National Audit Office (NAO) audit has revealed that donor money amounting to K925, 918, 030.14 were looted from the health ministry’s finance, human resources and HIV and AIDS department.

The auditors pounced at the Department following request by the American Ambassador Virginia Palmer who had suspected that some dishonest employees were abusing the funds to spearhead a national response to HIV/Aids, a pandemic which has wiped out an entire generation of adults in Malawi and left over a million children orphaned.

The figures have been under tight lid since the embarrassing scandal as Health Minister Peter Kumpalume said the stolen money ran into “millions.”

But Nyasa Times can now confirm about the figures which intial findings on the looting indicated that money amounted to K2.5 billion it has been reduced to K925, 918, 030.14.

Auditor General Steven Kamphasa said his office cannot comment on anything on the matter since his office has already submitted the findings to the Ministry of Health.

US-funded Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had written the ministry to complain that they suspected civil servants from the HIV and AIDS project were defrauding the government.

US ambassador to Malawi, Virginia Palmer, is onrecord saying that that she hoped the authorities “will identify those responsible and that they will be held fully accountable for the misuse of funds intended to improve the health of Malawian citizens.”

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health Dr Macphail Magwira said Malawi government will have to pay back the money and deal with the culprits.

“We will not treat this issue with kid groves, we want to make sure that all those who were involved in such malpractice are brought to book using while using Section 39 of Public employment act,” said Magwira.
Malawi government suspended 63 seniors officials in the health ministry to allow auditors to investigate and audit the accounts.

Those who were suspended included the Director of human resource, the Director of finance and two chief accountants to pave way for a thorough audit investigation over unjustified withdrawal of

allowances and fuel abuse.

Malawi, which depends on foreign aid for about 40 percent of its national budget, has suffered after donors withheld funding over a large-scale corruption scandal

Prosecutors have in the past said one third of Malawi’s government revenue is lost through fraud.

The immediate past Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said on Monday that having a handle on Nigeria’s spiralling inflation, foreign exchange problem, fiscal deficit and debts control were key to resolving the country’s current economic crisis.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, who was speaking on Aljazeera TV programme, The Stream, said focusing on the basic issues of macroeconomic stability was crucial to fixing the country’s economic challenges.

“If you don’t pay attention to the fundamentals of having a stable and good exchange rate policy, inflation under control, manageable fiscal deficit and debts, there will continue to be trouble in the economy,” she said.

Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades. The economy slipped into recession after contracting in the first two quarters of 2016.

Inflation jumped from 16.2 per cent in July to 17.1 per cent in August 2016, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Since the introduction of the floating foreign exchange policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which freed the Naira from a band of N197-N199 to the dollar, the currency has been in a free fall against other international currencies.

From about N281 to the dollar at the beginning of the policy in June, Naira crashed to about N420 to the dollar shortly before the Sallah holidays on Friday.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, a former World Bank Managing Director, told Al Jazeera that she remained optimistic that solutions to the country’s economic decline could still be found.

Asked what would be her top three priorities to resolve the country’s current economic crisis if she remained the finance minister, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said she would prefer the current managers of the economy talk about it.

“I have contributed the best I could to the country. It is still the most interesting country in the world. It is better to leave those who are managing now to say what they would do.

“All I can say is that there are solutions. Nigeria is a vibrant country. I love it so much. I know it is going to come out of this one way or another,” she said.

On if President Muhammadu Buhari were to ask her to come and help in resolving the country’s economic crisis, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said: “One of the things you learn as you get wiser is to talk less as you grow older.

“I have spent my time contributing to the country. It will be better to leave those managing the economy to do what they know how to do.

“I served my country for seven years and it was a great honour. The second time was very tough, but it was still an honour. I am not the only person who is a repository of knowledge. There are other people who can equally try their hands in running the economy.”

On the continental scale, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, expressed regrets the economic gains recorded in Africa have started being eroded in the last two to three years.

“On the continent, we have seen a period when the economy was doing relatively well. It’s only in the last two to three years that things have started to go a bit south.”

She spoke about the job initiative of the Goodluck Jonathan government, YOU-WIN.

“The whole idea was to have a business plan competition. Beneficiaries were expected to create jobs to employ six people or more.

“Each created 9-10 jobs. The World Bank did an evaluation of it and found it good. I do believe the government should come in. We started a peer to peer mentoring. Now, one of the things I want to say is that creating employment is not only about struggles, it is about managing success,” she said.

