Nation Online

Love has struck a tragic note in Kaputeni Village in Chikhwawa where 32-year-old Isaac Chaponya’s attempt to exorcise his father-and mother-in-law of witchcraft has left the parents dead.

Malawi police have arrested Chief Mputeni of Lumbadzi in Dowa for allegedly attempting to blackmail former minister of Health Dr Jean Kalirani in a witchcraft scandal.

Despite Malawi still struggling to lower its maternal mortality, the country is the recipient of this year’s Resolve Award in recognition of its efforts in investing in reproductive health.

Landlord Feston Chikwawa’s family in Lilongwe’s Ngwenya area is under fire from the surrounding community for allegedly attending insensitively to reports of a tenant’s missing child who was later discovered dead in a shallow well.

Retired civil servant Ben Mbewe is the new director of State residences after Edward Sawerengera, who until Saturday held that position, was fired with immediate effect.

Britain on Friday announced a K12 billion (£30 million Sterling Pounds) urgent support to Malawi as part of a refreshed development partnership between the two countries.

Malawi President Joyce Banda has said Malawi needs good relationships with its neighbours in order to spearhead partnership in development programmes.

Q: I think I am in love with my best guy friend. He makes me feel good about myself, and we have a lot in common. I learn something from him every day; I believe we have a very deep friendship. I even told him I was interested in him once; his reply was simply "OK." He gives me this vibe all the time that he might be interested in me too, but we never get any further. I’ve been trying to get over him for several months now, but I cannot help but feel as if he is the one. Several other guys are vying for my affection, and I continue to push them away and make up excuses, because deep down I want to have a chance with the guy I love. What am I supposed to do?

Out of government, out of Cabinet, but still talking. Malawi’s former Minister of Education Dr George Chaponda has delivered a stark warning to the new government of President Joyce Banda that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will not shut its collective mouth when things go wrong by accusing government of allowing newly-appointed ministers to start working before they are sworn in.

Some senior chiefs who backed the late Bingu wa Mutharika’s stance on the devaluation of the kwacha and the zero-deficit budget have backtracked on their positions, saying they have now realised that Mutharika’s policies were inflicting a lot of suffering on people.

Malawi President Joyce Banda on Friday met her South African counterpart Jacob Zuma in South Africa where they discussed the economic problems in Malawi and the loan South Africa gave the country to buy fuel.

Noel Paul, a 23-year-old minibus tout in Lilongwe’s Area 24, is in police custody on allegation that he stabbed to death his uncle Alfred Major after a quarrel over dinner.

An explosion in Mchinji on Friday last week has led to the amputation of the leg of a 33-year-old welder Lackson Banda who was working in his workshop when the blast occurred.

On February 24, 1934, little and helpless Brightson Webster Ryson Thom set his feet in the family of primary school teacher Ryson Thom and his wife Ellen in the modest settings of Kamoto Village in Thyolo.

Malawi President Joyce Banda has appointed two deputy police chiefs, police commissioners Doreen Kapanga and Finley Binali as deputy inspector general responsible for administration and operations, respectively.

On Friday evening, six tankers carrying the fuel Zambia pledged to help during the funeral of former president Bingu wa Mutharika finally arrived in the country.

Breaking into a house with intent to steal has earned Nelson Bakolo, 18, eight years imprisonment with hard labour.

Two men who bolted from Kachere Police Unit in Blantyre have been slapped with a 16-month custodial sentence.

Lewis Lazaro, the man who was accused of abducting an 11-year-old girl in Blantyre last month, has been sentenced to serve five years imprisonment with hard labour.

Thousands of Malawians wearing sombre faces and donning black or religious uniforms welcomed their fallen president Bingu wa Mutharika in a rare show of unity from people of all walks of life.

They may have been plotting and scheming to keep her out of the State House, but some members of the current Cabinet will keep their jobs as President Joyce Banda seeks to build a nationally representative government of national unity (GNU) when she announces a new Cabinet.

