Malawi: US donates $50,000 testing machine

The United States of America through its drug company – Pfizer – has donated a high performance liquid chromatography machine to Malawi Bureau (MBS) of Standards valued at $ 50,000.Pfizer, a major US pharmaceutical company donated the machine which is expected to assist MBS in conducting various analyses of food such as the determination of the nutrient values.The machine is also expected to help MBS to identify banned or substandard ingredients that may be found in food products.

Malawi: Subsidy cripples electricity company

Malawi’s sole electricity supplier ESCOM , is still making losses in customers connection costs, contrary to public outcries that the recent hike in fees from K9, 900 ($69) TO K25, 000 ($174) was meant to boost its profit earnings, a senior official has said.Wiseman Kabwazi, ESCOM marketing manager disclosed that average cost connections for customers who do not consume a lot of electricity, such as households was K65, 000 but ESCOM was compelled to subsidize it in order for many customers to have access electricity. This compels the company to contribute over K30, 000 per each connection.The statutory corporation connects 15, 000 customers annually, a figure Kabwazi said could reduce drastically if ESCOM did not subsidize costs incurred by the customer to get connected to electrical power.

Malawi: “Well done Obama”

Malawi becomes the latest African country to send a congratulatory message to US president-elect – Barack Obama. The country’s president, Bingu wa Mutharika said his victory is a manifestation of a long time dream. The development reflects changed perceptions about African-Americans, he added.Obama’s victory spark thunderous jubilation on the entire continent as he is seen as one of their own especially in Kenya. Thousands of Africans throughout the world kept vigil on the night of November 4 to monitor the results.It is, however, not clear if Mutharika plans to attend Obama’s inauguration in January next year, though a myriad of African leaders have expressed optimism to be part of this historic event.

Malawi: National team flexes muscles

The Malawi National Football Team is daring continental heavyweights such as Cameroon and Ivory Coast for an encounter. The Flames are `praying` for such a possibility during the FIFA draw to be conducted at its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, this week.Flames’ coach, Kinnah Phiri, said on Saturday in an exclusive interview time was near for the Indomitable Lions and the Ivory Coast to realize that their days are numbered. “Gone are the days when Africa had permanent soccer giants and full-time also-runs; now each team is like a mystery that needs to be studied and uncovered, especially on their home soil.”

HIV: Police women in Malawi highly infected

The Malawi police service has a high HIV prevalence rate among its service women, an update on the Malawi National Response to HIV/AIDS indicates. The report recently presented at the national media conference in Lilongwe indicates that 32 percent female police officers are currently infected with HIV.Presenting the update, Davie Kalomba head of planning and evaluation in the ministry of health said although the country’s HIV/AIDS prevalence rate was currently on the decline in the country, there were some specific groups that continued to register high HIV rates.“Currently the high risk group is the age block 15 to 24, however it is very interesting to note that the infections were currently increasing in groups that are very knowledgeable,” he said. The update indicates that brothel based sex workers top the chart with an HIV prevalence rate of 70 percent.Kalomba said the country had more persons living with HIV in rural areas estimated at 630 000 as opposed to the urban which has 179745 persons living with HIV and out of these, 89, 055 are children below the age 15.

Shortlist for Africa’s best player out

The Confederation of Africa Football has unveiled the shortlists for the Glo-CAF Awards 2008. CAF Director of Communications, Sulemana Habuba also announced innovations in the event with the aim of making it prestigious. The Media and Technical Committees nominated the shortlists for the two awards.The innovation Habuba said had led to the creation of the Glo-CAF Best Player on the Continent and the Glo-CAF Best Player across the World, according to cafonline.

Malawi: Cotton production gets a boost

Cotton farmers in Malawi are waiting for the commencement of production by a Chinese company to earn more on their commodity. Integrated Cotton and Textile Manufacturers, A chinese company, has already started ground work aimed at improving proceeds farmers earn on cotton products in Balaka.Industry and Trade Minister, Henry Mussa, said the company was one of those that recently visited the country to explore investment opportunities, in line with government’s goal to improve the number of industries.

