Tag Archives: Dzaleka Refugee Camp

Human Rights

Jesuits Refugee Service Malawi “scams” Dzaleka Camp teachers

Maravi Post Reporter

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Jesuits Refugee Service (JRS), an international refugee entity of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), that is facilitating the provision of formal education to refugees in Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi is suspected of having misused millions of kwachas of teachers fund, it has been learnt.

According to teachers who spoke to this publication, the fraud was discovered after the institution, JRS announced the contract termination with its employees particularly in the education sector, in September.

One of the affected teachers under the primary school, Moses Chimkonde disclosed that the alleged misused funds including the 2022 pension and health insurance money.

JRS contracted Old Mutual to handle the pension scheme.

“After being told of our contract termination, almost all teachers thought of following up on our pension issues with Old Mutual. Unfortunately, we were shocked to learn that our 9 months cash was not wired,” he explained.

While concurring with Chimkonde, almost all teachers who managed to talk to this publication said they managed to involve JRS in the issue for several attempts but to no avail.

“Our bosses are taking us for granted. Maybe because our contract ends next month, December. Or because we don’t have vast knowledge on such issues. But we will keep on fighting,” they disclosed.

They revealed that they have penned the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) on the same.

On health insurance funds, teachers from both, primary and secondary claimed that they discovered that there were several “ghost beneficiaries.

For instance, a teacher who got medical services within the country is recorded to have been referred to India and spent millions of kwachas.

“Apart from that, some male teachers were recorded as if they were receiving maternity services. The whole move according to teachers was to scam their health insurance money. Up to now, our bosses have yet to address us. That’s when we thought of engaging the media,” they narrated.

But JRS country director, Caroline Kayira Kulemeka said in 2022 there was a funding gap hence the anomalies.

“Funding to cover this gap has since been identified and JRS is working with Old Mutual to resolve the problem,” she said.

However, teachers wondered how the same organization was able to give them part of the salary for the whole year without explanation.

They also question the organization’s failure to explain the development the same year or during the time they were informing them about their contract termination saying “That is not applicable”.

On health insurance fund, Kulemeka vehemently denied issuing a comment saying the matter is still under investigation.

Social commentators while describing the development as sad and unacceptable, ask stakeholders in the education sector to immediately intervene on the matter.

According to them, the development will affect classes for learners.

Human Rights

23 escape carbon monoxide poisoning death in Dzaleka Camp

Maravi Post Reporter


By Vincent Gunde

DOWA-(MaraviPost)-About 23 refugees who were forcibly relocated to Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa district on the night of Friday, 18th August 2023 escaped from carbon monoxide poisoning death in one of the overcrowded tents which have become home for returned refugees since May 17, 2023.

According to Innocent Magambi, a refugee rights advocate and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Inua Advocacy, men, women, and children began vomiting, fainting, and struggling to breathe just before midnight of Friday.

Magambi said the victims were rushed to Dzaleka clinic where they were informed by the health personnel that the facility could not handle the situation and were referred to the main Dowa District Hospital.

He said due to UNHCR funding shortages, the Dzaleka Ambulance had not been fueled thanking the intervention of a Dzaleka community leader who used his car and fuel to transport the victims to Dowa District Hospital.

’’The sick received vital assistance to regain their consciousness escaping from carbon monoxide poisoning death,’’ said Magambi.

The Rights Advocate said those affected by the carbon monoxide poisoning have since been discharged except one, a-46-year-old man, Francis Nkurunziza who had just regained consciousness on Sunday morning, August 20, 2023, and was on the fifth drip.

In May 2023 Francis Nkurunzinza was attacked by police in Salima where he was plying his business during the relocation exercise, all of his wares were either stolen or burnt and he returned to Dzaleka Camp in Dowa empty-handed.

Magambi said the UNHCR funding cuts have resulted in a lack of electricity at the Dzaleka Camp making the provision of a water pump not operational and no lights are making the lives of the returnees so bearable.

