Ad Limina Visit to the Holy Father, Pope Francis

Press Release

 

 

Ad Limina Visit to the Holy Father, Pope Francis

 

 

The Episcopal Conference of Malawi comprising the eight dioceses subdivided in the two ecclesiastical provinces of the Archdiocese of Blantyre and the Archdiocese of Lilongwe was accorded the opportunity for a visit ad limina to the Holy Father and the tombs of St. Peter and St Paul in Rome from Wednesday, 5th November, to Wednesday, 12th November, 2014.

Quinquennial visit ad limina apostolorum are visits done by Bishops every five years (quinquennial) to the successor of St. Peter, the Pope, and to the thresholds of the [tombs of the] Apostles (ad limina apostolorum) Peter and Paul.   This is in accordance with a long standing tradition for centuries in the Catholic Church the norms of which were set by Pope Sixtus V in 1585 in the constitution Romanus Pontifex.  

The highlights of the visit ad limina apostolorum were the following:

1. Celebrating the Holy Mass at the tomb of Saint Peter in the St. Peter’s Basilica on 6th November, 2014

As per tradition in such occasions of ad limina apostolorum to visit the thresholds of the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Bishops celebrated Mass in one of the Chapels adjacent to the tomb of St. Peter, the first Pope.

After Constantine’s Edict of Milan (313 A.D.) Christians were allowed to construct places of worship. On the place of the crucifixion (67 a.C.) of St Peter, the Emperor Constantine, at the request of Pope St Sylvester I, built a basilica in 315-349. Construction of the present basilica, replacing the Old St. Peter's Basilica of the 4th century AD, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626. Tradition and strong historical evidence hold that Saint Peter's tomb is directly below the altar of the basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been buried at St. Peter's since the Early Christian period.  St. Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world. It is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic sites. It has been described as “holding a unique position in the Christian world” and as “the greatest of all churches of Christendom”.

It is on this holy site and right overlooking the tomb of St. Peter that the Bishops of Malawi celebrated the Holy Mass from 8:00am to 8:45am during which they prayed for all Catholics in Malawi and their intentions.

 

2. Meeting with the Supreme Pontiff, His Holiness Pope Francis on 6th November, 2014

In their address to the Pope, the Bishops, among other things, expressed gratitude to God for the growth of the Catholic Church in Malawi and noted that the strength of the Church in Malawi lies in the tireless dedication and collaboration of ministers, Brothers, Sisters and above all the lay people, lay volunteers and catechists.   

With regard to the wider environment in which the Church is working, the Bishops expressed satisfaction at their working relationship with the government and noted that amidst the social challenges Malawi experiences as one of the poorest countries in the world, the Church shares the aspirations of the people to remain a God-fearing nation and rise against external secularist tendencies and money-driven agendas.   Listening attentively to the genuine joys and griefs of the people of Malawi, the Bishops said that, through their preaching, pastoral letters and active involvement in the development of the country, they strive to foster the good of the nation and draw the attention of people towards what is compatible with Gospel values and the dignity of human beings.

 

Turning to the challenges the Church is facing, the Bishops spoke of the hostile environment in which Catholics find themselves in certain parts of the world and the growth of the spread of HIV-AIDS within married couples in Malawi.   The Bishops also noted with regret the creeping in of policies that are increasingly reflecting the secular interests of powerful governments and organisations outside Malawi especially on issues such as abortion and same sex unions.

 

In his address to the Bishops, the Pope deplored the general tendency to replace God and ethics with money and regretted the pressure subjected to poor countries like Malawi in order to obtain financial aid.

 

Turning to the issue of evangelisation, the Pope emphasized the need to have a good formation programme for the priests, Brothers, Sisters, catechists and the laity and above all the need to reach out to the people and to be missionaries first and foremost amongst one’s own people.

 

Responding to a specific question to clarify the teaching of the Church on homosexual unions in the wake of the recent Synod on the Family, the Pope emphatically said that in this matter the doctrine of the Church will not and cannot change for it belongs to God.  The Catechism of the Church has not changed and the doctrine has not changed.  There is nonetheless the need to find pastoral responses to reach out to those living under these conditions.  He faulted the media for interpreting the efforts of the Church to reach out to homosexual persons as signaling change in the doctrine of the Church and said that he had since instituted a committee to look into the media strategy of the Church so that what the Church says is reported correctly.

