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Tag: Lazarus Chakwera

  • Paying for climate damage not charity – Malawi president

    Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera has joined other African leaders in criticising wealthy nations for not wanting to pay for climate loss and damage.

    Speaking to the BBC at the ongoing COP27 meeting in Egypt, President Chakwera said African countries had contributed little to pollute the climate and that wealthier countries should take on more responsibility.

    “That’s why we’re saying if you’re really serious about this [then] it’s not about charity. This is paying for what you have deliberately used and benefitted you and you don’t want to pay up,” he said.

    He also accused wealthy nations of not matching their promises with actions in the fight against climate change.

    “Many came hesitantly, including myself, because of this. From COP1 all the way to COP27 what has happened? Why are we continuously going around the same issue over and over again? It’s because somebody does not want to pay up,” he said.

    Source: BBC

  • Malawi president fires agriculture minister

    Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera has fired Agriculture Minister Lobin Lowe and his deputy Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima over what he termed “incompetence and gross negligence”.

    President Chakwera made the announcement in a televised address on Tuesday evening.

    The agriculture ministry is accused of botching the implementation of a programme in which Malawian rural farmers are provided with subsidised fertiliser and farm inputs.

    Mr Lowe has not commented on the accusations.

    The president has since appointed Sam Kawale, formerly the lands minister, to replace Mr Lowe.

    The president said more changes in his cabinet would be coming in due course.

    Source: BBC

  • Malawi: President Lazarus Chakwera fires agriculture minister

    President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi has fired Agriculture Minister Lobin Lowe and his deputy Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima for “incompetence and gross negligence.”

    President Chakwera made the announcement on Tuesday evening during a televised address.

    The agriculture ministry is accused of botching the implementation of a programme in which Malawian rural farmers are provided with subsidized fertilizer and farm inputs.

    Mr Lowe has not commented on the accusations.

    The president has since appointed Sam Kawale, formerly the lands minister, to replace Mr Lowe.

    The president said more changes in his cabinet would be coming in due course.

     

  • Women bereft of qualifications after burning degrees

    A young woman in Malawi had her educational qualifications revoked after a video of her burning her university degree in despair over her inability to find employment went viral on social media.

    Privately-run Exploits University in the capital, Lilongwe, told Bridget Thapwile Soko that it was disappointed with the video because it tarnished the image of the institution and said it had decided to invalidate her learner’s degree certificate with immediate effect.

    Ms Soko was awarded a degree in business administration upon completing a four-year course with the university but was heard in the video saying she had decided to burn it because she saw no value in it.

    Unemployment is a serious problem in Malawi and was one of the key campaign issues in the last general election. President Lazarus Chakwera, then an opposition leader, promised he would create a million jobs in his first year in office.

    The president’s team claims the majority of those jobs have been created, but the opposition says unemployment numbers have in fact increased.

    In most anti-government protests that have recently been held across Malawi, many youths are seen carrying placards demanding jobs.

    But the revocation of Bridget’s certificate has ignited a huge debate on social media about unemployment and the suitability of education offered in institutions of higher learning.