JB receives 13 500 tonnes of maize from UAE

The government of the United Arab Emirates, through Khalifa Bin Zayed Nahyan Foundation, has donated 13 500 metric tonnes of maize to the Mudzi Transformation Trust which will benefit about 684 000 needy families.

The official handover of maize was made at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe on Wednesday.

“Every day, the Government of Malawi through Mudzi Transformation Trust will distribute 150 tonnes of the maize benefiting 7 600 families. This support will continue for three months,” said President Joyce Banda in a statement The Nation has received.

Banda thanked the government of United Arab Emirates for the support, describing it as timely.

Malawi is currently struggling to feed about 1.9 million people already facing food shortages ahead of the April harvest.

“As you have witnessed, this support is targeting the marginalised and vulnerable in our society so that they can be lifted out of abject poverty.

“This support is also meant to consolidate the growing relationship that exists between our two countries and drive our aspirations to work together to overcome poverty and underdevelopment,” she said.

The President stated that government is implementing a transformational agenda that seeks to modernise rural communities and fight poverty in an integrated manner by addressing the development needs of society through policies and programmes that bring decent incomes into households.

She said government recognises that the principal feature of a transformational agenda is its ability to care for its most vulnerable members.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is training its senior management in leadership and management.

Speaking at the opening of a three-day training in Lilongwe on Wednesday, ACB director Rizine Mzikamanda said the bureau wants to have professional-oriented leadership.

Said Mzikamanda: “Leadership and management are elite functions in any organisation. Successful implementations of organisational programmes is premised on a number of factors, including having well-trained managers.

“The bureau will strive to build a strong cohesive team of skilled leaders who will entrench a spirit of excelling public service for the benefit of all Malawians.” Mzikamanda said the training will also solve most of the bureau’s challenges which include coming in of difficult cases that need additional expertise and leaving of other employees for other organisations.

Among the topics to be covered are leadership and human resource management, public service charter, strategic planning and management, conflict management and delegation.

The training is being run by the Malawi Institute of Management (MIM) with funding from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID).

Said MIM acting executive director Precious Givah: “This is a special programme. Thus, we carefully selected facilitators to meet the expectation of the ACB officials.”