 

The Pope then circulated a prepared address to the Bishops in which he praised and thanked the Bishops for the effectiveness of their pastoral and administrative ministry and also bemoaned the poverty and low life expectancy in Malawi.

 

 

3. Visiting the tomb of St. Paul in Saint Paul Basilica outside the Walls on 9th November, 2014

As per tradition in such occasions of ad limina apostolorum to visit the thresholds of the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Bishops visited the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls.

At the beginning of the 4th century, with the end of the persecutions and the promulgation of the Edicts of Tolerance in favour of Christianity, Emperor Constantine ordered the excavation of the cella memoriae, the place where Christians venerated the memory of Saint Paul the Apostle, beheaded under Nero around 65-67 A.D. Above his grave, located along the Ostiense Way, about two kilometres outside the Aurelian Walls surrounding Rome, Constantine built a Basilica which was consecrated by Pope Sylvester in 324.   Paul's tomb is below a marble tombstone in the Basilica's crypt, at 1.37 metres (4.5 ft) below the altar. The tombstone bears the Latin inscription PAULO APOSTOLO MART ("to Paul the apostle and martyr").

In the fifth century under the Pontificate of Leo the Great, the Basilica became the home of a long series of medallions which would to this day depict all the popes throughout history.   Contemporary work in the Basilica has uncovered the tomb of the Apostle, while other important and beneficial works are carried out, as in the past, thanks to the generosity of Christians from all over the world.

The Bishops from Malawi spent Sunday afternoon, 9th November, in this Basilica, in a prayerful pilgrimage to the Holy site of St. Paul. 

 

4. Visiting and Holding Discussions with Dicasteries (departments) and Commissions of the Curia

The Roman Curia is the ensemble of the dicasteries (departments) and bodies that assist the Pope in the exercise of his supreme pastoral office for the good and in service of the Church throughout the world assisting in the maintenance of the unity of the Faith and the communion of the People of God.  Amongst these dicasteries (departments) and bodies are the Secretariat of State, the various Congregations and Pontifical Councils and Commissions.

On the sidelines of their visit ad limina apostolorum the Bishops visited and held discussions with the following:

Thursday, 6 November: 16.00 – 17.00 Meeting with the Pontifical Council for the

Family

 

Friday, 7 November: 10.00 – 11.00 Meeting with the Supreme Tribunal of the

Segnatura Apostolica

 

Saturday, 8 November: 12.00-13.00 Meeting with the Congregation for the

Doctrine of the Faith

 

Monday, 10 November: 10.30-11.30 Meeting with the Congregation for Catholic

Education

12.00-13.00 Meeting with the Pontifical Council for

Interreligious Dialogue

16.00-17.00 Meeting with the Pontifical Council of

Justice and Peace

 

Tuesday, 11 November: 10.00-11.30 Meeting with the Congregation for the

Evangelization of Peoples

12.00-12.45 Meeting with the Secretariat of State

16.00-17.00 Meeting with the Pontifical Council for

Health Care

 

 

 

5. Visiting and Holding Discussions with Social Development Partners

 

Conscious of their role in the socio-development of the country, the Bishops took time off their busy schedule to meet some development partners based in Rome.  In this regard, the Bishops had bilateral discussions with:

 

• the Committee for Charity Interventions in favour of the Third World of the Episcopal Conference of Italy (Friday, 7th Nov, 2014 from 16:00 to 17:00)
• Sisters of St. Peter Claver (Saturday, 8th Nov, 2014 from 16:00 to 17:00)

 

 

6. Holding Working Dinners

 

The Bishops had working dinners with

• Volunteers of the “Work of the Church” group Sunday, 9th November from 18:00
• The community of the Religious and priests from Malawi on various assignments in Rome (Tuesday, 11th Nov, 2014 from 19:00)

 

 

 

Fr. George Buleya

Secretary General – Episcopal Conference of Malawi

    
26th November, 2014

Out and Back

Out and In!

Out and In!

Out and About!

Out and About!

