Malawi - Uganda Multimedia News & Information

Malawi top court annuls presidential election results

Agencies — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 18:54:32 +0000

Malawi’s constitutional court has annulled last year’s controversial election, which saw President Peter Mutharika re-elected.

The judge found there had been widespread irregularities in the May 21 vote.

This is the first election to be legally challenged since Malawi’s independence. A new vote will take place within 151 days.

According to the electoral commission President Mutharika won May’s election with 38 percent of the votes [Eldson Chagara/Reuters]

There have been regular anti-government protests since the election.

President Peter Mutharika was declared the narrow winner of the May election with 38 percent of votes, followed by Lazarus Chakwera with 35 percent and former Vice President Saulos Chilima third with 20 percent.

The challenge was brought by Lazarus Chakwera (left) and Saulos Chilima (centre) against President Peter Mutharika (right)

The four other candidates collectively got nearly six percent.

The five-judge panel heard arguments that the vote was rigged by the president and electoral commission. Both have denied it.

Malawi’s electoral commission acknowledged receiving 147 reports alleging irregularities including the use of correction fluid to alter some results.

The two main opposition candidates alleged that the irregularities affected over 1.4 million of the total 5.1 million votes cast.

Mutharika and the electoral commission acknowledged some irregularities but argued they were insufficient to affect the election’s outcome.

Map showing Malawi

The months-long court case has been accompanied by sometimes violent street protests demanding the resignation of electoral commission chairwoman Jane Ansah.

“Let’s try as much as possible to have elections that are free and fair. Where nobody feels cheated. These people were not just demonstrating for the sake of demonstrating. They strongly felt that they had been cheated. The system had cheated them,” Martha Chikuni, opposition protester, said.

The Malawi Human Rights Commission late last year released a report accusing the police of serious human rights abuses, including rape and assault, in one confrontation.

The judges themselves have come under pressure. In January, Malawi’s anti-corruption bureau arrested businessman Thom Mpinganjira, who was accused of approaching two judges with an offer of $135,000 to sway justice in favour of the president. The chief justice issued an official complaint to the bureau.

Mpinganjira was later released, however, after a magistrate in another court issued an order quashing the arrest warrant. The High Court then overturned that ruling, questioning the lower court’s conduct and ordering Mpinganjira’s arrest.

The international community, including the United Nations and African Union, has issued several statements before the vote urging people across Malawi to uphold the rule of law and remain calm.

A joint statement by diplomats from the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan and others acknowledged the tensions around the ruling.

The vote in May returned the sitting president to power, leading to deadly confrontations and widespread unrest [Amos Gumulira/AFP]

“Malawi can draw on an impressive history of institutions and leaders stepping forward to safeguard your democracy and ensure peaceful resolution for internal tensions,” the statement said, urging all parties to respect the court’s decision – as well as the right to appeal.”For those who choose to exercise their right to demonstrate, we urge you to do so peacefully and legally, and for security personnel to proceed with balance and restraint,” it added.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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Melania Trump in Kenya, visits baby elephants

Agnes Tumuheire — Fri, 05 Oct 2018 14:39:30 +0000

US First Lady Melania Trump (C) uses binoculars to scan the environment while on at The Nairobi National Park in Nairobi: COURTESY PHOTO

On third day of solo tour of Africa, US First Lady Melania Trump has enjoyed carrying baby elephants on a safari in Kenya.

The first lady fed one of the baby elephants with bottled formula at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi.

Mrs.Trump is in Africa for first solo trip to four countries which she described as “four beautiful and very different countries in Africa” Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Egypt.

Melania Trump started with in Ghana, where she visited mothers and their newborns, and toured a former slave trading fort before making a brief stop in Malawi and toured a primary school.

President Donald Trump tweeted: “Our country’s great First Lady, Melania, is doing really well in Africa. The people love her, and she loves them! It is a beautiful thing to see.”

US First Lady Melania Trump walks and sings with children at the Nest Childrens Home Orphanage : AFP PHOTO

The office of the first lad has termed the tour as a “showcase” for the work of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Mrs Trump landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at around 9pm on her maiden visit to Kenya ahead of her talks with First Lady Margaret Kenyatta on Friday. From Kenya, She is expected to visit Egypt.

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Melania Trump visits Ghana slave fort on first Africa tour

Agnes Tumuheire — Wed, 03 Oct 2018 15:21:26 +0000

Melania Trump with local chief Osabarimba Kwesi Atta II before visiting the fort: PHOTO BY DAILY GRAPHIC

“dungeon is really something that people should see and experience” and “what happened so many years ago is really a tragedy,” Mrs Trump said.

From Ghana, Melania Trump will visit Kenya, Malawi and Egypt, which she describes as the “four beautiful and very different countries in Africa” before concluding her Africa tour.

Mrs Trump intends to spend a whole week in Africa helping with children welfare.

“It’s very emotional. I will never forget [the] incredible experience and the stories that I heard.”