He said tents are the only place where these returnees can sleep, cook and store their beddings lamenting that the people who are being affected by these events were all previously able to provide a dignified living by themselves and their children while contributing to the local economy as active members of the society.

The Rights Activist has expressed fears that because of the Refugee Act which they find discriminatory and unjust, the refugees in Malawi have been reduced to a complete dependence on insufficient aid, a development which is worrisome to all.

Human Rights

Pressure on refugees relocation in Malawi

Maravi Post Author


….as concerned citizens demands transparency

…MCYC set to operationalize the exercise should govt stuck on empty rhetoric

Modified Dzaleka refugees Camp in Dowa

By Iommie Chiwalo

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-Concerned citizens are pressing for transparency and accountability over unending story of having refugees and asylum seekers relocated to designated centers.

In a statement signed by leaders of the concerned citizens in the name of Wells Khama, Cynthia Chikalema and Esther Kubwalo, they are demanding that at all cost, government must demonstrate to be transparent in the whole
process.

The trio says while government has shown interest in implementing the long outstanding issue, it is still challenged to conduct the exercise in a transparent manner.

On this, the grouping has said that all eyes are on Homeland Security Minister Ken Zikhale Ng’oma to prove that he will give different results considering that all his predecessors performed contrary to the expectations of the majority.

Government has issued a press statement indicating that it will start moving all the refugees and asylum seekers to Dzaleka Refugee Camp by the 15th of this month.

The pressure to have the exercise materialised is coming considering that all the ministers President Lazarus Chakwera appointed to serve in the Homeland Security have made similar directives which have so far never yielded any result.

“It is for this reason that we the concerned citizens have received the news this time around with a pinch of salt, in fact all the eyes are on you Honourable Ken Zikhale-Ng’oma as to whether you are someone that can be trusted or not,” reads the statement from the concerned citizens.

Adding that, in the interest of transparency and accountability, Malawians would like to know how much government will spend to relocate the refugees in a likely event that most of them will not move to the designated centers freely before the set dateline.

The grouping has since commended the Inspector
General (IG) of the Malawi Police Service (MPS) Merlyn Yolamu for arresting the suspects connected to the mysterious death of Lilongwe-based businessman, a Malawian citizen of Rwandan origin, Emmilie Habimana Noel, 31, who allegedly died in a road accident in Lilongwe along the M1 road around the Kanengo Northgate area on October 17, 2022.

“However, we are still following the case with very keen interest, until it reaches a logical conclusion,”.

In related development, Mzuzu City Youth Caucus has expressed disappointment with government’s new ultimatum on relocation of refugees and asylum seekers saying the approach by the State authorities, as observed previously, will not yield anything.

The caucus Chairperson, Gomezgani Nkhoma, laments that while the funds for the relocation exercise were allocated to have it implemented from February 2, 2023, there has been no any update from the State machinery let alone hearing or seeing anything tangible on the ground.

Nkhoma, has therefore, said government’s fresh ultimatum is not only time wasting but also shameful because by now the exercise would have been near completion.

He says Malawians feel betrayed by their own government, perhaps the allegations that some public officials received kickbacks to derail this important exercise are true.

“Now that we have lost trust in our government, Mzuzu City Youth Caucus has set Monday the April 10, 2023 as a day on which it will mobilise Malawians to relocate refugees and asylum seekers to their designated centers,” says Nkhoma.

He has also said that his organisation will not allow government’s negligence, incompetence and unpreparedness deprive Malawians the opportunity to triumph economically and socially.

But in an interview with Homeland Security Minister Ken Zikhale Ng’oma said what is contained in the statement from his ministry is what will happen come the said date saying concerned citizens better wait “until we cross the bridge”.

Human Rights, Malawi

Grenade explosion shocks Dzaleka camp residents

Maravi Post Reporter
Dzaleka Refugee Camp grenade attack victim taken to the hospital


By Vincent Gunde

DOWA-(MaraviPost)-A Refugee Rights Advocate Innocent Magambi has expressed worrisome over the grenade that exploded on Wednesday inside the Dzaleka Camp in Dowa district arguing that it poses threat and element of an attack from the enemy.