On how the anti-corruption war was fought during her time in government, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala described it as “a very tough fight”.

“It was tough. I must thank my team. You don’t do it alone. I had the support of an economic team in the Ministry of Finance. At the end of the day, you need to have some principles,” she said.

The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday said the current economic recession the country could provide the turning point from an oil driven economy to real prosperity.

Ekweremadu in his Eid el-Kabir message signed by his media aide, Uche Anichukwu, noted that the present economic challenges were not beyond redemption.

“I warned long ago that elections had come and gone and we should move from politics to governance. It is time for governance and we must bring all capable hands on the deck, irrespective of political, religious or ethnic backgrounds.

“Nigerians are facing hard times and all they are interested in are positive results and urgent succour. They don’t care whether you are APC or PDP or whether you are North or South.

The good news is that capable hands abound in the country. We must assemble them and give them both the mandate and liberty to help the president’s team to revamp the nation’s economy,” he said.

He enjoined Muslims to use the period to pray for the nation’s quick recovery from the current economic recession, expressing confidence that Nigerians, working together, could heal the nation’s economy.

He, however, noted that prayers alone were not enough and urged President Muhammadu Buhari to look beyond party affiliation to constitute a special economic squad to rescue the nation from present situation.

Civil servants have urged President Robert Mugabe to fire one of his two deputies and reduce the size of his Cabinet instead of introducing measures that will further impoverish already struggling government workers.

Representatives of the civil servants have already warned they would cripple service delivery unless government reversed its proposal to cut bonuses and tax their allowances, starting next month.

Finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa on Thursday announced that government was scrapping payment of bonuses to public workers as well as introducing taxation on their allowances as part of measures to contain a ballooning wage bill.

Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe president Takavafira Zhou said Mugabe should resign as he had failed to administer the economy instead of tempering with civil servants’ salaries.

“If Mugabe and his government are serious about cost-cutting measures, he should reduce the number of his vice-presidents. We do not need two VPs for a country like ours. This is a political statement which will be met with a political reaction,” Zhou said.

“This is the kind of dictatorship that we don’t tolerate. There are four ministers in the education cluster, why not fire three and remain with one? Why not cut the Cabinet to show that he is serious about civil servants’ issues? We are going to fight this moribund government.”

He added: “He [Mugabe] must resign and we get a more serious administration than this child’s play.”

“It’s unheard of that a government cuts salaries, especially allowances that are a result of collective bargaining agreements,” the firebrand trade union said.

The Apex council, the umbrella body of all civil servants, also came out guns blazing, accusing the government of being insensitive to their plight and vowed to oppose the proposals.

“The Apex Council would like to express its dismay at the shocking budget proposals announced by the Finance minister. While the intent to reduce the civil service wage bill is cited as the premise of the International Monetary Fund [IMF] inspired cuts, we the workers do not believe the economy will benefit from such insensitive and anti-labour solutions,” said Cecilia Alexandra, the workers’ representative team leader.

“To start with, the budget proposals on the so-called civil service rationalisation are being made without due consultation and thus in breach of workers’ constitutional rights to consult and be consulted.”

She added: “The Apex Council wishes by this statement to unequivocally reject the budget proposals by the Minister of Finance regarding retrenchments, salary cuts and suspension of bonuses. We believe these measures are ill-conceived and can only further entrench the doom and gloom that has become part and parcel of the lot of the average civil servant.”

Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association chief executive officer, Sifiso Ndlovu said government should not blame anyone if civil servants go on strike.

“Nobody should be blamed for whatever action civil servants take because this government has shown its arrogance and disdain to engagement,” Ndlovu said.

“We are appalled by the level of arrogance that this regime has taken; for sure this will not go unchallenged. Civil servants will take this seriously and respond accordingly.”

College Lecturers’ Association of Zimbabwe president, David Dzatsunga said as civil servants, they would engage Public Service minister Prisca Mupfumira to register their disbelief and inform her of their next move.

“This is war and we are not going to lose this fight. This government will know that cruelty and arrogance does not pay. For sure we are going to fight for our rights,” he said.

Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (RTUZ) also called on both Mugabe and Chinamasa to resign for failing to revive the ailing economy.

“Our members that educate children under adverse conditions in rural areas would be severely affected,” RTUZ said.
“To forego bonuses and taxing our little allowances will hit our pockets hard. We are already an impoverished lot and this will further affect our income. This will negatively affect our education delivery.”