School children welcoming Mrs Trump in Accra on Tuesday : PHOTO BY REUTERS

To achieve her aim of providing humanitarian aid, the first lady visited the Ridge Hospital in the capital, Accra together with Ghana’s First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo.

Mrs Trump observed babies being weighed as part of a project aimed at promoting nutrition in children, which is supported by funding from the US government’s foreign aid organisation, USAid.

“She is interested in Africa because she has never been there before and knows that each country will have its own unique history and culture.” Stephanie Grisham, her communications director, said.

“My final stop, which is Egypt, will focus on the country’s tourism and conservation projects,” Mrs Trump said.

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Melania Trump to visit Kenya on first solo trip to Africa

Agnes Tumuheire — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 07:10:39 +0000

Melania Trump with husband president Donald Trump : COURTESY PHOTO

United States of America‘s first Lady, Melania Trump has made an announcement that she intends to make a solo visit, the first of its kind, to four African countries in October.

Melania Trump made this declaration yesterday on September 26, 2018 while at a reception at the United States mission to the United Nations in New York.

The four countries that the first lady calls “flowers” of Africa are Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt where Melania plans to add a brick to child welfare especially education and health.

“October 1 will mark the first day of my solo visit to four beautiful and very different countries in Africa,” Mrs. Trump said.

Mrs. Trump plans to fulfill her mission through popularizing her “Be Best”, a youth-welfare centered initiative.

“Whether it is education, drug addiction, hunger, online safety or bullying, poverty or disease, it is too often children who are hit first, and hardest, across the globe,” Mrs. Trump said. “Each of us hails from a country with its own unique challenges, but I know in my heart we are united by our commitment to raising the next generation to be happy, healthy and morally responsible adults.”

Also present at the event were the first ladies of Ghana, Malawi and Kenya whom Mrs. Trump recognized individually.

On Wednesday, Donald Trump remarked that he and Melania “love Africa.”

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Netball World Cup 2015: Australia beat New Zealand to win Title

Paul Kisembo — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 14:41:57 +0000

Australia overcame rivals New Zealand 58-55 to win their 11th title in front of netball record crowd of 16,849 at Allphones Arena.

Congrats to @AussieDiamonds! 3rd Netball World Cup, beating NZ in front of a record crowd! @netballworldcup pic.twitter.com/JpDYwMFJLf

— ConsuladoEspañaMelb (@ConsuladoEspMel) August 16, 2015

The Silver Ferns had come into the final unbeaten after a shock win over Australia in the group stages, but a nine-goal deficit from the first quarter left New Zealand unable to catch the Commonwealth champions.

Australian goal attack Natalie Medhurst stressed how it was their plan to hit New Zealand hard and exert pressure from start to win the game;

“We really wanted to set it up in that first quarter and intensity was what we addressed. We really needed to hit them hard and really put that pressure on them from the start,” said Medhurst.

Australia now holds the Big Two titles, the Commonwealth Games and World Cup, concurrently, for the first time since 1998/99. Australia Coach Lisa Alexander has been reappointed for another four years after guiding the Australian diamonds to the 2015 Netball world cup trophy.

New Zealand coach Wai Taumaunu had earlier indicated that a World Cup final is totally different from a Test match because you can’t wake up the next day and play it all over again. Taumaunu though failed to guide the Silver Ferns to the victory and will have to wait for the Liverpool 2019 Netball World cup.

Meanwhile England beat Jamaica 66-44 to take bronze as they finished third in the Netball World Cup.

Wales ended the competition in seventh after winning their play-off 64-41 against Uganda to claim their best finish at a World Cup since 1991 – when it was also hosted in Sydney.

Scotland ended the tournament 12th after losing their 11th-place play-off 51-41 against Fiji.

South Africa narrowly beat Malawi 48-46 to secure fifth spot, while Trinidad and Tobago ended ninth after beating Samoa 64-51.

Meanwhile Barbados ended 13th with a 53-38 win over Zambia and Sri Lanka finished last after losing 59-32 to Singapore.

Malawi Queens defeat She-cranes at the 2015 Netball World Cup

Paul Kisembo — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 09:20:29 +0000

The highly after thought Malawi Queens defeated counterparts Uganda she cranes 59-53 in a thrilling encounter in the first of their qualification rounds at the 2015 Netball World Cup.

Full Time: MAW 59 – UGA 53. Shooting: MAW 59/66 (89%) – UGA 53/57 (93%) #NWC2015 #MAWvUGA

— Netball World Cup (@netballworldcup) August 11, 2015

Congrats Malawi on another NWC2015 win! pic.twitter.com/NQa9gNwU7Z — Netball World Cup (@netballworldcup) August 11, 2015

Malawi, who are currently ranked sixth in the world put up a good show of keeping on scoring goals when they humbled the she cranes in their pool E game.