Village headman Mmina of T/A Chimaliro in Thyolo cannot come to terms with the death of his villageboy Bingu wa Mutharika, so much so that he has stopped doing any menial work.

Q: I’m having trouble experiencing an orgasm by the traditional manner of masturbation. Rubbing my penis will feel good, but will not exactly arouse it. I am not able to achieve an ejaculation from rubbing my penis. Instead, I apply pressure to the bottom of it with both hands, which creates a feeling of arousal, after which I ejaculate. This disturbs me greatly, since I do not know if I would be able to ejaculate when entering a woman’s vagina. Also, my penis does not have to be erect in order for me to ejaculate in the aforementioned fashion. Is this a known problem, or should I consult a physician?

An assertive Joyce Banda yesterday smoothly but firmly assumed the country’s leadership  and immediately went about projecting and consolidating her new powers by issuing orders and later being sworn in as President.

New Malawian President Joyce Banda plans to dissolve Cabinet after the 10-day official mourning period and appoint a leaner one, insiders have confided in Nation on Sunday.

End of the road. The official confirmation of the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika on 7th April 2012 brings to a screeching halt Peter Mutharika’s political career and spells doom and gloom for DPP.

It was a nation already in crisis. The politics of post-Mutharika’s death will make it even worse. How should Joyce Banda lead? EPHRAIM NYONDO explores.

In 2005, Bingu wa Mutharika ditched UDF, the party that sponsored him into government. There was an unexpected change of political parties in government, with DPP replacing UDF. This was a decision that was to have a huge impact on party politics in the country.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was on Saturday non-committal on whether they will support President Joyce Banda who has succeeded the late Bingu wa Mutharika.

The Malawi Law Society (MLS) says some members of former president Bingu wa Mutharika’s inner circle should be dragged to court to face treason charges for convening a Cabinet meeting without legal authority.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Cabinet wanted to install Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Mutharika as president following the death of his brother, some ministers have revealed.

After days of silence, Malawi Government has finally confirmed the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika.

A female primary school teacher is in a fix about a loan repayment of K240 000. Her husband, a farmer, coaxed her to obtain a loan for him to start a business but instead took the money to his other wife and spent it all.

Malawi should spend on priority areas in light of the shrinking domestic revenue and donor support, a senior IMF official said on Saturday.

Some unlit corners of the life and times of former president Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda could soon be illuminated by his former official hostess Mama Cecilia Tamanda Kadzamira who wants to write a book on her life before, during and after State House.

While being in a fish selling business was seen as the ideal status symbol for Edson Gaston at Bvumbwe Trading Centre in Thyolo, his  quest for further riches have ended up in untold misery.

People living along the Shire River in Liwonde were on Tuesday greeted by a horrific sight of a dead man floating in the river.

Two boys, Isaac Banda and Shukuran Kassim, have a story to tell about how the allure of good clothes landed them in the trap of a relative who, unknown to them, had begun dabbling in human trafficking.

His life may never be the same again after a police bullet damaged his jaws and arm during the recent violence in Area 24 in Lilongwe.

Malawi’s former President Bakili Muluzi has aborted his medical mission in South Africa to comfort his son, Machinga North East MP Atupele, currently admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Mwaiwathu Private Hospital in Blantyre.

Whether a Unites States Congressman’s word held more water than the optimism of Finance Minister Ken Lipenga will not be known but the fact is that Malawi is far from getting the much-needed Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant.

A six-year-old girl is admitted to Kamuzu Central Hospital with deep wounds all over her body after three dogs belonging to her mother’s employer attacked her Thursday night.

Human Rights Watch on Friday noted that the government’s recent surge of arrests and threats against critics reflects its broader crackdown on free speech and other basic rights.

James Chitofu stands inside a police cell, completely lost in thought. For the past one week and days to come, his eyes are trained on unfamiliar territory and people, fellow suspects.

Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika on Saturday sold a dummy to Malawians when he successfully restrained himself from commenting on the resolutions passed at the Public Affairs Committee conference in Blantyre last week.

"He switched off the lights, locked the doors, rolled up the windows then raped me!"

Police in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe on Saturday arrested a fierce critic of President Bingu wa Mutharika, human rights activist John Kapito, hours before he was to fly out to Geneva, Switzerland for a United Nations (UN) meeting.

Desperate to cash in on the African Union (AU) Summit that Malawi will host in July, government has directed the country’s tourism operators to raise their rates.

If you bet on Gwanda Chakuamba keeping his word on anything, you could be in for huge disappointment because the only predictable thing about the veteran politician is that he is unpredictable.

The scary scar on the right leg of a 52-year-old disabled man in Blantyre symbolises the ravages of a famine that struck Malawi in 2002.

They may wear pious faces and go on their bended knees in search of salvation from above, but do not always read too much into this because some prominent people in politics and the civil service do not believe that God exists.

 

Political scientists in Malawi have come together to form the Political Science Association (PSA).

 

Senior Chief Tsabango of Lilongwe has warned chiefs under his jurisdiction that he will depose them if they attend rallies addressed by the areas opposition Malawi Congress Party MP, Lobin Lowe.

 

Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika on Saturday outlined a litany of projects his administration is undertaking but quickly parried allegations that he is on a campaign trail to woo support for his party.

Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika has earned himself the wrath of opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) and analysts after he cast doubt that former president Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda was a dictator.

Former South Africa President Nelson Mandela is in a stable condition after undergoing surgery, the BBC understands.

Human rights activists in Malawi on Saturday said the country should hold a referendum to give Malawians a chance to decide whether the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) led government should remain in power.

Theirs is one of the best organised communities in northern Malawi. They are made up of many tribes that intermarry and coexist without tension.

Her life has changed and she can no longer enjoy any free time. Gloria Jeremiah, the woman who shook the nation after she claimed that her drug cures HIV, says she is considering changing phone numbers because she has been receiving ‘uncountable’ calls that are disturbing her daily routine.

The long-awaited Access to Information Bill could soon find its way into Parliament if what Malawi’s Minister of Information and Civic Education Patricia Kaliati said on Friday is anything to go by.

Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika on Friday said the Namiwawa Hotel project collapsed because of deep-rooted corruption in the United Democratic Front (UDF) administration.

Malawi Government on Friday stopped its Vice-President Joyce Banda from donating relief items to floods victims in Nsanje, arguing that she did not follow procedures.

Mchape, a traditional concoction in Malawi stormed the HIV cure scene with pomp, but disappeared silently in disgrace.

It was a night of contrasting emotions of joy and sadness on Friday when employees of Nation Publications Limited (NPL) gathered at Hostaria Restaurant in Blantyre to bid farewell to Edem Djokotoe, a fellow from Knight International Journalism.

About 200 families that were sheltered in camps Malawi’s flood prone Lower Shire district of Nsanje following floods have left the camps and gone back to their submerged homes.

Malawi’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party will be given a run for its money during this sitting of Parliament if what members of the pressure group within the ruling party, Hope Alliance, say is anything to go by.

If Malawi hosts all 53 other Heads of State and Government during the African Union summit in June, the country will have to bear the burden of paying for them and their immediate entourage, Vice-President Joyce Banda has said.

Lilongwe City Council and police on Thursday stopped UDF 2014 presidential aspirant Atupele Muluzi from conducting a whistle-stop tour, arguing it would spur vendors into violence.

An indefinite vigil aimed at forcing managment of state broadcaster the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) to pay disgruntled staff is pending.

It is two o’clock in on a Thursday afternoon, Sandram Charlie (80) and his wife Dorothy have not taken lunch and neither are they expecting to have supper.

Malawi Presidential spokesperson Dr Hetherwick Ntaba has lashed out at former president Bakili Muluzi as a greedy politician who has no justification to seek compensation.