Thousands of Lives Given Hope Thanks to New Global Programme Backed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu

PRESS RELEASE
Thousands of Lives Given Hope Thanks to New Global Programme Backed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
 

An international project designed to prevent the deaths of pregnant women, new mothers and infants in Africa, is to be officially launched today
 
Trial activity has already seen the Mother and Baby Programme team visiting the communities of Malawi and Zambia
 

LONDON, United-Kingdom, November 20, 2014/ -- An international project backed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and designed to prevent the deaths of pregnant women, new mothers and infants in Africa, is to be officially launched today.

Some 1 million newborn babies and around 179,000 women die every year in Sub- Saharan Africa as a result of complications in pregnancy, labour, during delivery and in the first month of a child’s life.
 
Today, the global healthcare charity St John International (http://www.stjohninternational.org) signals an attempt to turn that tide, with the launch of its new Mother and Baby Programme.
 
The initiative has been made possible thanks to a Big Lottery Fund grant of £257,365, allowing the charity to mobilise community based volunteers on the ground in Malawi and Zambia, and provide support to households and increase access to health service.
 
For generations St John International (also known as the Venerable Order of St John)  has been providing community based first aid, healthcare and related services to people in need throughout the world.
 
Trial activity has already seen the Mother and Baby Programme team visiting the communities of Malawi and Zambia, to identify the most urgent need.  St John also has plans to roll out the programme in Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe by raising further funds.
 
“The reduction of the horrendous death rates amongst Mothers and Babies was set as a Millennium Goal.  Huge strides have been made and the St John programme will be another significant step along the way,” said Sir Paul Lambert, Secretary General of St John International.
 
"Our teams of local volunteers and healthcare professionals have seen with their own eyes what tragic circumstances are in existence, and how many lives are being needlessly lost.
 
“With the generous support of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and our superb support from the Big Lottery Fund, the Mother and Baby programme has a vision of ‘a world where communities take action to strengthen the health of women and children’. Adding his voice to the campaign, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: “I passionately support the work of St John and their unique community volunteer led approach towards improving community health around the world and addressing maternal and newborn health in Africa. Without healthy mothers and babies, communities cannot flourish and develop. So investment in this area of healthcare is absolutely vital.”
 
Volunteers will be trained in topics such as basic hygiene, planning for birth, danger signs during pregnancy, maintaining temperature in newborns, cord care, post natal care needs and risks. With the acquired knowledge and skills, the volunteers will carry out home visits to thousands of households to educate and give advice to women as well as men about the importance of maternal and newborn health.
 
St John International is seeking to engage the support of corporates, particularly those who have had or currently have, an interest in the communities of Malawi and Zambia.
“Unlike many programmes this does not rely on outside agencies,” added Sir Paul.
 
“Our local St John Ambulance organisations in Malawi and Zambia will recruit additional volunteers from within the community and after giving them first aid training will train them to provide the support in maternal health and newborn.  The generous grant from the Big Lottery will allow the programme to start, however, after 3 years our local St John Organisations will be funding these programmes themselves. 
 
“This is a low cost high impact programme and £150,000 is enough to roll out another programme in another country for a year.” commented Sir Paul.
 
The issues surrounding maternal and newborn health is one of the key priorities in meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015. St John International and its Associations have a crucial role to play in contributing to the MDGs as they have unique access to hard-to-reach communities.
 
Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of the Venerable Order of St John.
 
  

Innovation Can Drive Change for Most Disadvantaged Children –

On the 25th anniversary of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, The State of the World’s Children report lays out an agenda for change

NEW YORK, USA /NKHATA BAY, MALAWI, 20 November 2014 –  Urgent action is needed to prevent millions of children from missing out on the benefits of innovation, UNICEF said in a new report launched on the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  Connectivity and collaboration can fuel new global networks to leverage innovation to reach every child, according to the children’s agency.

The State of the World’s Children Report – Reimagine the future: Innovation for every child calls on governments, development professionals, businesses, activists and communities to work together to drive new ideas for tackling some of the most pressing problems facing children -- and to find new ways of scaling up the best and most promising local innovations.
The report is a crowd-sourced compilation of cutting-edge innovations and an interactive platform that maps innovations in countries all over the world and invites innovators to put their own ideas ‘on the map’. 
“Inequity is as old as humanity, but so is innovation – and it has always driven humanity’s progress,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.  “In our ever-more connected world, local solutions can have global impact -- benefiting children in every country who still face inequity and injustice every day.

