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Hyphen Media Institute, Chilambula Road, Lilongwe (2026)

11/03/2024

Funeral Program for the Late Charles Mkula
May His Soul Rest in Eternal Peace

10/03/2024

It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we inform you of the passing of Mr. Charles Mkula, the Founder and Managing Director of Hyphen Media Institute.

He died peacefully today, 10th March 2024, at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre.

May His Soul Rest in Eternal Peace.

24/09/2023

Malawi’s heritage under threat

Zomba City, Malawi's first capital city selected as the seat for the British colonial administration because of its locality, vegetative and mountainous beauty, is an urban setting which has over the years retained some unique historical British styled architecture on pristine environmental backgrounds.
According to Edwin Mauluka, the Programs Manager at Hyphen Media Institute, the British architectural landscape and its surrounding environmental assets are two cash cows the city can use as tourism valuables once efforts to preserve and protect them are put in place.
The suggestion comes days after reports that the Old State House, which used to house firmer British Governors and subsequent Malawi presidents, was turned into a battle ground for political party zealots.
"These assets represent nixed memories including that of the progress our society made until 1975 when other valuables were removed and transferred when the new capital city was established in Lilongwe," says Mauluka
Mauluka says the Institu will soon initiate consultations and a national dialogue on turning Zomba’s magnificent British colonial artworks into national heritage artifacts of local and national identity and pride.
“Zomba’s architectural landscape reminds people of their common history and progress,” says the Manager adding; “It simply cannot be disgracefully vandalized instead of being preserved and protected as part of Malawi’s cultural heritage”.
Other old British colonial type of buildings include the former Parliament Building, the Masongola Hotel, the Regional Police Headquarters., Gymkhana Club and the War Memorial.
The famous Gymkhana Club was used for sports. and socialising. The King's African Rifles (KAR) also conducted their parades on the British Monarch's birthday on the field. - The Ku Chawe Breeze

23/08/2023

Malawi's Old Capital City on a recovery path

Zomba City is set to drive on the expressway to economic recovery, growth and innovation.
This is, however, dependent on the response from stakeholders who are going to attend the 25th August 2023 summit, which is going to take place in the city.
In a bid to ensure that the city becomes economically competitive with high growth industries, skilled workforce and a vibrant business sector centered around the industries, Zomba City Council authorities have decided to engage the public for break-through ideas.
Rearing from the background of meagre tax revenue generation by the council, poor budgetary funding from the central government and unpredictable private financing, the City Council anticipates the summit to unlock opportunities critical to the city’s infrastructure and services for economic growth.
The indaba may be the open door that banks and insurance firms were waiting for to reach out and dangle their services and products to investors in sectors such as construction, real estate, manufacturing, transport and telecommunications, hospitality, agro-processing, wholesale, and small-scale mining.
Development experts agree that private sector development stimulates job creation and promote productive city residents through income earnings that help them support different industries, thus making their city economically competitive against other cities.
In Zomba, trade, dominated by the wholesale and retails services, is the main private sector investment segment. However, manufacturing and other industries have huge contributions to make to the city’s development but are restrained by unfavourable policies, lack of access to finance, unreliability of electricity and water supply.
Maryking Mwinuka, Human Geography lecturer at the University of Malawi says she anticipates the summit to come up with suggestions that will make Zomba attractive to different stakeholders.
“Authorities should be able to show that the city has potential for high growth rates for businesses and jobs, the city’s infrastructure must be of modern quality and affordable, availability of skilled workforce, quality education and research as well as that it is a safe and better place to live in” she says.
Located on a naturally gifted landscape, characterized by mountains and valleys lined with forest plantations and rivers, Zomba district hosts Zomba City. The city seats at the foot of one of Malawi’s prestigious elevations, the famous Zomba Plateau.
The mountain forms the ridge that separates the Upper Shire Valley in the western part of the district, and the Lake Chilwa plains on the east.
The setting itself, coupled with its tropical continental climate, influences the rains and create advantages, especially in the agricultural sector where the range of ecological conditions allow for the production of different crops, fruits, fisheries and animal husbandry.
Hyphen Media Institute, a local development platform, suggests that Zomba City must promote trade and investment in the food manufacturing industry to cater for household, tourism, hospitality, entertainment, sports, health, academic and research sectors as well as the export market.
The Institute’s Community Mobilisation Officer, Jacqueline Mlenga, says the council should consider the possibility of processing the district’s agri-based products including fruits and vegetables for the local and export markets.
“Opportunities exist in the brewery industry for the production of beer, liquor, and soft drink products,” she says adding that the district’s natural resources can be exploited to support the manufacturing industry in producing fertilisers, grain products, meat and poultry products, confectioneries and clothes.
Attached to the district’s scenic beauty are tourism pay-offs in the form of business and holiday hospitality, mountain climbing, fishing, horse riding, bird watching, searching and digging for crystal stones, collection of fresh exotic fruits, cultural heritage and visiting historic sites. The Ku Chawe Breeze

