Tag Archives: Mangochi district

Malawi

President Lazarus Chakwera continues development tour in Mangochi District

Burnett Munthali

By Burnett Munthali

This morning, President Lazarus Chakwera continued his tour of developmental projects in Mangochi District. His visit began at Agri-Verst Chitakale Estate, where he is inspecting progress on agricultural and development initiatives.

The President is also scheduled to visit the construction site of the DC Chamber and Finance Building at the Mangochi District Council. Additionally, he will tour the Monkey Bay and Cape Maclear Road projects, which are vital for improving infrastructure in the region.

These visits are part of a broader tour across the Eastern Region, which began last Tuesday. The ongoing engagements reflect President Chakwera’s commitment to overseeing and supporting development efforts aimed at enhancing regional infrastructure and public services.

Law and order

Crime drops by 14 percent in Mangochi

Malawi News Agency (MANA)

Mangochi, January 17, 2019: Mangochi District has registered a 14 per cent drop in crime in the year 2018, Mana has learnt.

Mangochi Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), Inspector Rodrick Maida, confirmed this saying a Crime Management meeting that Mangochi Police held at Villa Tafika at the Boma on Friday revealed that a total of 1,810 criminal cases were recorded in 2018 against 2,013 criminal cases that were recorded in 2017.

He said there was a slight increase in number of road accidents in 2018 as compared to 2017 while the number of deaths due to road accidents had dropped.

“In the just ended year, the station registered 223 road accidents compared to 202 which were reported in 2017, representing 0.5 per cent increase,” Maida explained.

“In 2017 a total of 49 people lost their lives while 32 people were reported dead due to road accidents in 2018,” he added.

On sexual offences, Maida said statistics showed a drop as 41 cases were reported in 2018 compared to 45 cases reported in 2017.

Mangochi Police has attributed the drop in crime to a number of interventions including “intensive and purposeful” day and night patrols, police visibility, ad hock roadblocks, and sweeping exercises.

He added that police in the district had intensified crime prevention and road safety awareness through media, especially community radios.

Maida said there had been good relationship with members of the public such that the police had been receiving tips easily on criminal activities in the district.

Mangochi Police Station Officer In-Charge, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Teleza Nankhuni, has since hailed police officers in the district for their hard work and commitment to work which she said had led to the drop in crime.

She said, though minimal, the drop in sexual offences is a mark of success worth celebrating considering the prevalence rate of such cases in the district.

Nankhuni has since thanked the public for the cooperation and good relationship with the police in the previous year.

“The police will continue with the security initiatives that have so far yielded positive results in the district and we hope to do even better in 2019,” she said.

Malawi

Rampant theft in councils worries minister: Councilors blamed for not doing enough

Maravi Post correspondent

Kondwani Nankhumwa: minister of local government and rural development
Minister Nankhumwa: theft is rampant in local councils

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—As corruption is increasingly becoming an acceptable practice in Malawi, the government has expressed worries over rampant stealing of public funds in the country’s local councils.

Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Kondwani Nankhumwa expressed the worry in Mangochi on Wednesday when he opened this year’s Local Government Authorities Conference which attracted controlling officers in councils across the country.

Nankhumwa, as quoted in the Daily Times, said latest audits conducted by the government have revealed that there is rampant theft of public funds in almost all local councils, something which the minster said is affecting the implementation of various projects targeting locals.

According to the local paper, the minister further faulted the country’s councilors for not doing enough to ensure that the government’s funds are being used for the intended purposes.

Nankhumwa has since challenged local government authorities and members of the society to contribute ideas which can help find solutions that can be adopted to respond to audit results.

“The audit exercise that was carried out in 2016 for Local Development Fund (LDF), Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and District Development Fund (DDF), respectively, revealed a general outlook that is very worrisome. Procurement of tools under the Public Works Programme was marred by gross irregularities that suggest lack of integrity on the part of public officials. Reports on LDF projects further revealed ghost projects and ghost workers in most local authorities,” Nankhumwa said as quoted in the Daily Times of 9th March, 2017 edition.

He also revealed that the audit reports for the years 2010/11 and 2011/12 were also gloomy as there were more revelations of fraud which need to be addressed if the country is to move forward.

Nankhumwa further faulted the procurement procedures in most councils which he said are marred by a lot of anomalies which have affected the quality of construction projects and resulted in some projects not completing at all.

“Effective Decentralisation largely depends on an effective primary oversight role of councillors. However, in some cases, elected councillors are involved directly in implementation of projects. Some are actually identifying themselves as beneficiaries of social protection projects such as public works. In some cases, councillors are working as contractors in construction projects. Such tendencies have compromised the oversight role of councillors,” he observed.

Malawi Local Government Association President, Wild Ndipo appealed to the government to relinquish its powers on local councils in order to give the councils power to decide how to use the money the councils collect, saying this can improve transparency and accountability in financial management.

 

Malawi

Malawi court in Mangochi slaps man with 6 years in jail for stealing bags of maize and cement

Maravi Post correspondent

MANGOCHI-(MaraviPost)-The Malawi court in the lakeshore district of Mangochi on Friday sentenced a 23-year old man to six years in jail for being found guilty on the offense of burglary and theft.

A 23 yr old man given 6 yrs jail term for burglary and theft

Monkey-Bay Police Prosecutor Liston Sabola identified the convict as Innocent Raphael, who on December 22, 2016 committed the crime which is contrary to Section 309 (A) of the Penal code.
Prosecutor Sabola told The Maravi Post that the convict broke into Anne Ngwira’s house and stole assorted items including a bag of maize, three bags of cement and blankets all worth MK 160,000.
Sabola said that Raphael committed the offence while the owner of the stolen items was out on Lake Malawi buying fish.
The prosecutor added that during hearing, the convict pleaded not guilty, prompting the state to parade five witnesses which led the court to find Raphael guilty of the offense.
Although in his mitigation the convict asked the court to give a suspended sentence so that he could better take care of his family and grandmother, First Grade Magistrate Ronald M’bwana slapped Raphael with 72 months imprisonment with hard labor.
Raphael who hails from Sumbi Village, Traditional Authority (T.A) Nankumba in Mangochi district will serve the two offences; burglary and theft for 72 and 24 months respectively and concurrently.