Magambi said whoever the enemy might who carried out the attack in the camp does not represent refugees and asylum seekers.

Speaking in a telephone interview, Magambi expects the police to look at the pieces of the grenade to establish whether it is Malawian or foreign and other details.

Magambi said from the information gathered, the person who was critically injured, is one of the first people who came to Dzaleka Refugee Camp when it was established in 1994.

The victim is identified asButoyi Balthazar saying he is a community leader and owns a few business in the camp.

He said Balthazar’s daughter aged 23 died last year in February and his son, 26 years old died in February, this year saying the two, were the only adult children born in the Dzaleka Refugee Camp.

“Dzaleka residents are all in shock, they don’t know what really happened for the grenade to explode, we are still waiting for the police to release full details for the attack,’’ he said.

Following the grenade that exploded on Wednesday, five people were injured.

They were rushed to the Dowa District Hospital where they are receiving treatment, and Police officers are on the ground to establish what really happened for the grenade to explode inside Dzaleka Refugee Camp.

Malawi Police are to come up with the comprehensive report on the matter as one person is in custody for being behind the attack.

Business, Human Rights

Business operators petition Parliament on swift refugees relocation

Maravi Post Reporter
Business Operators want asylum seekers be quickly relocated to Dzaleka

By Dorica Mtenje

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Small Scale Business Operators Association (SSBOA) on Thursday, December 15, 2022 petitioned Malawi Parliament to question Minister of Homeland failure for the repatriation of refugees and asylum seekers.

Presenting the petition Secretary General for the grouping,Tennyson Mulimbula said the Homeland Minister,Jean Sendeza has miserably failed to bring any tangible solutions to suffering of indigenous small scale traders whose businesses have been pathetically squeezed by the influx of the refugees.

Mulimbula said the grouping wants foreign investors who can come to Malawi and establish companies and reduce a huge gap of job scarcity.

He said the presence of the refugees, Asylum seekers and illegal migrants who are trekking into Malawi on daily basis is a big threat to our economy, culture and national security.

Milumbula said the dialogue with government through Homeland Minister has yielded nothing hence petitioning the August house.

He therefore urged lawnakers to take the matter seriously and implement the relocation exercise as soon as possible before the grouping will be tempted to take the law into their own hands.

Receiving the petition, Mulanje Bale legislator Victor Musowa promised to bring the petition to the August house as it is a matter of agent inline with a grenade blast last night at Dzaleka camp as it is an issue to do with security.

Malawi government set February 2023 as deadline for relocation of refugees and asylum seekers to Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa.

Law and order, Malawi

Dzaleka Refugee Camp Grenade explosion injures five

Maravi Post Reporter
Modified Dzaleka refugees Camp in Dowa

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Suspected grenade that exploded on Wednesday night, December 14, 2022 at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa has injured five people.

The incident happened on Wednesday, December 14, at about 19:00 hours at the camp near Dzaleka Main Market.

Dowa Police Spokesperson, Gladson M’bumpha says it is reported that one of the victims, a Burundi Community leader, Butoyi Fedeli aged 54 and his secretary, Bruno Ndaishime were outside his office at Dzaleka main market around 7pm.

“It is reported that one of the victims, Butoyi Fedeli aged 54 who is a refugee leader of Burundi Community was chatting with his secretary, Bruno Ndaishime, outside his office.

“While bidding farewell to each other, Fedeli suddenly saw a person lighting matches before throwing an unknown object at them which he suspects to be a grenade and it bursted with loud voice and he suspects a fellow refugee of Rwandan origin to have done this,” said M’bumpha.

Fedeli then saw a person lighting matches before throwing an unknown object at them which he suspects to be a grenade.

The police publicist added that the object exploded, producing a loud sound.

Following the impact, Fedeli and Ndaishime sustained cuts in the legs and on the back after which they were rushed to hospital for treatment.