21/08/2023

Zomba urban renewal to stir labour market

News about plans to resuscitate life in the decaying city of Zomba has ignited excitement among both the skilled and unskilled workforce across the country.
Existing companies, new investors, the employed and unemployed, all have set their eyes on the Old Capital City ready to seize any investment or employment opportunities that may arise.
The city's renewal efforts have become the hallmark of its investment and employment recovery following decades of poverty, underdevelopment and stagnation.
"This is a good initiative which will attract different companies and work skills for the city's economic growth," says Lorraine Mtewa, Public Relations Director at the Zomba Development Network, a grouping of people and friends from Zomba resident in Malawi and abroad, adding that skills of a city’s population can predict its economic performance:
Zomba's tight labour market has been weathering low unemployment rates despite the district being endowed with cultural, historical, environmental, tourism, agricultural assets as well as being home to skills learning institutions like the University of Malawi, Agricultural research, fisheries, teachers’ college, nursing college which churn graduates each year.
Migration of labour to other districts and abroad in search of greener pastures, after government transferred the capital city status to Lilongwe in 1975, left Zomba City’s trade, investment and employment bases deteriorating
The renewal initiative, while exposing the intimidating gap that exists in Zomba because of the short supply of qualified residents to fill vacant positions when industrial investment opens a number of job opportunities, also has the eyes and ears of both skilled and qualified workers employed elsewhere across the country peeled to figure out what is in stock for them
Edwin Mauluka, Programs Manger at Hyphen Media Institute notes that the good thing about the renewal initiative is that it will attract business investments that will in turn bring talented workers who will command higher salaries, pay more in income tax, and contribute to the local economy.
“ The best way is to turn the entire district into a food production and processing centre where rural agriculture will be the backbone to support the urban with raw materials,” he says pointing out that well planned and effective rural agricultural production will stir further trade and investments in the urban food industry to feed household, tourism, hospitality, entertainment, sports, health, academic and research sectors as well as the export market.
He says that access to Zomba City will offer farmers a wide range of markets, specialized industries and capital which will increase rural prosperity through various employment and income generating opportunities in the produce supply chain.
Zomba district boosts of favorable agriculture, forestry, fishing and aquaculture sectors, which have been affected by poor policy support, logging and climate change. Though in general the district enjoys favorable weather conditions which contributed to growth in the crops and animal subsector. The Ku Chawe Breeze

03/05/2023

Network challenges Cyclone Freddy survivors in Zomba

The Zomba Development Network, an engine to drive socio-economic development from the grassroots in Zomba district yesterday distributed assorted relief items to people affected by the devastation caused by Cyclone Freddy in Mtogolo village.
Visiting the cyclone survivors sheltered at Malemia and Ndecha camps, Julius Chitseko, a UK based member of the network shared food and sanitation items with 35 families,10 grand parents,10 child headed families and 8 selected vulnerable people.
Chitseko said that the network had noted that the disaster had seriously disrupted household, district and national productivity as it impacted on food security, social service delivery and economic growth.
He pointed out that the network had been formed to instil hope and a spirit of self reliance where residents need to identify and utilise opportunities available around them such as the good weather patterns, land, rivers, lake, mountain, the biodiversity and mineral resources
"The network is a vehicle which is going to be used to mobilise and inspire Zomba district residents not to relent but take up necessary actions that will spur individual and collective growth," he said.
Chief Mtogolo thanked the network and promised to render it support as it works at lifting the status of the district.
Zomba Development Network was established by bona fide sons and daughters of Zomba resident in Malawi and in the diaspora to encourage people in the district to take up various development initiatives on their own

