up against mining companies in a bid to end what it calls “inequalities” between worth accumulated by the companies and the poverty prevalent in areas surrounding mines.

The coalition, trading under the banner The Sadc Basic Income Grant Coalition (Sadc Big), argues that Sadc countries including Malawi can afford to give their citizens a monthly financial package and calls for the institution of a cash transfer system based on universal coverage.

It says the Malawi Government can afford to give every citizen US$15 (K6, 255) monthly, but points out that “inconsiderate”  decisions to give incentives to mining.

“The Sadc Big campaign believes that due to desired secondary multiplier potentials, the amount of the Basic Income Grant is important and should be no less than US$15 (K6,255) per person per month. The delivery mechanism would go through public institutions, supporting financial inclusion,” reads part of the document.

Apart from imploring governments to provide funds to individual citizens, the coalition is also fighting for the establishment of a Sadc-wide Basic Income Grant in a move it says is aimed at reducing “severe destitution”.

It says a Basic Income Grant would help restore human dignity, decrease poverty and reduce inequality, and urges leaders not to politicize the initiative.

At a meeting held in South Africa on November 19, and attended by 19 organisations working in the Sadc region, civil society leaders said governments should hasten the process to stem wide-spread poverty in the region.

Malawi was represented by The Africa Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect (Anppcan-Malawi) and the Centre for Social Concern. Other organisations included the Southern African Trade Union and Coordination Council, Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute, World Vision South Africa , Mozambique Platform for Social Protection,
Southern Africa Green Revolutionary Council, Lesotho Platform for Social Protection, Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa, LifeLine Southern Africa, among others.

Anppcan-Malawi Chapter country director, Kenwilliams Mhango, said the coalition was of the consensus that the Malawi Government could afford to give its citizens US$15 (K6, 255) a month, citing the proliferation of mining companies in the country.

“It was discussed at the Johannesburg meeting in November that Malawi has been losing out in terms of financial resources from the mining sector. One of the reasons was that the Government of Malawi grants so many concessions and people’s economic well-being suffers,” says Mhango said, adding:

“We conducted a survey in three districts in the Northern Region, and discovered that there are over 45 mining companies that operate there. The national cake is, surely, not being shared equally. With the sharp, worsening and disproportional distribution of the national cake come problems such as unemployment, very low income, corruption, collapse of confidence in the political system and the economy at large.”

Mhango says Malawi can learn from countries that have social protection programmes and save its citizens from severe poverty. Some African countries already implement social protection programmes.

For example, Botswana runs a universal old-age pension, Lesotho implements a non-contributory old-age scheme, Liberia offers old-age assistance, Mauritius has a universal old-age pension, Namibia has old-age pension, South Africa has old-age pension child support grant and child support grant, care dependency grant and disability grant.

The other countries include Mozambique, which has a minimum income for school attendance, among others.



Creating a win-win situation

Mining Minister John Bande says Malawi was on a learning curve, and has since learned from experience and would ensure mining agreements signed with foreign and local prospectus create a win-win situation in a bid to increase the sector’s contribution towards economic development.

Responding to a questionnaire on why the government is taking time to finalise discussions with Globe Metals of Australia, (former) Mining Minister John Bande says discussions between the government and the investor were at an advanced stage.

“We want to safeguard the interest of Malawians now by making sure that agreements we make create a win-win situation,” says Bande, adding:

“The mineral resources belong to Malawians and we, the Joyce Banda administration, are just custodians with a responsibility to ensure that Malawians understand and benefit from mining deals.”

Bande says, in a bid to ensure that Malawians benefit from the mineral resources, the government had instituted a nationwide geo-physical exploration exercise, with such companies as Nu-energy had already joined government by starting airborne geophysical exploration in selected areas of the Southern Region. 

The Geo-physical Mapping exercise is a World Bank-supported initiative, and is part of the  Mining Governance and Growth Support Project.



He says the government is in a drive to generate more income through mining, adding that efforts are being made to create an enabling environment. He cites the launch of the Mines and Minerals Policy in April last year, and review of the Mines and Minerals.



“We realise that, in the past, about 30 percent of our income used to come from precious stones but, somehow, the dynamics changed somewhere along the way. However, we have seen that the mining sector is now contributing 10 percent to the national economy, up from 3 percent before Paladin Africa Limited started uranium mining operations at Kayerekera in Karonga district,” says Bande.

Information sourced from the World Bank website indicates that bank’s Board of Directors approved a $25million (K10.450, 000, 000) credit to support the Malawi Government improve management and governance of its nascent mining sector on March 31, 2011.


“In the next few years, minerals would become one of Malawi’s main sources of foreign direct investment and generate up to 25 percent of export earnings, hence the need for efficiency and transparency in this sector,”  the website quotes Sandra Bloemenkamp, World Bank Country Manager for Malawi, as saying.


In her ‘State of the Nation’ address,  President Joyce Banda indicated that the mining sector continued to grow steadily and its contribution to the GDP grew from 3 percent in 2009 to 10 percent in 2012, resulting in a substantial increase in exports.


She also said the government had launched an airborne geophysical mineral exploration programme to be carried out by Nu-energy Gas of Australia in the districts of Chikhwawa and Nsanje.

"Government will continue to implement the Mining Growth and Governance Support Project with financial support from the World Bank and European Union; introduce training courses in mining in our institutions of higher learning,” says Banda her address.

What is clear, though, is that, as the sector grows, so will the community frustrations.