Margaret Dzuwa (not real name) lies in agony at the servants’ quarters of her master’s house in Naperi from a severe stomach ache.

Her attempt to seek medical help at a nearby government health centre two days earlier hit a blank wall because the facility did not have a syringe to administer some antibiotics to fight her infection.

Reverend Dr Zacc Kawalala minced no words in his sermon during the recent protests by women in Blantyre over the stripping of their counterparts in Lilongwe and Mzuzu for wearing trousers and miniskirts.

Although it is every Malawian’s wish that our women’s football team should turn the tables when they face Zambia’s She-polopolo this afternoon in the preliminary second leg of the African Women Championship, the harsh reality is that our ladies have a tall order having lost the first leg 7-0.

It is 8:45 am on Wednesday and Blessings Kachingwe, 27, is preparing his three-year-old daughter for a visit to the doctor’s.

Malaria is no doubt the number one killer globally, including in Malawi. The disease is ahead of HIV and Aids.

The sacrifices some MPs throughout the country are making to uplift sporting standards cannot be taken for granted.

Minister of Education, Science and Technology Dr George Chaponda has said the new secondary school curriculum will include  entrepreneurial subjects  to help students graduating from secondary school establish small-scale businesses and improve their lives.

Since being appointed the Malawi national football team coach, Kinnah Phiri usually looks to South Africa’s Premier Soccer League whenever he wants to select players for the national team.

News that people are going to the extent of asking for burial space in cities instead of taking their loved ones home is inevitable, more so with the shortage of fuel.

China has pledged to continue working with the Malawi Government and the people to promote friendly relations as the two nations celebrate the 5th anniversary of their diplomatic ties this year.

All roads will lead to Chiradzulu on Sunday as people from all walks of life, led by Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika, will pay homage to Rev John Chilembwe who led an armed insurrection against the colonial government in 1915.

In a twist to the story in which a Form 2 student at St Lawrence Girls Private Secondary School in Chikhwawa died Tuesday, the mother says she does not know what killed her child.

Going against all cultural norms and practices, Malawians have resorted to burying their loved ones in rented graves due to fuel scarcity.

Two drivers died on the spot and a passenger died later at Zomba Central Hospital when two minibuses were involved in a head-on collision around 5 am at Green Acres junction along the Zomba-Liwonde Road on Friday.

The news that the Chinese-funded stadium project will soon start is a timely development.

The British Government has come out clean and clear that transparency and good governance are the two conditions that have halted British aid to ailing Malawi.

Reverend Andrew Kamponda, the vice moderator of the CCAP Blantyre Synod on Friday advised the clergy to be humble when discharging their duties.

Malawi Government has said it will designate special filling stations to the Ministry of Health to facilitate distribution of drugs and medical supplies throughout the country.

The rift between Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika and his Zambian counterpart Michael Sata may widen further after Lilongwe has rebuffed former president Bakili Muluzi’s brokered peace deal.

He was still young and had his life ahead of him, but a bite from a rabid dog in October took him to an early grave this week.

The United Kingdom has made no secret on why it has withheld aid to Malawi, disclosing that transparency and good governance are tenets attached to its money.

Former opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) national chairman Bakili Muluzi has snubbed a disciplinary hearing of the party, describing it as useless and a show of disrespect to him as former president of the Malawi.

Sour diplomatic relationships between Malawi and its neighbour Zambia will return to normal following former president Bakili Muluzi’s success in convincing President Michael Sata to forgive President Bingu wa Mutharika during his visit to Zambia.

The opposition People’s Party (PP) ended the year in style when it received into its fold Mzuzu-based business magnate Harry Mkandawire at a political rally Malawi’s Vice-President Joyce Banda addressed at Mzimba Boma on Friday.

Except for those who give value to Christmas as a day to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, last Sunday, was Christmas. For those who spend the day praising and thanking God for the gift of His only Son — Jesus Christ, it was also Christmas.