The She Cranes were expected to make amends after they recorded their first loss against Wales in Day 3 of their final group D game but the Malawi Queens were too strong to handle. Malawi Queens were dominant for most of the game leading the she cranes in three quarters. The final quarter was the highlight of the game but it was too little too late for the she cranes to get the win they badly needed. Malawi Queens depended mostly on their star shooter Mwayi Kimwenda and goal attacker Sindi Simtowe while the She cranes had Peace Proscovia leading the shooting with Rachael Nanyonga spearheading the goal attacks. It was a tight game overall but the she cranes could not contain the Malawi queens with most Ugandans still showing support for their team in the reactions below.

Malawi v Uganda – one of the loudest & surprisingly exciting matches I’ve seen so far #MAWvUGA #NWC2015 pic.twitter.com/jpmsnCQD77 — Fiona Crowe (@FiCrowey) August 11, 2015

@netballworldcup hard luck she cranes we are proud of u guyz — ahmed sulaiman (@ahmedsu48250176) August 11, 2015

@netballworldcup Too close yet too far for #SheCranes #NWC2015 #MAWvUGA — Vicent ASK (@askvicent) August 11, 2015

@netballworldcup Hard luck #SheCranes we will get them next time. Great game though. #TeamUg

— Adam Mugisha (@AdamMugisha) August 11, 2015

@netballworldcup Proud of the girls them. #QueensOfMalawi — Andreu AJ Foster (@andreu_aj) August 11, 2015

The She Cranes face Jamaica in the next qualification game on Thursday.

She-Cranes qualifies to next round despite Loss to Wales at 2015 Netball World Cup

Paul Kisembo — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 15:03:22 +0000

The Uganda National netball team, the She Cranes recorded their first loss at the 2015 World Cup with a 47- 49 score line over Wales in their Day 3 at the AllPhones Arena.

she cranes player in action against wales during the final group D game at the AllPhones Arena.

The She Cranes put up an exciting performance today against Wales at the on-going Netball World cup in Australia though it was not enough to earn them a win.

The match was a highly contested one with the She cranes eventually losing out on 49-47 in the dying seconds of the game.

Both sides were undefeated from their earlier two group D games with the she cranes having collected an incredible 74-38 points in the victory against Zambia on day one and 61-40 over Fiji in the later fixture as Wales recorded victories against the same opposition.

It was a thrilling game with end to end action with Uganda recording 85% shooting success rate while wales bettered it with 88% success rate.

The She Cranes still qualifies to the last eight ahead of Fiji and Zambia who finished with two and no point after three games respectively.

Uganda will play in group E alongside New Zealand, Malawi and the runners up in group B where the winner will proceed to play the second in group F that contains Australia, England, South Africa and group D leaders, Wales.

She cranes starting lineup;

Proscovia Peace, Racheal Nanyonga, Halima Nakachwa, Ruth Meeme, Jesca Achan, Stella Oyella,

Subs; Alice Nanteza, Lilian Ajio, Betty Namukasa, Florence Nanyonga, Florence Amono, Harriet Apako

Full Time: UGA 47 – @WelshNetball 49. Shooting: UGA 47/55 (85%) – @WelshNetball 49/56 (88%) #NWC2015 #UGAvWAL

— Netball World Cup (@netballworldcup) August 10, 2015

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Uganda to adopt Philippine rules

Gerald Businge — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:26:59 +0000

We don’t know whether this one will please United States of America, England and other super powers that have interests in the political administration of Uganda. Every one would have expected Uganda to adopt rules, regulations and ordinances from USA or England. But the surprise is that among all countries Uganda wants to adopt rules of procedure from Philippine, Malawi, Zambia and Kenya.

A source in parliament of Uganda told our informer that Uganda wants to borrow a leaf from Philippine, Kenya, Malawi and Zambia where the parliament(s) there have more than two speakers of parliament. In Uganda, parliament has only two speakers: deputy speaker and parliament speaker.

The source says that government wants to have a panel of speakers to serve in the absence of the Deputy and Speaker of parliament.

However the members of opposition in Uganda say that the government wants to create a panel of speakers because the current speaker of parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has acted independently yet the ruling government wishes to have parliament speakers who nod on government terms all the time.

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Africa 5th Big Brother Reality TV show coming soon

Gerald Businge — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:29:04 +0000

M-net Television is slated to kick start the screening of another big brother TV reality show dubbed the 5th edition of M-net’s Big Brother Africa a few days after the 2010 South African World Cup show.

Big brother africa

The show which is popular with many East African youth will start on 18^th July 2010. It will be screened live 24/7 for 91 days in 40 African Countries.

The new show to attract a cash prize of US Dollars 200,000 will be more tactically challenging and more intensely strategic according to the M-net Africa managing director, Biola Alabi

However, the difference with the previous big brother shows is contestants will be got from the previous databases hence no call for entries in the new show.

The eligible African countries to contribute Big Brother participants are Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Alabi says that season 5 will look for entertaining persons with a sense of humor, a love of adventure and the ability to enjoy the very exciting Big Brother experience.

By Solomon Akugizibwe, Ultimate Media

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