Kondwani Munthali -Malawi

President Joyce Banda and Vice President Khumbo Kachali have voluntarily cut down their salaries by 30 percent as part of their support to the current austerity measures, the Vice President has announced. The Vice President made the announcement during he launch of the Malawi Growth and  Development Strategy II and Economic Recovery Plan at the Bingu International Conference Centre in  Lilongwe. “In support of the austerity measures, the President and the Vice President have voluntarily decided to reduce their monthly salaries by 30 percent with immediate effect. Government is also actively considering other cost cutting measures and these will be announced in due course,” said Kachali. On the Economic Recovery Plan, the Vice President said it has identified five strategic sectors that can quickly that can quickly turn around the economy for export led growth and foreign exchange generation. “These are Energy, Mining, Tourism, Agriculture, Transport infrastructure...

Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, Excellencies Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen Mr. President, allow me to congratulate you, on your well-deserved election to the Presidency of the Sixty-Seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly. My delegation and I would like to assure you of Malawi’s full support during your tenure of office. It is an honour today to address this assembly for the first time in my capacity as President of the Republic of Malawi. As the assembly may be aware, I took office in April of this year after the death of my predecessor, His Excellency Professor Bingu wa Mutharika. On behalf of all Malawians, I appreciate the support that the world gave us during the difficult time in our country. I would like to also particularly acknowledge the support that I received from leaders from Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the entire African continent when I ascended into the Presidency. The support that I received is a mark that Africa has i...

JOYCE BANDA, President of  Malawi , said that while joining the world’s leaders and addressing the Assembly as only the second-ever woman to lead an African nation was “a moment of pride”, hers was not a story of individual success but of the achievement of a people who had shown courage and determination in ushering her into office through a peaceful constitutional transfer of power just a few months ago.  “The people of Malawi have made a decisive choice:  they have chosen democracy; the have chosen peace; and they have chosen to work together to realize their destiny,” she said. Turning to the work of the United Nations, she agreed with the Secretary-General that achieving sustainable development for all was the best way to ensure a peaceful and stable world.  Indeed, the greatest threats to peace were poverty, lack of opportunity and lack of hope.  It was unacceptable to her — and should be so for all leaders — that children still suffered from malnutr...

"Right Honourable Khumbo Kachali, Vice President of the Republic of Malawi, sincerely regrets his recent remarks on travels by the Presidency, that he made in Karonga on Wednesday, 12th September, 2012, The Vice President would like to apologise for the pain and distress the remarks have caused to Malawians. The remarks are fully and unconditionally withdrawn."

After some break, the blog is now back full time giving real time breaking news from tommorrow. But will also to do news analysis looking at the major headlines of papers and radios in Malawi. This is something different from daily news breaks and opinion that is given. But it is assumed that Malawians want to find the meaning of some of the news we create as Journalists, real events and the impact on their lives. Personally there are many online reports on my whereabouts. I am about to pursue my dream to set up a media company that starts with an online news and radio and improving social media access to and wquality of news as it relates to Malawi. This is an experiment I would be undertaking after running this blog for almost a year. But for news analysis today the big news is on the front page of The Nation www.mwnation.com and its a call by John Kapito asking the Government of President Joyce Banda to resign. On surface, Kapito can be dismissed as the usual noise maker, whi...