Last week, we used an example of the winning team at the Polytechnic Engineering Design Competition to illustrate how you can achieve in spite of imperfections.

When the State President reported that the economic woes affecting the country were coming from the Devil, many people discounted such statements as coming from a failed politician in charge of what Consumers Association of Malawi describes as a failed state. In the next day or so, the president went on to suggest that the problems, especially the fuel problems were emanating from failed or lack of action by the MCP and the UDF which ruled the country for three and one decade respectively.

Can someone tell UDF, whoever it is and whatever remains of it, to stop wasting our time with their childish games and let us focus on really serious issues? I know we need entertainment once in a while, but there is time for everything and, as we enter 2012, we cannot afford to watch the kindergarten displays coming from the erstwhile ruling party.

The calendar is showing that today is January 1, 2012. It’s a happy day. We have to eat and drink. The choice of food is yours. The choice of drink is yours as well but I will dictate that of all the liquids that you will drink on this day, water should be number one.

Their subjects were in mourning for a mother and son who had died in a fire, but they chose to attend a function in which T/A Tsabango was being elevated to senior chief by President Bingu wa Mutharika.

Police in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe on Thursday recovered eight pieces of ivory suspected to have been stolen from Liwonde National Park some months ago.

It is interesting that the call for intra-party democracy in Malawi’s political parties is coming from former president Bakili Muluzi, the man who started off promisingly as the first leader of multiparty Malawi only to derail in his second term with the lack of intra-party democracy the central theme of his collapse in the estimation of most Malawians.

The year 2011, which came to an end last night, was full of challenges in all spheres of life; political, economic, sports.

Five months after pocketing unexpected fat allowances as a thank you for quelling the July 20 demonstrations, police officers are now being forced to pay back the money.

Many if not all of us are hungry for success. But only few truly achieve a lot. Those who end up achieving their goals do certain things right, things which non-achievers either do not do at all or do wrongly. One of the interesting attributes of achievers is that they succeed in spite of imperfections, as opposed to being lucky to be found without imperfections or challenges. Today, we will focus on how you can achieve in spite of imperfections.

In writing articles like this one for newspapers, one can start with writing down the main body or thesis of their article and then come up with a title. The title is supposed to reflect the main contents of the article. I, however, do start with a title and what I write must fit the title I have selected. So, for this one, I thought I would exaggerate a little by titling it: We all learn all the times.

I am getting older by the day and I may just forget it. So, Merry Christmas to you all. I know the word merry does not quite describe how most of you are feeling throughout this festive period but let us all, for a day at least, forget our problems and tribulations and, for those who believe in Nativity, rejoice in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Masuzgo Msiska, aka DJ Mallick, of FM 101 in Blantyre emerged winner in the first National Lottery Group (NLG) draw of 36/6 and Scratch and Win competitions held on Friday.

Last year I ‘declared’ a holiday on a day like this one. I told fellow DIY enthusiasts to take their hands off the plough and relax. It was a time of reflection, so I thought.

The Orange Movement has observed that the Ministry of Youth Development and Welfare is not bearing desirable results despite being given sufficient resources to support the youth in the country.

Minister of Information and Civic Education Patricia Kaliati on Friday condemned a statement by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) that the country is sinking into a bottomless pit.

In what could be dubbed a landslide victory in political circles, Mzuzu contestants in this year’s Miss Malawi beauty pageant won big in the finale held at Sunbird Capital in Lilongwe on Friday night.

Member of Parliament for Mzimba Central Prof. Donton Mkandawire died Saturday morning at Mwaiwathu Private Hospital in Blantyre.

It is Christmas today when most of the Christian world commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, believed to be the Son of God who later died for the salvation of man. It is quite ironic that such an important day, whose vibes cannot escape anyone, believer or nonbeliever alike, is usually associated with more crime and all manner of sin.

The news that Silver Strikers have not yet issued letters of termination of service to the three coaches it fired about three weeks ago is not pleasing to hear.