Museveni: Africa can solve food crisis

Africa has sufficient agricultural potential to become a food basket for the whole world, President Museveni of Uganda said. He said the continent could solve the current food crisis if the relevant production interventions are undertaken during the launch of the P4P at the United Nations.Purchase 4 Progress (P4P) is an initiative of the World Food Programme (WFP) which aims at transforming the way WFP purchases food in developing countries by giving priority to small scale farmers to sell their surplus produce to WFP at competitive prices while giving the food to those who have little or no food at all.According to a press release from the state house in Uganda, the programme which will initially target 21 countries, Uganda inclusive, aims at helping farmers to earn reasonable income and predictable market for their produce. It will initially target 350,000 households over a period of 5 years.The WFP is supported by the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffet Foundation.President Museveni launched the programme jointly with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, Rwandese President Paul Kagame and the WFP Executive Director Mrs. Josette Sheeran.President Museveni said that 67% of the farmers in Sub-Sahara Africa have been practicing subsistence agriculture and not fully utilizing the region’s agricultural potential. He said that with the current food shortage in the world, it was time for African farmers to engage in commercialized agriculture and produce food beyond their subsistence needs. He, however, noted that interventions in terms of irrigation, the use of fertilizers and other forms of modern agricultural practices need to be emphasized to enable the region produce optimally.Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete welcomed the programme saying that it would help unlock the potential of farmers in rural Africa since they will be assured of the market for their produce. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda lauded WFP for its support to his country. He said that the organization has responded to the feeding needs of over 54,000 people in Rwanda. He also hailed their support through the School Feeding Programme and welcomed the Purchase 4 Progress Programme saying it was an appropriate intervention.Ms. Josette Sheeran, the Executive Director of WFP, said that in addition to purchasing their produce, WFP would facilitate farmers with modern farm inputs, equip them with modern agricultural skills to boost the quality and quantity of their output.Mr. Bill Gates and Mr. Howard Buffet said they were committed to helping farmers in the developing world to better their incomes because they constitute a large part of the poorest of the poor in the world. They said that they committed their organizations to supporting Purchase 4 Progress Programme because its objectives are in line with the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

Corruption: Africa’s movers and shakers

Corruption has significantly improved in Nigeria and Mauritius over the last year, according to the Transparency International`s 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The southern African country ranked 41 out of 180 countries with a score of 5.5 out of 10. Nigeria (2.7) jumped from 180 to 121.The CPI measures the perceived levels of public-sector corruption in a given country and is a composite index, drawing on different expert and business surveys. The 2008 CPI scores 180 countries (the same number as the 2007 CPI) on a scale from zero (highly corrupt) to 10 (highly clean).According to the report released on Tuesday in Berlin, Botswana leads the league table of top 10 least corrupt African countries at the 36th position with a score of 5.8. Mauritius closely followed then Cape Verde at 47th spot with a mark of 5.1. Africa’s fourth went to South Africa at the 54th slot with a score of 4.9, Seychelles gained 55th and bagged 4.8 and then Namibia landed at the 61st position after scoring 4.5.Others are Tunisia (62) with a score of 4.4, Ghana ranked 67 and scored 3.9, Swaziland (72) and attained 3.6 followed by Burkina Faso at 80th position after it obtained a mark of 3.5.However, Somalia (180), Sudan (173), Chad (173), Guinea (173) topped the top 10 corrupt countries on the continent scoring 1.6 each but Somalia which managed only 1.0. Equatorial Guinea (171) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (171) followed them with a score of 1.7 each. On top of them was ailing Zimbabwe, which is lying at the 166th position and scored 1.8. The remaining medals for the other three corrupt countries went to Gambia (158), Angola (158) and Guinea-Bissau (158) after all three scored 1.9 each.On the global scene, Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden share the highest score at 9.3, followed immediately by Singapore at 9.2. Bringing up the rear is Somalia at 1.0, slightly trailing Iraq and Myanmar at 1.3 and Haiti at 1.4, according to TI website. The global anti-corruption watchdog said while score changes in the Index are not rapid, statistically significant changes are evident in certain countries from the high to the low end of the CPI. Looking at source surveys included in both the 2007 and 2008 Index, significant declines can be seen in the scores of Bulgaria, Burundi, Maldives, Norway and the United Kingdom. Similarly, statistically significant improvements over the last year can be identified in Albania, Cyprus, Georgia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, South Korea, Tonga and Turkey.

School of witches exposed in Malawi

1000 children in the central Malawi district of Salima, graduate into witchcraft yearly, research shows. The African Network for the Protection and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect has revealed there is a school in the lakeshore district teaching children how to become masters of the night.The Country Director of (ANPPCAN), Kenwilliams Mhango, said “It is sad, let us save these children because they stop concentrating in class because of tiredness. Some who refuse to learn about witchcraft are denied food: it is abuse of children’s rights.” There have been increased cases of people teaching children witchcraft, but efforts to deal with the issue are hampered by the constitution of Malawi, which does not recognise witchcraft and regards self-confessed individuals as “pretenders”.