Impoverished Malawi will for the first time face global scrutiny on how it is tackling corruption following its inclusion in the Global Corruption Barometer 2011, according to Transparency International (TI).

Malawi joins nine other Africa countries such as Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zimbabwe among others.

TI’s Senior Programme Coordinator for Africa and Middle East Annitte Jaitner said this during a media briefing to journalists from Africa and Asia  (includingthis reporter from  Nyasa Times) s at Transparency International’s secretariat in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday.

Jaitner said the report would be officially launched on November 22, 2011 in South Africa.

In a thinly veiled disclosure of the 2011 major findings, Jaitner said property rights, land deals, Police and the education sector feature very high.

“Land deals are not properly transparent. People are displaced and are not properly compensated,” she said.

The Global Corruption Barometer, which started publishing its results in 2003 initially with 44 countries and will have 96 in 2011, explores the general public’s views about corruption levels in their country and their government’s efforts.

The Barometer complements, Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which Malawi has for long been featured and  (CPI) gathers the general public’s perceptions about how key institutions are affected by corruption.

Samantha Grant, TI’s Programme Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific thinks her organization’s increased funding despite the global crunch reflects recognition in the world that corruption is a big problem.

“With governments committing huge sums to tackle the world’s most pressing problems, from the instability of financial markets to climate change and corruption – corruption remains an obstacle to achieving progress,’ according to TI.

In its latest Corruption Perception Index, Transparency International ranks Malawi at 85 out of 178 countries.

But in Malawi many government and quasi-government institutions do not complying with Corrupt Practices Act.

The Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Alexious Nampota, says corruption poses a very serious challenge on the economy and development of the country.

“Corruption if left loose can completely drain government resources that would otherwise benefit the rural poor,” he said.

Nampota therefore called upon all Malawians to fight against corruption for a corruption free Malawi.

This November thirteen students graduated from the vocational skills centre which Community Opportunity established last year.

The recent graduation was marked by a day of celebration which included dance and dramas by local youth organisations, and an awards ceremony with guest speakers, where the graduating youths received their certificates.

The event was attended by friends and family as well as the local community who are keen to see the positive work happening at Samalani.

The Samalani Centre has recently received status by the “National Youth Council of Malawi” for  the benefits that the vocational skills centre is bringing to  many of the youths in the area. 

The youths taking part in  vocational skills training were chosen from hundreds of others nationwide to attend the “National Day of the Youth”.  

This was a celebration of youths from across Malawi doing positive things.

 It was a great achievement for our youths to have been selected and they had a fantastic day

Samalani has recently had a visit from two English sisters. One of the girls, Clare, had been volunteering in Malawi, doing activities such as knitting hats for newborn babies. 

Having heard about the centre they wanted to visit and see Samalani's work as well as to donate spare knitting needles, wool and other items useful to the centre. 

Samson showed them round and they were so inspired by the work that is going on there and the people they met that they would like to get further involved. By coincidence, Clare is due to start at Sussex University this September. 

We hope to see Clare then as a new member of our Sussex team!

Eight months after the battle for academic freedom at the University of Malawi began, President Bingu wa Mutharika has finally admitted defeat and issued an order guaranteeing academic freedom and reinstating the four lecturers who were illegally fired over the dispute.
 
The fight began when a lecturer discussed the political developments that led to the overthrow of dictatorships in Egypt and Tunisia. He was informed on and later interrograted by the Chief of Police. Fellow lecturers reacted swiftly saying they would no longer teach unless they were guaranteed academic freedom, which is when wa Mutharika weighed in - accusing the lecturers of influencing students to overthrow his government and precipitating the closure of Chancellor College, a key part of the University of Malawi.

And the College had remained closed until now. And had remained a stumbling block to any progress in the dialogue between civil society and the government - since it was the first (until now, unresolved) issue on the agenda.

But now it seems as though wa Mutharika has seen sense.

Perhaps it was the failure of the high-powered delegation - led by his brother and heir-apparent, Peter wa Mutharika - to the UK or the fear that he would be taken to task at the upcoming Commonwealth Summit in Australia, but wa Mutharika has now caved into pressure on two key issues - academic freedom and reversing the deportation order against the British High Commissioner, Fergus Cochrane-Dyet.

However, a lot of damage has already been done. Students have lost 8 months of lectures and the country has lost substantial donor funds.

Whether this is just a temporary tactic or a genuine change of heart on wa Mutharika's part remains to be seen. But at least there is now a chance to move on.

[Accessed at: http://allafrica.com/stories/201110281038.html]

An article about the founder Samson that featured in the Malawi newspaper The Nation.

Samalani student Amina Makuta made local newspaper The Nation on April 12th 2010, bringing great publicity to Samalani and its work. 

Samuel Chibaya, the journalist who is to thank for this story, has been working side by side with Samson. He is very interested in the work of the centre, infact, he is so enthusiastic that Samson and Samuel phone each other almost on a weekly basis.
The article itself speaks about the daily struggle which affects so many young people in Malawi.

“While at Samalani I have learnt knitting, business management skills and issues to do with HIV / AIDS”.

“Having learnt business skills, Amina plans to get employed or start a business. Interestingly, she is willing to work at the youth organisation that helped her attain her skills.”

“I can help my fellow vulnerable children acquire skills that can enable them be self reliant. By teaching others, I know that I will also be enhancing my skills”


 Many thanks to both Samuel and Amina for spreading Samalani's word.