I WELCOME you!

Dear Good People,

I warmly welcome you to my Blog and it is my profound hope that you will find it useful and worth the time you spend on it. On this Blog, I have posted some of the articles and pieces that I have writen just for record purposes and also for sharing. You might have read these articles in the papers but it could also be possible that you missed them.


Please be advised that these are my toughts and purely my opinions. You are free to comment on them and/or to critic them. I will appreciate any of your comments.

Thank You.

Hastings Maloya
+265 888864241 or +265 999950953

About Me

Mulanje, Southern Region, Malawi
Is an experienced journalist, writer, specialist in development communications, public relations, publications, desktop publishing, information technology, photography, environmental education and rural development. Hastings Maloya is currently working as Programme Officer responsible for Environmental Education, Awareness and Communications for the Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust (MMCT) since September 1, 2002. Hastings, comes from Tradional Authority Mabuka in Mulanje District, is an Adventist Christian, and has two daughters Eva and Eve.

On Clerk of Parliament

Let Matilda Katopola stay
By Hastings Maloya

For the third year running we have not had our national budget on time, a situation that has put all of us in a predicament since we all rely on the budget for guidance in whatever we are engaged in. What has been difficult to understand is why a country thus 44 years old but still very poor should choose to prioritise politics and not development. Why do we still have members of parliament that do not see the importance of the budget to the nation? If indeed it is politics, then the politics in Malawi is not exciting at all.
All along we were told that the opposition is refusing the budget until their demands for the implementation of Section 65 are met. We have heard about Section 65 so long now that it’s no longer an exhilarating issue for discussion. And when parliament met this time round, we were still expecting that the section will be mentioned so we were only waiting for the way forward.
Then came an issue of a memorandum of understanding. The opposition parties threatened to reject the 2008/09 national budget if President Bingu wa Mutharika's government does not sign a so-called memorandum of understanding (MOU) put forward by the country's clergy as a way forward to narrow the political gap existing in parliament between the two sides.
But things came to a shocking change when the opposition found another reason to make government dance for the budget to pass.

The opposition members of parliament demanded that the Clerk of Parliament Matilda Katopola be sacked before the budget was discussed and passed. The opposition political leaders pilled pressure on government to adopt a resolution to remove the clerk of parliament following reports that Katopola, Malawi’s first female Clerk of Parliament, dubiously awarded a contract to her company Monics Trends to supply printing services to parliament.

Some opposition members of parliament were quote in the press saying that they would be surprised if government allows the clerk to continue working. Their argument was that this would give an interpretation that the authorities (i.e. government) are promoting corruption and bribery. What a lousy argument.

Meanwhile, government has declared that it would not implement the parliament's decision and I say well done government. And please do not remove her. Let her stay at parliament.

