Jobani's tumblog

My encounters, interviews to share

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Malawi finalising the process of suing Tanzania over Lake dispute

Malawi finalising the process of suing Tanzania over Lake dispute

Chissano: One of the mediators

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Malawi is finalising the process of taking  its dispute with Tanzania over Lake Malawi, with its potentially massive reserves of oil and gas, to the International Court of Justice in the Hague, a senior minister has said

Two former African presidents, Joachim Chissano of Mozambique and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, have been mediating the dispute…

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Malawi Hopes Aid Embargo will be Lifted

Malawi Hopes Aid Embargo will be Lifted

Malawi hopes western donors  will release funds frozen over the “Cashgate” scandal three years ago now that the World Bank has resumed it’s budget support programme, Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe says.

Gondwe said in an exclusive interview that the World Bank decision early May  to restore budget support signals a return of donor confidence in Malawi. This support traditionally accounts for…

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Desperate Kenyan maids abused in the Middle East

Desperate Kenyan maids abused in the Middle East

By Katy Migiro – NAIROBI

A Kenyan maid has bleach poured over her head as punishment for cleaning the bathroom too slowly by an employer who threatens to send her home in a box.

In Saudi Arabia, another domestic worker from Kenya is given a grim choice: sex with the boss or death.

“I felt like I was a prostitute,” she recalled. “I used to obey because I wanted to come back to my country safely.”

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Malawi: Declining Fuel Prices to push growth

Malawi: Declining Fuel Prices to push growth

By Mabvuto Banda

LILONGWE May 22 (Reuters) – Declining fuel prices and a narrowing budget deficit in Malawi will help its economy grow, despite a fall in donor grants, the finance minister said in a budget speech on Friday.

Foreign aid has traditionally accounted for about 40 percent of Malawi’s national budget, but a scandal involving donor funds now threatens to deplete its scant revenues.

“The…

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HIV Cure in the next 15 years?

HIV Cure in the next 15 years?

May 18, is HIV Vaccine Awareness Day. Earlier this year, Bill Gates caused a ripple in the media by expressing optimism that a vaccine and a cure for HIV will become a reality within the next 15 years.

Gates didn’t exactly offer a prediction, but the resulting headlines inevitably steamrollered over the subtleties: “Bill Gates Just Predicted We’ll Basically Have a Cure for AIDS in the Next 15…

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Seven Malawians killed in SA Xenophobic Attacks

Seven Malawians killed in SA Xenophobic Attacks

By Mabvuto Banda

About seven Malawians have been killed in a wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, a government spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Kondwani Nakhumwa, who is also minister of information, told journalists during a news conference that the death toll has risen to seven and the number of Malawians left destitute is now at 3,526.

Nakhumwa said that the cost of evacuating Malawians in…

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More Malawians Feared Dead in 'Black Apartheid' Attacks

More Malawians Feared Dead in ‘Black Apartheid’ Attacks

More Malawians have been killed in xenophobic attacks than what is being announced officially, a senior government official has disclosed.

On Monday government spokesman Kondwani Nakhumwa announced that two Malawians were killed in the violence and that 3,200 people have left destitute following a wave of violence against foreigners in the port city of Durban and Johannesburg.

But a senior…

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Malawi loses a national in SA Xenophobic Attacks

Malawi loses a national in SA Xenophobic Attacks

By Mabvuto Banda

A Malawian national is among the five people that have been killed in South Africa in recent days as residents of the coastal city of Durban and other cities attacked foreigners, their homes and places of business.

Local media reports in Malawi quoted an eyewitness identified as Samuel Idrissa who said that he saw his Malawian friend hacked and burnt alive in the streets of…

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Malawi: One in Every 5 Girls is sexually abused

Malawi: One in Every 5 Girls is sexually abused

One in every 5 girls in Malawi is sexually abused, says a recent study by the Malawi government

The study done by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare and supported by UNICEF, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), also found out that two out of three children in Malawi experience violence in childhood.

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Malawi’s Oil Exploration Licences and Agreements should be cancelled according to Attorney General

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Malawi Top Cop Orders Police to Shoot Albino abductors

Malawi Top Cop Orders Police to Shoot Albino abductors

By Mabvuto Banda

Malawi’s top cop has issued orders to shoot and kill anyone attacking albinos in the latest bid to crack down on a rising wave of violence against albinos in the southern African nation whose body parts are prized in black magic.

“Shoot every criminal who is violent when caught red-handed abducting people with albinism,” said Inspector General of Police Lexten Kachama

He said…

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Kenya says it has destroyed two Al Shaba

Kenya says it has destroyed two Al Shaba

Kenya says it has destroyed two Al Shabab camps in Somalia: http://wp.me/p1OTFE-7xG

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Malawi to spend $20 mln on maize imports after poor harvest expected

Malawi to spend $20 mln on maize imports after poor harvest expected

By Mabvuto Banda

LILONGWE, April 1 (Reuters) – Malawi will set aside $20 million for imports of its staple maize in 2015 because floods and drought were expected to cause a substantial decrease in this year’s harvest, ministers said on Wednesday.

Torrential rains have forced Malawi, which had a bumper crop of 3.9 million tonnes in 2014 and a surplus of over a million tonnes, to declare half of…

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Global Fund redirects $574 mln from Malawi's AIDS commission

By Mabvuto Banda

LILONGWE, March 25 (Reuters) – The Global Fund has redirected $574 million in HIV/AIDS funding away from Malawi’s National Aids Council (NAC) after allegations of financial mismanagement, including the purchase of vehicles that were not budgeted for, it said on Wednesday.

Malawi’s Health Minister Jean Kalilani earlier told Reuters the fund had “pulled the plug” on the funding…

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IMF approves $18 million to Malawi amid donor aid freeze

IMF approves $18 million to Malawi amid donor aid freeze

President Mutharika: IMF shows confidence in his administration

By Mabvuto Banda

LILONGWE, March 24, (Reuters) – The International Monetary has approved the review of Malawi’s economic performance under the extended credit facility (ECF) enabling the southern African nation to access SDR 13.02 million (about $18.1 million) amidst a crippling donor aid freeze

The board which met in Washington DC…

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Malawi: Late President amassed over US$175 mln in wealth

Mutharika: His wealth cant be explained todate

By Mabvuto Banda

Malawi’s Bingu wa Mutharika portrayed himself as the all-knowing “economist-in-chief,”after he presided over unprecedented economic growth in the eight years he was in power in one of Africa’s most poor nations.

A former World Bank Economist,Mutharika had the free-market credentials to get the mainly agricultural economy moving – and…

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Pres Lungu's collapse sends shock waves in Zambia

Pres Lungu’s collapse sends shock waves in Zambia

Lungu: Collapsed last Sunday

The collapse of newly elected Zambian president Edgar Lungu during a Women’s Day event in Lusaka on Sunday, has sent shock waves in the southern African country which has lost two President’s in office within six years.

By Mabvuto Banda

Lungu’s predecessor Michael Sata was Zambia’s second leader to die in office in six years, sparking calls for presidential aspirants…

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