Nyalonje, Chiponda and Mia addressing the media on Cholera updates
By Dorica Mtenje
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi government on Tuesday, January 2, 2023 announced closure of secondary and primary schools for two weeks over cholera outbreak.
This comes barely hours after second term was opened across the country apart from Lilongwe and Blantyre cities.
Minister of Health, Khumbize Chiponde told face the press that ministry of Unity will be sensitizing the general public on cholera preventation measures.
She said government is doing everything to contain the outbreak and the public will be updated continuously on the progress.
The minister added that government will re-open the schools as soon possible for learners safety.
Minister of Education, Agness Nyalonje added the the move is inline with thCOVID-19 task force command on closing schools due to cholera.
Nyalonje said health issues are priorities in all sectors of life hence supporting the decision.
Echoing on the same, Minister of Water and sanitation, Abida Mia disclosed that all disconnected kiosks have been reconnected until the pandemic is over.
She therefore called upon stakeholders’ support as the ministry needs US$ 20,809.013 for the procurement of wash Cholera supplies.
As of January 2, 2023, 18,222 cases with 620 deaths have been reported since the onset of the outbreak in March last year.
The fatality rate is at 3.4%, which is higher than the recommended rate of less than 1%.
In the past 7 days, Malawi has reported 2,773 cases and 137 deaths.
Out of these, Blantyre and Lilongwe have contributed 47% of the new cases and 53% respectively.
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Following the declined of COVID-19 cases, government has removed strict measures while emphasising on masking up.
Briefing journalists in the Parliament building on Wednesday, February 16, 2022 Minister of Health khumbize Chiponda said President task force reviewed the measures as they still monitoring the situation.
Chiponda address the press on COVID-19
Chiponda said the spread of the pandemic is now at 5 Percent which is not that bad for a country.
The minister said indoor gathering have been reviewed from 100 people to 500 with the must of mask up.
Chiponda added that government lifted the ban on international travels which will allow the visitors to provide PCR test of 24 hours .
She encouraged those that haven’t been vaccinated to do so as most cases have shown that those that have been vaccinated are not succumbed to the pandemic .
Malawi government re-introduced restrict measures in December last year as COVID-19 cases were rising every day.
As of February, 16, 2022 Malawi had 85,106 cases with 2,599 deaths out of 540,044 COVID-19 testes since 2020.
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Minister of Health Khumbize Kandondo Chiponda says the ministry is investigating to find the actual location and the officer who used an ambulance to transfer household items as seen on a picture that is circulating on social media forums.
Chiponda says they have managed to get the ambulances’ registration number and they are working with local government to directly get information on where this happened.
“Fortunately we have the registration numbers of the ambulances and we are trying to find out through local councils the real location of this mismanagement of government resource. We are going to issue warning letters to all health facilities in the country, for them to avoid misusing properties at their facilities,” said Chiponda.
A health rights activist, George Jobe, while in support of the investigations set by the health ministry, he has also tipped the minister to consider providing transportation during transfer of it’s officers.
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi has lessened Covid-19 curfew for travelers into the country that will no longer go for quarantine of 14 days.
Minister of heath who is also co chair for presidential Task force on Covid-19, Khumbize Chiponda told the news conference on Friday, August 27, 2021 in the capital Lilongwe that the move is to ease travels into the country.
Khumbize said travelers will be required to present a negative PCR COVID-19 test result done not more than 72 hours before arrival.
She said the county citizen should follow through Covid-19 Prevention and control regulations and rules as guided by the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 are followed during his stay in Malawi.
She said Presidential Taskforce will continue to monitor the situation for them to soften the measures.
She said countries including India, Pakistani, Bangladesh, Nepal and Brazil are no longer categorized as high risk countries , therefore travelers from these countries will no longer be required to be on mandatory self sponsored institutional quarantine
Health Minister Khumbize Chiponda asked to resign or be fired
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera is cornered to fire his family and party’s (Malawi Congress Party) cohort member Khumbize Chaponda Kandodo who is also health minister over MK6.2 billion Covid-19 funds abuse.
Mzimba North MP (Alliance for Democracy) Yeremiah Chihana is however calling on President Chakwera to fire Chiponda and all other ministers whose controlling officers have been suspended or fired over Covid-19 funds abuse.
Chihana says there is no way one chairperson of the Presidential Taskforce on Covid-19 can be fired leaving another chair.
According to Chihana, the other ministers could have been the ones that made decisions in the abuse of the funds.
Mulanje South West MP George Chaponda has also called on Chiponda to resign saying many people have died due to Covid-19 adding Covid-19 funds have been abused under her watch.
He also called on Tonse Alliance Government to apologize for saying there was no Covid-19 before the fresh presidential election.
However, Chiponda has called on the two to get their facts right. She says Ministers in Tonse Alliance are not drawing allowances from the Covid-19 funds.
She says there is an audit into the funds which the MPs may wish to check.
She has challenged that should the audit establish that she pocketed from Covid-19 funds, she will be the first to resign.
Chiponda insists she is an honest person and is ready to resign when proven that she benefited.
Chakwera has a number of family and friends aids and cabinet ministers whose characters of work in Tonse government have been questions but he has failed to act on them, then why Khumbize?