Apart from the two, three other people including an 11-year-old child have sustained various degrees of injury and admitted to Dowa District Hospital.

Police visited the scene where they collected a pin and some fragments.

Meanwhile, the police have arrested a Rwandan, Umoton John Peter aged 42, on suspicion that he behind the attack.

The suspect will be taken to court to answer charges of grievous harm.

Human Rights

Refugee Rights Advocate expresses fear over asylum seekers’ relocation

Maravi Post Reporter
Dzaleka refugees Camp: File Photo

By Vincent Gunde

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Refugee Rights Advocate Innocent Magambi, has expressed fears that relocation of refugees and asylum seekers back to Dzaleka camp in Dowa district would turn 8,000 from self-reliant to aid-dependent people.

Magambi said some of them were born in Malawi 28 years ago.

He added, “Some are students who will now abandon their education to become idle in an overcrowded camp as many parents are not only providing for their families will now go to live in tents, to queue for water, soap and sanitary pads, among others”.

Magambi observes tha refugees and asylum seekers will be suffering while relocating to the Dzaleka camp will be happening in the name of enforcing the country’s refugee law of 1989.

“In 2019 Malawi Government pledged to revise its refugee policy towards integration, this is a law deemed outdated by Government, it is one that could be changed for a lot less than 10 percent of the relocation budget,’’ he addded in a telephone interview.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR has written a letter to Malawi Government to reconsider its decision to relocate refugees and asylum seekers back to Dzaleka camp saying the relocation will not only lead to loss of livelihood but to compel them to rely on humanitarian agencies.

The UNHCR says critical underfunding is already impacting current service provision to refugees and asylum seekers in Malawi saying as October, 2022 it had only received US$4.9 million out of US$22.9 required to adequately support refugees and asylum seekers this year alone in Malawi.

“This has crippled UNHCRs ability to meet the protection and livelihood needs of the people it serves,’’ reads the statement in part.

The UNHCR says while it is applauding Government’s offer of Luwani settlement as an alternative to Dzaleka camp.

However significant financial resources are needed to make it habitable with the installation of basic services such as water, sanitation, repairs of roads and other facilities.

The Malawi Government has plans to move over 8000 refugees and asylum seekers who live in Malawian towns and cities giving a deadline of February 1, 2023 while those living in the rural areas November 30, 2022 to January 31, 2023 to the Dzaleka camp, the exercise to cost Government MK300 million.

Development, District News

Dzaleka youths laud Plan Malawi over rights protection model

Maravi Post Author
Dzaleka youths


By Kondwani Kandiado, Contributor

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Youths at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa have hailed Plan Malawi for the strides in ensuring that protection of children’s rights in the refugee camp.

The camp’s Youth for Education in emergencies , Baraka Damien speaking on Friday during the commemoration of International Youth Day at the camp said the move has potential to help youths realise their dreams.

He said: ” The organisation in collaboration with other implementing partners like UNHCR gives us the platform and space to express ourselves to realise our full potential and achieve what we want to.”

Damien then appealed to various stakeholders to join hands in advocating for the adoption of Comprehensive Refugee framework.

“This would allow for the refugee community to mingle with the host community and be able to do everything together as one,” he said.

But Damien bemoaned limited space in school at the camp as refugee laws restrict the youth, access to education in public institution.

” The camp has one nursery school, primary and a secondary school which are all accessible to both refugees and host community. This negatively affects quality of education in the camp” he said.

Plan Malawi’s Child Protection Officer for Dzaleka Refugee camp Aaron Nsona said as a child rights organisation they are geared to ensure protection of children’s rights in the camp.

“We feel the time for the youths to shine is now. The tomorrow starts today. As such we are committed to exposing the youths enough by giving them a platform to voice out their concern and take duty bearers to task when their rights are infringed,” he said.

Speaking in a separate interview, Dowa district council Administrator, Catherine Mdala said the council was working hand in hand with stakeholders and other implementing partners to support children in camp.