The demands by the opposing parliamentarians are irresponsible and out of context putting in mind that the issue of Katopola was discussed, an investigation completed and results made public. The country’s President Dr Bingu wa Mutharika acknowledged and forgave her. This does not mean that she was not wrong and naturally she must have regretted her wrong doing and one wonders why forgiving someone has now become a sin.
The resistance by government on this immature demand is commendable because it is obvious that the said Clerk of Parliament's financial impropriety was just a scapegoat by the opposition. The real reason for her woes, could be - as we have now learned - her refusal to allow MPs have unsorted loans and her demands that MPs travel economy class and not business class on international assignments. She is on the wrong side because of her prudent financial management at parliament. We even once heard that some ‘honourable’ members were threatening to beat her up. How silly!
In any case, if indeed the issue is that Katopola is in the wrong, why is her wrong doing attached to the national budget? What is the relationship? Why should people suffer in hospitals for lack of medicines or civil servants struggling to receive their salaries simply because some misguided members of parliament are demanding the firing of a single individual? And which government department would be willing to welcome such an individual in a situation that she is being removed?
We have also learnt from reliable and knowledgeable sources that the matter of hiring, firing or disciplining the clerk of parliament belongs to the executive arm of the government and not the legislature. One therefore wonders why or parliamentarians get excited with issues. As it has already been observed elsewhere, if indeed the disgruntled MPs were not happy with the President’s decision to forgive and reinstate Katopola, the proper thing for the parliamentarians to do was to go to court and to seek a judicial review and challenge the decision. But that they wasted our time voting and tying Katopola’s removal to the national budget, is the last thing a compassionate Malawian would appreciate.
And for argument sake, who among our opposition MPs is clean of theft, bribery and corruption? I can challenge the Mps that if we were to take to task each and every one of them, we will discover a lot of anomalies in the way they have handled financial matters but they have the audacity to corner one Matilda Katopola.
Just an example, I wish our members of parliament could account for the treadle pumps they received to where they went, who is using them and how much they have contributed to crop harvest in their respective constituencies. It will be interesting to realise that some of them might have sold some of them and cannot even tell what the proceedings were used for. How many of our MPs can account for the allocated constituency funds?
I wish our parliamentarians could be aware of how many youths and women in their constituencies that do not have any source of employment and what they are doing about it. I wish they could show us initiatives that they are putting in place to help their people both economically and socially.
We are supposed to be proud that we are probably the only country in the region with a female clerk of parliament. Katopola is young and she has already proven that she is brave and intelligent. It has proven that Dr Mutharika’s choice was marvellous. She needs our support and guidance. We must accept that as an individual she can make mistakes and all we need to do is to correct her and correct her only when our sense of correction is in good faith and not out of sheer jealousy and ill will as we have noted in this recent occurrence.
Kotopola, just as the Attorney General Jane Ansah and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Esther Cheka Chilenje, just to mention a few are models among our young girls. She has inspired many and it would be a bad decision to remove her from parliament. I urge the government not to bow down to these crazy demands for the sake of our country.
MPs are only voted into power. They do not go through any meaningful interviews and most of them will not win the next election so should they put our deserved women in situations thus not conducive? Thus far from nation building.
Katopola must not be removed from parliament. She has brought discipline and she needs more time to bring even more changes. More-over the people, who are making the wild demands, are only doing it because Katopola is a woman. A real man is not praised for torturing women but giving them love and guidance. Our opposition parliamentarians, mostly men, have miserably failed on this one. They have only managed to put our country to shame
Here are members of parliament who have miserably failed to bring any meaningful development in their areas and failed to support the current government to help their people and are here loud-mouthed for the removal of a clerk of parliament and indeed shamelessly tying that demand to the national budget. And these people will only be in parliament for the next eight months and they want to leave parliament in shambles. We can’t accept that.
Let Matilda Katopola stay.

*Hastings Maloya works for the Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust but is writing in his personal capacity

Chiefs’ educational visit to Thyolo Mountain


Chiefs’ educational visit to Thyolo Mountain

By Hastings Maloya

Forests and mountains in Malawi are now in a desperate situation. Forest destruction across the country continues at a wildfire pace, seemingly uncontrolled and ignored. Sadly, there is little concerted political or governmental response to this loss. Short-term gains of fuel-wood and charcoal availability are soon overshadowed by the complete deprivation of an extensive range of resources and services that our mountains traditionally offered. Bare hills stand stark testament to a tragic irresponsibility that we are all accountable for if we do not choose now to actively work together to counter and then reverse this process of destruction.

The Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve is currently facing serious problems ranging from uncontrolled and illegal harvesting of forest resources, encroachment and annual bush fires. Deforestation is on an increase, a situation that would lead to serious problems if not checked. It is behind this observation that the Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust (MMCT) through its Environmental Education, Awareness and Communications Programme organized and facilitated a two-day educational visit for chiefs from Mulanje and Phalombe to Thyolo Mountain. This trip was meant for the chiefs to appreciate the current sorry situation that Thyolo Mountain is in and for them to have a developmental interaction with their colleagues (chiefs) from Thyolo district.

Many people, just as the chiefs and local leaders, view the Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve as solely a source of natural resources to benefit from; they rarely question the aftermath effects of overuse or abuse of such resources. It is therefore imperative that chiefs, as leaders and to a certain degree owners of the people and land, develop a genuine appreciation for the mountain and the reserve so that they can understand what implications their actions may have on it.

Malawi today has many other mountain forests that are in the process of disappearing entirely and silently. One example of such reserves that lost its resource glory is Thyolo Mountain, which not long ago was a beautiful forest reserve and today it is completely bare with no hope remaining in it. Mt Mulanje is in no way being spared as a victim in this national crisis. Production of charcoal and timber are the main threats. The trip by chiefs to Thyolo was therefore meant to open the chiefs’ eyes and call for action.