13/04/2023

Each of these attractions has its own unique charm and draws visitors for different reasons

22/03/2023

WASH attention, too little, too late

As the world celebrates the World Water Day, Malawi scampers in frantic attempts to fix crumbling water infrastructure and water sources knocked out by Cyclone Freddy’s heavy rainfall and river flooding.
The cyclone has unleashed a water and sanitation crisis in each of the 13 southern Malawi districts pummeled during its six-day sojourn in the country, where it has ruptured the provision of water for domestic, agricultural or industrial purposes.
Partly a result of underinvestment and deferred maintenance, the crisis includes reverses in gains following the disruption of infrastructure such as water intake structures, water treatment plants, water supply pipelines and dams for residents using taps, flush toilets or even sprinklers.
Boreholes, the primary sources of potable water in most rural areas have been damaged together with other alternative sources like shallow wells, leaving the 7,750,000 southern region population with no or limited access to safe water. Unaccounted number of pit latrines are also reported to have collapsed.
Nationally, about 87 per cent households, mostly in the urban areas have access to improved drinking water sources compared to 63 per cent in rural areas, where 37 per cent households spend 30 minutes or more to fetch drinking water in comparison to 13 per cent in urban areas. puts women and children shoulder the burden of poor access to water services.
The destruction of the water infrastructure and water sources weighs heavily on the burden of poor access to water services on women and children as they will have to walk long distances to collect water for their families. It also poses far-reaching health consequences for the affected communities with serious implications on the health, nutritional status and the safety and dignity of the children and women.
Poor sanitation and hygiene contribute significantly to the country’s disease burden and child survival, costing US$57 million each year, or 1.1 per cent of national GDP, due to health costs and productivity losses.
The WASH sector faces this hard reality three months after the National Assembly reduced the WASH budget by 18 percent from the MK151 billion to M124 billion, a figure that deepened the sector’s already struggling financial investment gap, whose basic infrastructure and service needs are estimated above MK200 billion.
According to government funded Blantyre Water Board, the supplier of water in the city of Blantyre, and the Southern Region Water Board, the supplier of portable water to all southern region districts, their offices are busy repairing water supply equipment and intake structures at their water sources, the conveyance and distribution systems along the distribution network and providing individual household connection services.
Attempts by government through the Department of Disaster Management Affairs and relief and humanitarian support agencies to invest in reducing the risks of waterborne and water related diseases by providing water, sanitation, and hygiene services across the region, are welcome developments though only a drop where more is needed to be done.
Development experts say government must ensure that its investments in the WASH sector balances with new developments and maintenance of existing facilities so that reconstruction works after disasters do not completely erode the gains already made.
“We end up not moving forward as rehabilitated infrastructure just replaces the destroyed ones in terms of numbers hence no net development,” observes Dr. Harold Mapoma, environmental scientist (water management) adding: “As a nation we need to increase the infrastructure base.”
Commitment to the provision of WASH funding, to ensure a healthy and hygienic nation, should be on going priority and not an emergency reaction.
Economics lecturer at the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences fears that reconstructing the regions battered socio-economic assets will reduce development strides as concentration will shift thereby slowing down the country’s real GDP growth rate
Following the Freddy disaster, Malawi has a hard time ahead to heal a battered agriculture sector, the fishing and aquaculture subsector, the electricity and water supply sector, the construction sector and the wholesale and retail trade sector, accommodation and food services and the transport and storage sectors. Water Front News