“For innovation to benefit every child, we have to be more innovative – rethinking the way we foster and fuel new ideas to solve our oldest problems,” said Lake.  “The best solutions to our toughest challenges won’t come exclusively either from the top down or the grassroots up, or from one group of nations to another. They will come from new problem solving networks and communities of innovation that cross borders and cross sectors to reach the hardest to reach – and they will come from young people, adolescents and children themselves.”

In Malawi to mark the anniversary, a new innovative partnership is further strengthened in Nkhata Bay, when representatives from different faith groups, children’s NGOs and government come together to pledge action on violence against children.
Robert Ngaiyaye, Executive Director of the Malawi Interfaith AIDS Association said at this occasion: “violence against children is too common a sight and experience in this country. That is why we need this new partnership, bringing together different players to make a change for children. We are calling on people of all faiths, to recognize that according to our culture and religious beliefs, there is no place for violence against our most precious citizens. Faith Leaders Say No to Violence against Children”
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.  Since then, there has been tremendous progress in advancing child rights – with a huge reduction in the numbers of children dying before the age of five and increased access to education and clean water. 
However, the rights of millions of children are violated every day, with the poorest 20 percent of the world’s children twice as likely as the richest 20 percent to die before their fifth birthday, almost one in four children in the least developed countries engaged in child labour, and millions of children regularly experiencing discrimination, physical and sexual violence, and abuse and neglect.
The latest edition of UNICEF’s flagship report argues that more innovative products, processes, and partnerships are critical to realizing the rights of the hardest to reach children.  The fully digital report highlights outstanding innovations that are already improving lives around the world from a wide range of countries, including:

• Solar Ear, the world’s first rechargeable hearing aid battery charger, developed to meet the needs of communities lacking regular access to electricity; it can be charged via the sun, household light, or a cell phone plug. (Tendekayi Katsiga, Deaftronics, Botswana / Zimbabwe)
• New ways to engage Liberian youth in the midst of the Ebola crisis through U-report, a mobile phone-based system developed with young people, that helps examine what issues are most important to them. (UNICEF, Liberia)
• Floating schools that provide year-round access to education for children living in flood-prone regions of Bangladesh. (Mohammed Rezwan, Founding Executive Director of the NGO Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha)
• To find a new solution to help those without regular access to electricity in Nigeria, four teenage girls invented a urine-powered generator. (Nigeria)

UNICEF has prioritized innovation across its network of more than 190 countries, setting up hubs around the world. With support from UNICEF, Malawi is due to open an innovation hub in 2015, to foster new ways of thinking, working and collaborating with partners and to nurture local talent.

Blantyre School Kids Go On Rampage

There are disturbing scenes in Blantyre as learners from primary schools around the city are vandalising private and public properties as one way of expressing anger over teachers' decision to go on strike over late salary payment.

The learners have so far vandalised 20 cars in Zingwangwa, C.I., Manja, and Blantyre Central Business District (at the time of posting this).

The irate learners also stoned television cameras and journalists who wanted to capture them.

The melee continues.

Lack of toilets dangerous for everyone, UNICEF says

NEW YORK/LILONGWE 19 November 2014 – Slow progress on sanitation and the entrenched practice of open defecation among millions around the world continue to put children and their communities at risk, UNICEF warned on World Toilet Day. 

 

Some 2.5 billion people worldwide do not have adequate toilets and among them 1 billion defecate in the open – in fields, bushes, or bodies of water – putting them, and especially children, in danger of deadly faecal-oral diseases like diarrhoea. 

 

In 2013 more than 340,000 children under five died from diarrhoeal diseases due to a lack of safe water, sanitation and basic hygiene – an average of almost 1,000 deaths per day. 

 

“Lack of sanitation is a reliable marker of how the poorest in a country are faring,” said Sanjay Wijesekera, head of UNICEF’s global water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programmes. “But although it is the poor who overwhelmingly do not have toilets, everyone suffers from the contaminating effects of open defecation, so everyone should have a sense of urgency about addressing this problem.”  

 

The call to end the practice of open defecation is being made with growing insistence as the links with childhood stunting become clearer. India, with 597 million (half the population) practising open defecation, also has high levels of stunting. Last week, UNICEF convened a conference in New Delhi called ‘Stop Stunting’ to call attention to the effect of open defecation on the entire population, particularly children. UNICEF’s ‘Take Poo to the Loo’ campaign in India also works to raise awareness of the dangers associated with open defecation. 