Summary
This was a two-day visit by chiefs from Mulanje and Phalombe to Thyolo. The trip was organised with close working relationship with the District Forest Officer and in co-operation with the District Forestry Officer for Thyolo. History, both written and oral, tells us that Thyolo Mountain once had a thick forest reserve and was among Malawi’s pride natural indigenous forest reserves. Over the years people started encroaching into the reserve by cutting down trees for various uses and also opening gardens for cultivation. This went on at uncontrolled pace to a point that the entire forest reserve was wiped out. Today, the mountain a bare land with farms established and buildings constructed in areas that are still a forest reserve.

On the agricultural front, people produce bananas from the forest reserve apart from other farm produces. This has mainly affected the water table and the dryness of most rivers that has/had their sources from Thyolo Mountain. One of the main rivers that supply water to the entire Thyolo urban community is Suwadzi, which is now drying up. There is a lot of sand that is now being produced by Suwadzi River, as a result of serious soil erosion that has taken place over the years.

It was imperative therefore to take the Mulanje Chiefs to Thyolo to see for themselves the situation that the mountain is in and have a feel of what would happen to the Mulanje Mountain Forest Reserve if the current destruction process is not checked. Again, Thyolo and Mulanje are close districts and share similar geographical features with similar challenges. Traditionally, the chiefs from the three districts (Mulanje, Thyolo and Phalombe) share similar cultural beliefs so it was good to bring them together.

A representative of the chiefs from Thyolo, who were 13 in number, Group Village Headman Maonga welcomed the colleagues from Mulanje and Phalombe and asked them to feel at home. He also thanked MMCT for facilitating the visit, which he said came at the most opportune time. He said this was a very important meeting not only for natural resource management but also to cement relationship between the districts. The chief reminded his colleagues that education is not only about being in class but that traveling from one place to another is a great eye opener.

During the visit, it was indeed noted that Thyolo Mountain once had a beautiful and thick forest reserve. The first leg of the tour took us into Mianga Tea Estates towards the mountain where the other side we saw the deforested part of the mountain and on the other side, there is the only remaining forest that is managed by the tea estate.

Looking at the only managed forest, the thicket of the trees, and the natural beauty it is giving against the other devastated area, it is a worrisome site on the damage thus caused by the careless use of natural resources. But it was also noted during the informal discussions that the tea estates can also be blamed on encroachment as it was noted that there was too much land with tea, maybe giving little land for cultivation for local people who might have resorted in encroaching into the reserve.

Chiefs from Thyolo explained that until around 1968 the Thyolo Forest Reserve was so thick that not a single person could dare enter it. They noted that it just started like a joke when people started cutting down trees for timber. At uncontrolled rate, it happened that with time, all the trees went and people started opening gardens and now constructing houses and different other buildings.

The biggest worry now is that Thyolo Mountain is no longer able to produce and give water to the people of Thyolo as it used to do. Meanwhile Thyolo is suffering with water shortages with the district headquarters mainly affected.

Ironically, the bare Thyolo Mountains is saving the nation with latest technologies. Towers for both cellular phones and FM radio stations stand tall on the mountain.

There are indeed challenges in managing forest reserves, in particular, matters concerning non-availability of management plans, encroachment, charcoal production, illegal harvesting of firewood, rampant corruption, shortage of financial and human resources, annual bush fires, poor maintenance of infrastructure, and now a dire need to involve local stakeholders. The idea of searching for a more effective way of doing things implies that we are aware of the deficiencies attending the present arrangement and that we wish to make improvements. We are all aware that we live in difficult times where environmental degradation in general is accelerating at unprecedented rates.

On President Mutharika as Minister of Agriculture

Bingu needs not step down

By Hastings Maloya

Democracy in Malawi is steadily coming of age as is manifested by the freedoms that include the freedom to speak ones mind without reprisals. Gone are the days when young democrats were almost rulers as they could create an environment of intimidation and torture. Yes Malawians were not able to speak their minds lest one was asking for a rain of blows in case what you said was not in line with the thinking of the ruling clique.

Today people of different political thoughts and beliefs are able to sit together, enjoy, laugh and agree to disagree on various matters. People are free to be quote in the media regardless of the issue they would like to bring forth. Things do change over time indeed.