20/03/2023

Freddy exposes Malawi’s weak spots

Shrinking housing and agriculture land spaces caused by high population growth in Malawi, force thousands of people to settle around hills, mountains and riverine or lake catchment areas, where they degrade the environment and create increasing climate change related-disaster threats.
In a growing familiar situation, the climate phenomenon collides with other drivers of risk in a country where poverty is endemic along with food insecurity, lack of access to clean water and high rates of communicable diseases such as cholera and malaria.
Recently, Cyclone Freddy gripped the country in a devastating climate change crisis composed of torrential rains, damaging winds and sweeping landslides that has seen 447 people, 282 missing and sent 362,928 into destitution.
The crisis has disrupted the social sector most affecting access to shelter, food, sanitation, drinking water, medication and health services. The education system has been disrupted with some schools damaged and others turned into shelters.
Floods and winds swept away extensive sections of infrastructure such as roads, bridges, power supply and irrigation and water supply equipment, water intake structures, conveyance and distribution systems.
The productive sector, buoyed by agriculture, is expected to experience income loss as large swathes of fields of about 11,600 hectares of crops have been inundated while heads of livestock were either submerged or washed away. At the same time, the shutdown of the power plants due to floods resulted in disruptions of a range of commercial and economic activities.
Meanwhile, the population continues to live with low levels of knowledge of the risks at hand, a situation which calls for a strong media foothold in the promotion of the country’s disaster risk reduction policies and to educate communities about risks associated with extreme events.
Amos Tizora, head of the joint Circle for Integrated Community Development (CICOD)-Hyphen Media Institute partnership says the media must build partnerships with actors in the disaster management chain to keep their audience informed in order to save lives and protect assets.
“With these collaborations, the media would be well placed as active players in alerting, informing and educating populations at risks while mobilizing support for effective implementation of disaster frameworks,” he says
It is not known if a risk assessment was made and shared

16/03/2023

Taking stock after a date with Freddy

When Malawi’s Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services first issued an alert announcing the birth of a storm thousands kilometres away in the Indian Ocean, it was in fact warning the country to prepare for hammering torrential rains, sweeping floods, extreme winds, land and house damages, power outages and water supply interruptions
After birth, the storm immediately embarked on a record breaking 32-day marauding journey to Madagascar and Mozambique before taking a 6-day trouncing spree in Malawi where it died
Cyclone Freddy crossed the Mozambican channel three times, intensified in wind speed six times as a result of rising ocean temperatures linked to human-caused climate change. It gathered more energy when it hit Mozambique for a second time on its way into Malawi where it has left devastating consequences on food and water security, water quality, energy resources and sustainable livelihoods, especially for most rural communities.
Meteorological Services CEO Lucy Mtilatila said the cyclone induced heavy rains soaked the soils more than 500mm deep while strong winds travelling above 80 kph swept across the southern part of the country
The climate scientist warned of possible rural and urban river flooding and landslides in hilly or mountainous areas, where soils would become saturated by the heavy rainfall.
However, she said the extent of landslides was not only unprecedented but also unexpected. She says the country needs more research work on landslides to understand better how to translate rainfall into landslides..
On her part, University of Malawi Population and Health lecturer, Maryking Mwinuka, anticipated these developments to disrupt water electricity and telecommunications while some bridges, and roads would be made impassable by floodwaters and debris flows.
She noted that incidences of insect- and water-borne diseases would increase and that exposure to contaminated water from inundated industrial sites, sewer systems, and septic tanks would pose significant health threats.
By Thursday, the Department of Disaster Management Affairs had announced that the combined effects of flooding, strong winds and mudslides cumulatively included 40,631 displaced households with 326 deaths, 706 injuries and 201 missing.
Other reports indicated that strips of land, homes, roads, bridges, businesses, transport and energy services had been torn apart
The chief executive officer at Malawi’s only power generating company, Electricity Generation Company, William Liabunya, said the company had been forced to reduce its generation capacity by shutting down its three hydropower stations, which had been affected by the debris from the flooding Shire River on which it operates.
Power distributor, the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi said power would take time to be completely restored when repair works on broken equipment along its distribution network in affected communities was carried out.
Water supply by the Blantyre Water Board, the major supplier of tap water in and around the city of Blantyre, was also affected as the pump at its Walkers Ferry source on the Shire River was not working because of a 3-day power blackout.
The Southern Region Water Board, a quasi-government portable water supply entity for all the southern region districts except Blantyre, also reported failing to pump and distribute water due to the cyclone.
Cyclone Freddy also disrupted transport and telecommunications services forcing aviation authorities to suspend air flights to and from Chileka International Airport in Blantyre.
President Lazarous Chakwera declared the southern part of Malawi as in a state of disaster requiring further support from foreign governments and international organizations
Disaster Affairs Commissioner, Charles Kalemba said government already had in stock relief items which were being distributed to displaced and affected communities
However, he said the affected communities still needed better temporal shelters, food, WASH services and utensils
Meanwhile, the department with assistance from Malawi Defence Force, the Malawi Police Service, the Department of Marine, the Malawi Red Cross Society and communities continue to facilitate search and rescue operations
Kalemba has stressed the need for people to take weather forecasts seriously, saying people who deliberately choose to live in disaster-prone areas were going to miss relief assistance
He disclosed that his office was currently decentralizing disaster preparedness and response to local governments who will in future be implementing a district disaster response plans as a guiding tool on how each district will have to respond to disasters.
Observing the investments made by the meteorological department in warning the nation of possible consequences of the cyclone such as the damage caused in terms of property and lives lost as well as the emergency relief and response money, Hyphen Media Institute thinks these could have been minimized if adequate preparatory plans were put in place
Team leader of the joint partnership between Circle for Integrated Community Development (CICOD) and Hyphen Media Institute, Amos Tizora agrees that the country was overwhelmed with the extent of the disaster.
“Although we anticipated it, we did not expect it to reach this magnitude,” he said noting that resources provided for preparations were far too little to meet cyclone Freddy response needs.
He explained that an effective disaster response must meet the needs of affected communities but at the same time it must safe-guard a country’s development gains.
“To reduce the strain of disasters on the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), the country must also reduce the economic impact and loss of livelihoods during disasters,” said Tizora urging stakeholders to ensure that their programmes reduce harm to the community at risk, protects lives and livelihoods and reduces damage to property.
He also called for stronger coordination mechanisms so that weather warnings by the Met department are well communicated and acted upon by all sectors of societies and that the Disaster Affairs has stand-alone budgeted support for disaster risk reduction.
Currently the department relies on contingency planning and the availability of donor support after disaster occurrences. Water Front News