 

“The challenge of open defecation is one of both equity and dignity, and very often of safety as well, particularly for women and girls,” Wijesekera noted. “They have to wait until dark to relieve themselves, putting them in danger of attack, and worse, as we have seen recently.” 

 

In May, the hanging of two teenage girls in Uttar Pradesh who had gone out after dark to defecate caused international shock and dismay, and highlighted the security issues involved in open defecation.  

 

UNICEF’s Community Approaches to Total Sanitation addresses the problem at the local level by involving communities in devising solutions, and has led to some 26 million people across more than 50 countries abandoning the practice of open defecation since 2008.

 

In Malawi, UNICEF in collaboration with other stakeholders such as DFID and Concern Universal are working with communities, sensitising them about the importance of hygiene and dangers of open defecation.

 

As a result, 440 villages in Dowa and Kasungu districts have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF). At the national level, the percentage of villages that have been declared as open defecation free has increased from 3 percent in 2011 to 19 percent in 2014

 

To mark this year’s World Toilet Day, UNICEF is supporting the celebration of the 440 ODF villages in Kasungu and Dowa districts. The event which is a collaboration between Concern Universal, UNICEF, DFID and Dowa’s District Coordination Team (DCT) will showcase the ability of local communities to achieve universal access to safe and private toilets. 

 

Eighty-two per cent of the 1 billion people practising open defecation live in just 10 countries: India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Niger, Nepal, China, and Mozambique. The numbers of people practising open defecation are still rising in 26 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, though they have declined in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. In Nigeria, numbers of open defecators increased from 23 million in 1990 to 39 million in 2012. 

 

Globally, some 1.9 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation since 1990. However, progress has not kept up with population growth and the Millennium Development Goal target on sanitation is unlikely to be reached by 2015 at current rates of progress.  

 

The inter-governmental Open Working Group on the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals have recommended that the new goals include a target of achieving adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and ending open defecation by 2030.  

 

Cultivating a Reading Culture

William Susuwele Banda, executive director at the Malawi Institute of Education (MIE) in Zomba, has visited a number of foreign destinations on a wide variety of airlines. But, despite the differences in both destination and plane used, one scenario keeps replaying itself.

“I am talking of the situation where, when most of the people aboard the planes I have been in are busy reading novels or other books, there are always some people who sleep half-way or all the way (to their destination). I have discovered that most of those who prefer sleep to reading are Malawians, and this points to something unfortunate about our general lack of interest in reading,’ says Susuwele Banda.

What baffles Susuwele Banda is the fact that some foreign nationals aboard planes sometimes pile ‘a mountain of books on themselves, even though it may be apparent that they won’t go through all those books before reaching their destination”, and yet the Malawian sees nothing interesting in the reading materials.

The educationist blames the trend on deep-seated disdain for non-textbook-related books and the tendency to view books in the same light as ‘flowers’- tools for office decoration.

“Our research findings have revealed that, instead of making text and non-text books available in, say, primary school libraries, the books are kept for safe-keeping, and not accessed for reading purposes. Then, there is the issue of book publishers who do not value the idea of donating books, even 20 of them, to the children of this country,” says Susuwele Banda, before adding:

“It would do no harm to donate books that have been damaged during the production process to learning institutions, so long as they have the pages intact, but that does not happen in this country. No wonder, we are failing to douse the fires of a non-reading culture in the country, though we can let it die out by the simple act of providing reading materials.”

However, Susuwele Banda points out that the situation is not beyond redemption. He says Malawians can draw motivation from the United States of America, where children as little as 12 years recognise the importance of books at that tender age.

The school-going children walk door-by-door asking for books that are surplus to requirements, he says, adding that, courtesy of the U.S. children’s zeal, an initiative called the African Library Project (ALP) was born.

“Just imagine, little children, in a far-away country like the U.S., walk door-by-door asking for books so that children they have never met should find something to read. That is more than commitment. That is more than love,” says Susuwele Banda.

Not that the U.S. children’s love is felt only in Malawi. According to Project Coordinator for the ALP at MIE, Jessy Mphunda, the ALP benefits a number of African countries.