This freedom of expression is very good though to a certain degree it leads us to say things thus irrelevant to our society and negative to the development of our country.

This brings me to the subject of debate today. Some politicians and analysts say President Bingu wa Mutharika needs to step down or resign as minister of agriculture because according to their thinking, Dr Mutharika has failed to run the ministry. They single out the main reason for the ‘failure’ as being busy with the office of head of state.

The said politicians and analysts say the fertilizer subsidy programme has not gone well. In case that is true, instead of coming out with possible reasons that may have led to the problem, they only suggest the removal of Dr Mutharika as minister responsible. Seems they could have expected the minister to be at every fertilizer selling point in Malawi or he was supposed to be seen distributing coupons himself to qualify as performing his duties.

I find this very unfortunate and unhelpful.

These opposition politicians let alone the analysts, to me seem to be attention seekers, just excited to have their names and pictures seen in newspapers or their voices heard on radios. They are not for national building. They were around when parliament took ages to approve the budget for this financial year. They know it took several months of discussing the budget, indications of it being refused and all the drama that was associated with it. So here are our commentators who cannot count how many months it took after the approval of the budget to have a good system in place for the production and distribution of coupons, the purchase of fertilizer and to transport it to all corners of Malawi.

Its sad that some people cannot appreciate the fact that fertilizer is not manufactured in Malawi, let alone we do not have our own ports for easy transportation. Here are people who cannot think of the logistics associated with this exercise and the costs. The ministry of agriculture managed it, problems or no problems, fertilizer saw its way to almost all parts of Malawi. And honestly we call for the resignation of the minister?

The argument that the ministry of agriculture is one of the most involving ministries and that it is difficult for the president to head it does not hold water. We have had a situation where the late Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda held this ministry up until the time that he was very old but it was a success. It is also not true that it requires moving around frequently for the success of this ministry.

Government, on behalf of the nation employs people whom we call civil servants and they are expected to work on behalf of the president, the government and the entire nation to deliver as is required. In short, government, through the ministry of agriculture, just as is the case with all other ministries, has its ears, eyes, nose and hands on the ground throughout the country. It is therefore unfair to put blame on the minister on activities that could or are supposed to be carried out by the people employed to do that.

The ministry of agriculture is well structured. It has Dr Mutharika as the minister and Bitony Kunsaira as deputy. It has eight agriculture development divisions (ADDs) across the three regions of the country and it employs young and educated men and women responsible for field activities. It is therefore ridiculous to expect the whole minister frequently visiting all the ADDs as is suggested by some opposition leaders and our self-styled analysts. Any minister, not because he or she is the president, cannot be on the run from one office to another because the minister mostly deals with issues of policy.

In all fairness, the problem here could not necessarily be on the administration by the minister but the little support that government got from the opposition ion parliament. Our opposition worked tirelessly, with little success to see the agriculture sector fail.

It was the same ministry that managed to construct silos in Mangochi, which we are told are full with the staple food. Was it not the same ministry that facilitated better prices for tobacco growers at the auction floors? How about the improved market prices for cotton? I think we need to give credit where it is due.

Just a month ago, for the first time in the history of Malawi, we have seen one of the most influential, respected and national newspaper in the United States – the New York Times writing very positively about the achievement of Malawi on food security. The paper commended Malawi’s ministry of agriculture for its sound policies that have led to Malawi having enough food. I wonder which policies such an advanced country saw in our ministry that cannot be seen by a fellow Malawian. Maybe we talk of envy as our main problem.

It could make some sense if our analysts maybe said that some people employed to manage different arms of the ministry, who, just as is the case with any manager were supposed to technically and professionally know how to handle situations as they come, are not doing a good job. In case we have managers that are just sitting phwiii, we need not blame the minister lest he proposes the firing of the front line staff.

How I wish the said politicians and analysts called for the resignation of the national football coach! Definitely they could have had better reasons.

It is high time Malawians woke up and started being patriotic to their nation. In case there is any problem that affected the subsidy programme, why not take it as our problem and we play a role in sorting it than being faultfinders. Let us ask ourselves what role we have played to assist in the fair distribution of coupons and how many of the poor households that have we assisted in cash or kind to enable them buy the fertilizer?

It is very unfortunate that our political analysts are only bent to look at the negative side of issues without complementing the positives. Why should it take the New York Times in the US to note the successes of Malawi on food security when our learned analysts cannot see? Do they deserve being called analysts?