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi Health Minister Khumbize Chiponda has been challenged into intervene on reports that the ministry dubiously awarded Zambian firm Grandview International with MK1.6bn ambulances deal.
Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) on Friday, September 11, 2020 penned the minister Chiponda to cancel the deal of awarding a Zambian firm.
CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa says, “My institution is asking you in your capacity as the Minister of Health to consider pending this transaction in the spirit of promoting local industry which in turn spurs economic development, a decision that will later translate into creation of the much awaited 1 million jobs; which is a flagship promise of the Tonse Alliance government under President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera.
“We are looking forward to hearing from you madam, on our humble appeal within 5 (five) working days from the date this appeal has been delivered and receipted at your office”.
Below is CDEDI letter to Minister Chiponda:
ATT: HON. KHUMBIZIE KANDODO CHIPONDA
Dear Madam,
RE: APPEAL FOR CONSIDERATION OF INDEGENEOUS BUSINESS PEOPLE WHEN AWARDING BUSINESS CONTRACTS
The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) writes to bring to your attention an advert that appeared in The Nation newspaper dated Thursday, September 10, 2020 under the title NOTIFICATION OF INTENTION TO AWARD A CONTRACT. The notice indicates that the Ministry of Health intends to award a contract to Supply and Deliver 35 Ambulances (Lot.1) to a successful bidder by the name Grandview International Limited, whose address is Reliance House, Plot No. 35374, Thabo Mbeki Road, Lusaka Zambia.
Right at the onset, CDEDI would like to applaud your ministry’s technical staff and indeed the Plant and Vehicle Hire Organisation (PVHO) staff who worked so tirelessly in order to ensure that a successful bidder is identified.
Kindly receive our very sincere appreciation on behalf of all well-meaning Malawians.
CDEDI’s independent investigations have revealed that Grandview International Limited is close to clinching the deal.
CDEDI further applauds your ministry, madam, for being transparent by publishing the above stated information as per the requirement of the laws that guide public procurement processes.
Take note Hon. Minister that CDEDI is aware that all bids received are evaluated technically to ascertain compliance with technical specifications and that all those bids that meet minimum technical specifications proceed to another level, up until the last stage which is financial evaluation is considered. We would like to believe that such processes were done diligently in compliance with bidding rules and regulations.
At this juncture, CDEDI would like to draw your attention Madam to a Circular from the Director General, Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) Ref. No. PPDA/01/22 dated 1st July 2019 addressed to all Principal Secretaries, Chief Executives of Parastatal organisations under the headline APPLICATION OF SECTION 44 (10) OF THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AND DISPOSAL OF PUBLIC ASSETS ACT (2017) which states that a procuring entity shall ensure prioritization of all bids submitted to give preference to 60 percent indigenous Malawians and 40 percent others for national competitive bidding. In a layman’s point of view, this guidance was given by the PPDA in the spirit of empowering local businesses in the country.
Secondly, we, at CDEDI are also aware that bids are valued in consideration of capacity, past experience, financial muscle and the bidder’s reputation and history. It is against this background that CDEDI on behalf of all patriotic citizens of this country do not want to rush into making hasty conclusions, hence our resolve to write in order to get it from the horse’s mouth if at all the above stated considerations were taken into account before settling for the successful bidder.
CDEDI’s appeal on the matter, therefore, is as follows:
Our independent investigations have shown that some local bidders were successful in all the aspects such as technical expertise, capacity, etc, except that of pricing. CDEDI is of the view that issues of pricing are negotiable and that such local bidders can surely be open to further discussions on the same;
CDEDI is appealing to the Ministry of Health to consider the PPDA’s circular on the prioritisation of local businesses when it comes to awarding contracts. We believe this appeal is also in line with the Tonse Alliance government’s philosophy of wealth and job creation. We further believe that such a contract has the potential of creating wealth and jobs for a lot of Malawians because it will help the local bidders’ businesses to grow, a development that will result into job creation for a lot of Malawians;
Awarding the contract to a local bidder will make it easy for the ministry to hold the bidder to account in the event that something goes wrong with the supply of the goods and services, because the supplier if from within the country;
CDEDI is not satisfied with the investigations that have been done by the procurement team at the ministry, especially with the Grandview International Limited, which is a foreign company based in Zambia. You may recall Hon. Minister, that not long-ago Malawi lost billions of taxpayers’ money after a decision was made to procure maize with the help of another foreign company in Zambia, a deal which went totally wrong. Surely, Malawi cannot afford to be beaten twice. It is high time the country learnt some lessons from the corrected mistakes that were made in the past, based on the experience of the ‘Maize gate’ scandal which is still fresh in Malawians’ memories;
It is for this reason that Malawians who are taxpayers, and CDEDI as an advocacy institution feel duty bound to seek clarification from you as a duty bearer.
Lastly, but not the least, CDEDI is asking you in your capacity as the Minister of Health to consider pending this transaction in the spirit of promoting local industry which in turn spurs economic development, a decision that will later translate into creation of the much awaited 1 million jobs; which is a flagship promise of the Tonse Alliance government under President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera.
We are looking forward to hearing from you madam, on our humble appeal within 5 (five) working days from the date this appeal has been delivered and receipted at your office.
Yours Faithfully,
Sylvester Namiwa
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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