“Our focus is to make sure that when the children in camp complete their secondary education they should have something to do,” she said.

The day was commemorated under the theme, “Intergenerational Solidarity: creating a world for all ages was also spiced by traditional dances, drama, music and poetry”.

Development, Education

Unicaf University awards prizes to Malawi’s Dzaleka Refugee camp top students

Maravi Post Reporter

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Three talented young refugees have won the top prizes at the Unicaf University essay competition ‘My Future’, marking an important step in building a better life for themselves and their families and serving their community.

The competition was organised in collaboration with the Jesuit Refugee Services NGO, which implements various intervention programmes for refugees living in Malawi and educates more than 5,000 children in the pre-primary, primary, and secondary schools of the Dzaleka Refugee Camp.

As of March 2018, more than 37,000 refugees have fled to Malawi from countries throughout Africa including Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Nearly 34,000 refugees live in the Dzaleka refugee camp near Lilongwe.

The three winners of the essay competition, which ran in December 2021, were selected based on the creativity and ideas presented in their essays and their English language skills.

First prize winner was Joyce Bahati who came to Malawi as a refugee from the DRC in 2014 and she has big aspirations to study Medicine. She received a monetary prize of MK100, 000.

Second winner, Pacifique Imara Simbi, who has lost both parents to the war in the DRC, came to Malawi in 2018 and would like to pursue a business degree.

His prize was MK75, 000 in cash. Zawadi Ombeni, the third winner, left the DRC in 2016 and has consistently been the number one student throughout secondary school.

She wants to be a lawyer or social worker to have a positive impact on her community.

Ombeni received a prize of MK50, 000 in cash.

Associate Professor Dr. Steve Sharra represented the Unicaf Univeristy Vice Chancellor at the awards ceremony organised at the camp and commended the school’s students and teaching staff for their repeated successes in national school competitions.

Dr Sharra said: “There are many beautiful stories from the Dzaleka Refugee Camp, which show the power of the human spirit. They show that, when given the opportunity and the resources, human beings can overcome obstacles that prevent them from enjoying their rights and enhancing their talents.

“These stories also show that you are ready to contribute to the future of not only this country, but the world. And to prepare for that future, education is very important”.

The Deputy Head teacher Madam Jean Mvuthe and the School Coordinator Madam Yamiko Kawale contributed the opening and closing remarks at the awards ceremony.

Law and order, Malawi, Religion

Malawi Police arrest Eleven Burundian nationals for fighting over church ownership on Christmas

Maravi Post Reporter

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi Police in the central district of Dowa have arrested 11 Burundian nationals for allegedly fighting over ownership of the church.

The suspects have been charged with the offence of affray.

The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon of December 25, 2021, at Jesus Christ Witness Pentecostal Church within Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Dowa.

It is alleged that two pastors of the church are fighting for the ownership of the church on who is the founder and they have been at loggerheads for some time.

According to Sub Inspector Gladson M’bumpha, on Saturday afternoon both pastors met at the church for prayers and in course of this, one of the pastors grabbed a collar of the other, resulting in a serious fight.

It is also alleged that the church has two rival camps which prompted some other church members to join the fight resulting in the injury of the concerned pastor.

“Upon receipt of the matter, police rushed to the scene and arrested 11 members of the church. The suspects have been identified as Subimana Luwis, 56, Ndikuliyo Yusuf, 39, Itsapayo Innocent, 40, Ngendakumana Theodore, 19, Bigirimana Osikali, 41, Shimilimana Meriana, 38, Nikonkuru Siwema, 17, Nyisu Emelive, 16, Devine Irakoze, 18, Deborah Ntakirutimana, 22 and Niyomzima Jeanine, 32, all Burundian nationals from Dzaleka Refugee Camp. Among 11 suspects, five are males and six are females,” said M’bumpha.

Meanwhile, police are also expected to meet UNHCR officials to map the way forward on the case as it is on record that UNHCR is aware of the case.