14/03/2023

Cyclone Freddy leave lessons for battered Malawi

A monstrous tropical cyclone that blanketed most parts of southern Malawi on Monday battered swaths of land, damaging homes, roads and businesses. It killed over 200 people and sent thousands scampering for safety in temporal shelters
Record-breaking as the longest lasting in history, Cyclone Freddy has disrupted transport and telecommunications services forcing aviation authorities to suspend air flights to and from Chileka International Airport in Blantyre.
Its punches saw bridges collapse, roads split open and power outages reign. The healthcare sector, which has over the past year been battling cholera outbreaks and other water-borne diseases, has been further stretched.
Maryking Mwinuka, Population and Health lecturer at the University of Malawi, says as extreme weather occurrences become more frequent,intense and costly for the nation, climate change fueled Cyclone Freddy’s pummeling disaster should offer Malawi disaster handling lessons.
“As a country, we have difficulties in dealing with emergencies,” she says noting inadequate preparations and responses to the recent disaster by disaster response stakeholders including the Department of Disaster Management Affairs despite being fed with weather alerts by the Climate Change and Meteorology Services department
“Apart from the loss of lives and property, the disaster is likely going to affect water quality, availability and access which will eventually affect people’s health,” she says pointing out that the nation will experience rising cases of water borne ailments such as the already menacing cholera
Studies show that the aftermath of disasters such as floods often carry allergies or skin, respiratory, abdominal, diseases transmitted by insects such as mosquitoes, flies and animals such as rodents, raccoons, cattle and pigs.
Disasters also cause mental health illnesses such as depression and trauma ignited by loss of family, loss of home, loss of relationships, having to rebuild lives elsewhere
Mwinuka notes that the disruption of critical infrastructure as electricity, drinking and wastewater services, roads, and health care facilities which rely on one another make the population, especially children, pregnant woman, older adults and persons with disabilities or with preexisting health conditions more vulnerable to impacts of disasters.
Individuals affected by poverty and communities living near contaminated waste sites or industrial areas or those with limited access to health systems are also said to be affected by such disasters.
Hyphen Media Institute member, Eldson Chagara observes that though the country already has a running early warning system led by the meteorological department the country still lags behind in planning growth and development away from high-risk areas like flood zones.
“We also need clear evacuation plans and purpose built evacuation centres to protect vulnerable populations,” he says.
While applauding adaptation efforts including the construction of d***s to hold back storm surges and reduce flooding he urges stakeholders to enhance harvesting rainwater to conserve water resources for use during drought. Water Front News

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11/03/2024

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Monday	09:00 - 17:00
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Thursday	09:00 - 17:00
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