In summary, it is coming out very clearly that calls for the resignation of Dr Bingu wa Mutharika as minister of agriculture are only out of malice and lack of appreciation. None among the so-called analysts have come out with a possible name of a candidate they think would do better than Dr Mutharika. But this could be one of the fruits of democracy and freedom of expression. Democracy in Malawi is indeed taking shape.

All in all, Dr Mutharika has performed. He needs not step down, as there is no reason.

Misa delegates into Malawi’s oldest forest reserve



Misa delegates into Malawi’s oldest forest reserve

by Hastings Maloya

They arrived from all member countries of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). Malawians, as usual, showed their warmth in welcoming and making the visitors feel at home. Sunbird Mount Soche hotel was not a disappointment. For the first time Malawi hosted the regional indaba for scribes and after three days of serious deliberations, an out-of-hotel tour was necessary. The perfect and able conference organising team planned a visit to Mount Mulanje, Malawi’s island in the sky.

Those that had visited different mountains in their home countries thought they had seen the best. As such they might have not been very excited with the programme that indicated a tour to Mulanje Mountain. But when a briefing was made prior to the tour, only doubting delegates could have wanted to prove a point. Can Malawi indeed have such a wonderful resource? A surprise was in the wait!

The tour started soon after lunch. Had it been that the sites were boring, it could have been a perfect recipe for a slumber. But who could close one’s eyes past the Chipembere Highway with exchange of jokes from different countries? There we were, outside Limbe into the Thyolo road, past Bvumbwe and Thunga ~ yes the beauty of the tea fields kept the delegates silent for a while.

“Mr. Driver, please stop, I want to have a feel in my hands of a tea leaf! Oh! this is wonderful,” cried a South African before the plea was chorused by all while those with cameras were doing the actual jobs that the gadgets were made for. A slight wait took the delegates to the historical Mwala wa Nthunzi in Thyolo – a stone on the roadside. The history and stories associated with this stone were not only amazing but lured the visitors to make a special trip to Malawi. However, they were yet to see other things.

The journey had to go on. Past the Thyolo highlands the sight of Mount Mulanje was noted. Those that thought that they had visited mountains before realised that they have only been to hills. Yes the situate of the attractive Mount Mulanje took the delegates all the way past Chitakale trading centre into the Likhubula Valley past the Mulanje District Forest office to the Likhubula CCAP.

Every member wished this trip started in the morning. They wished they could have climbed up Chambe plateau, or at least a visit to the historical Dziwe la Nkhalamba, but time was not available.

Patricia Kawawa of the Likhubula CCAP House was an excellent guide around the place and to the Likhubula pools. She led the delegates into the Likhubula river, where a feel of the fresh waters was a toast of the day for the delegates, with everyone wishing to take a bath – yes if the costumes were available swimming tactics could have been experienced.

“This is just little about Mount Mulanje, there is more inside,” says Patricia to the pain of her visitors as now wished the time of their stay in Malawi was extended.

Time was spent in playing in the cold waters of Likhubula. How about exciting picnic pictures on the rocks of the rivers? Notebooks were looked for, pens in the hand and notes taken… yes the trademark of scribes – out to tell stories. To most of them this was a day they will live to remember.
But all good things have to come to an end. Time to get back to the hotel, but we need a drink…don’t we? Kara O’Mula, one most lovely lodge on the other side of the mountain was host for a mean cocktail. Just crowned up the already lovely day! With all the fascinating sceneries, the mountain left a mark in the minds of many.

Situated about 80 km from the commercial city of Blantyre, the attractive Mulanje with its Sapitwa Peak, standing over 3000m above sea level, is not only the highest mountain but also the most impressive and unique massif in the southern and central African region. It is is much more than a barren rock with its forest reserve thus made up of a range of ecological habitats from rain forest to alpine, woodland to grassland. There is a great diversity of plant and animal life and many of species are endemic. The most famous endemic is the magnificent and endangered Mulanje cedar, Malawi’s National Tree, which dominates the high altitude forests. With its evergreen forests, woodlands and montane grasslands, the mountain has attracted increasing attention to many tourists.

The journalists attested to it. And more to it, back to the hotel, Honourable Aleke Kadonaphani Banda had something in store for them


………ends