“We partnered with ALP in 2012, and we are not their only partner in Malawi as Development Aid from People to People, Wungwero Bool Foundation, and Ayise are their other partners. In Africa, the other countries that are working with ALP are Ghana, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana,” says Mphunda, a librarian by profession.

Mphunda says Malawi is making headway in inculcating a reading culture among learners, citing the increased numbers of districts that have started tapping from the initiative. The number of districts benefitting from the initiative, she says, has jumped from three in 2012 to 10 in 2014. Beneficiaries include private and public primary and secondary schools.

“The number of books distributed is also increasing. For example, we distributed 11, 569 books in 2013 while, this year, the figure has jumped to 30, 327. We have seen secondary schools such as Phalombe in Phalombe, Simlemba Community Day in Kasungu, Linthipe Community Day and primary schools such as Nyamitalala in Nsanje and Nsanjama Private in Zomba receive books,” says Mphunda.

On concerns that books distributed by well-wishers such as ALP do not meet curriculum needs since they do not conform to curricula requirements, Mphunda says one of the reasons for the perceived non-reading culture in the culture steps from people’s tendency to read in order to pass examinations, as opposed to reading for pleasure.

“Reading is not only about preparing for examinations. People can read the books to learn two or three things about, say, how to write a short story or poem, and that is the most important thing. We must learn to acquire different kinds of knowledge,” says Mphunda.

 

What to read?

While some education experts claim that Malawians are not predisposed to reading, and only read seriously when there are examinations around, Phalombe District Education Manager, Lewis Chakhota, begs to differ.

“Malawians do not hate reading books. They simply have no books to read,” says Chakhota.

Chakhota says the truth about the extent of a reading culture in Malawi, or the lack of it, can only be ascertained once the country is saturated with books.

“Otherwise, there are many cases where people want to read but cannot find something to read. Let us give Malawians books, and draw conclusions afterwards. But for this to happen, we should start changing the way we run our reading affairs at primary school level, where some head teachers keep books unused for long periods of time, and then receive awards or get recognised for keeping ‘books in good order’. No, no, no. Books are for reading and not safe-keeping,” observes Chakhota.

The Director of Education Materials Development and Resource Centre at MIE, Max Iphani, cannot agree more.

Iphani says failure to read runs counter to the tenets of the information age we are in.

“When we say an information age, we mean a book age. This means relevant information about development is found in books. It follows, therefore, that, if Malawi is surrounded by books, it can develop fast because, in essence, this means the country will be surrounded by a vast body of information on development and other important issues,” says Iphani.

Only then, maybe, can the typical Malawian stay awake all the way from Chileka or Kamuzu International airports to Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom, tapping as much information as possible from the books before touchdown.

 

 

On Michael 'King Cobra' Sata

He spent a large chunk of his life fighting to become Zambia's president.


Many a time, he tumbled- head first- in the presidential polls.


Only to make it; finally.


So, it is only fit-though sad- that he should die in office.


He fought so hard to get to that position; and died holding it tightly.


Rest in Peace, King Cobra!

End of Campaign for October 7, 2014 Elections

Page 1

PRESS RELEASE

The Malawi Electoral Commission is informing all candidates, political

parties and the general public that campaign for the October 7 by-

elections ends on Sunday, October 5, 2014 at 6AM.

The Commission is informing all stakeholders that it is a violation of

the electoral law to campaign outside this period and all those

found will face the due process of law.

Candidates and their supporters or agents will not be allowed to

campaign or drive around hooting or with loud speakers playing

campaign songs or any messages after the deadline.

Media houses should also not broadcast adverts, programmes,

commentaries or carry campaign news after the deadline.

Leaders of various faiths should be on the guard because their

services can be used for campaign and even the clergy themselves

should avoid projecting candidates.

The Commission is thanking all the contesting candidates and their

followers for maintaining peace and order during this period. It is a

sincere hope of the Commission that this will also continue during the

voting and results announcement time.

2

Voting for the by-elections will be on Tuesday, October 7, 2014

starting from 6AM to 6PM in all the centres. The Commission is urging

all those who registered to turn up in large numbers to elect their

Ward Councillor or Member of Parliament.

Dated at Blantyre this 4th day of October, 2014.

Willie Kalonga

Chief Elections Officer