The rural teachers said they no longer had confidence in the government.

“We are calling on them to shape up or ship out. This authority has proved over the years not to have the needs of people at heart and they propose questionable economic, political and social principles. We cannot continue to be victims of a failed state,” the rural teachers said.

“Government has in the past months been struggling to fund its wage bill, forcing it to stagger salary dates for our members and other civil servants, sometimes running into the following month. We advocate for a pro poor education system that respects all players. Government should be more progressive in dealing with its civil servants, not to be an agent of doom.”

By Sharon Kantengwa

"We did a market survey and interviewed teachers, school administrations and parents. All of them were very excited to have such a tool being effective, as it was improving the student's lives," he says.

The software compiles all course reports and sends an SMS to the parents every day after school hours to keep the parents updated and helps schools to communicate with parents, even for those who cannot access internet.

He says parents will be able to focus on the ability of their children to study well if they receive daily reports on their performance and discipline.

"A child can't succeed if he is absent or late, he can't succeed if he is sick, absent minded or sleepy in class, and doesn't have access to basic hygiene needs. Our main target is to have a smart kid as early as possible as well as have a future generation with values."
 

"The teacher will simply use it to update his report after each class, where all his students will be evaluated on 5 indicators; attendance, performance, behavior, health, and hygiene. We provide a laptop in every classroom for the teachers and we train them on the use of the software," he says.

The project pilot phase will start at Lycée Notre Dame de Citeaux with over 750 students through the last quarter of the 2016 academic year.

The pilot phase is intended to help adjust the software for better use by the teachers and enable them have better interaction with parents.

"Once we are through, we will implement the project from January 2017 in 20 schools per month, providing a solution to over 600 classrooms per month which means 18, 000 students added every month," Kasasira explains.

"For parents without mobile phones, we link them with different operators in Rwanda so as to use this opportunity. We also encourage them to develop strategies so that they can reach those clients."
 

"We can contribute by pointing the names of parents in need of cell phones. To receive the message, there is no need for internet, it's a rural oriented project," he says.

Rwanda's school dropout rate

Statistics from the Ministry of Education indicate that the overall, school dropout rate decreased by more than a half as it went down from 10.5 per cent the previous year countrywide.

"School dropout is still an issue although we constantly have intervention of local leadership. After some research, we didn't find any ICT oriented solution in Rwanda or abroad. This is how we decided to create our own platform," Karasira says.

He (Karasira) and his partner Victor Nkindi, came up with the idea to brainstorm about a solution to improve school attendance by simply using a rural oriented desktop application for the teacher.

A vision to make Rwanda a database hub for Africa

Part of Smart Africa's agenda, is to use ICT oriented solutions in the education system to improve social development and access to ICT. This is why 'Smart initiative' was endorsed by African leaders when it was presented to them during the recent African Union Summit in Kigali, a month after it was initiated.
 

"All institutions in charge of education can have our support and use generated data to take decisions. It is our wish to have a Rwandan product being successful in Rwanda, Africa and all over the world," Karasira says.

With Rwanda being at the centre stage of its development-with many projects underway to turn the country into an ICT hub in the region, the system provides real time data to be used by government institutions as data measurement for development in the Smart Africa agenda.

"We are using this system in Rwanda and very soon in Africa. We want to cover Africa within 3 years, this is our own vision 2020, if only entrepreneurs in Rwanda would think big, and share our vision with the rest of the world," Karasira says.

In Europe, the initiative is already present in Greece and the software is already being adapted in the countries. It has also already gained solicitations from across Africa where the solution is being implemented in six countries namely; Zimbabwe, DR Congo, Gabon, Gambia and Uganda where Karasira is currently doing the project pilot phase.

"Once we are able to generate metrics on a district or province's school evolution through a quarter or a semester, we can identify the need on time but most importantly, the data we generate, will allow Rwanda to become a real database hub in education for the entire Africa," he says.

outh African Airways (SAA) has banned the charging of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on board all its aircraft effective from Saturday, amid battery explosion reports.

"South African Airways has taken a decision to prohibit the charging of Samsung Note 7 mobile phones on board all its aircraft," SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali told Fin24.

"SAA will make appropriate announcements on board to remind passengers of this restriction and our crew has been briefed as well.

"This does not amount to an outright ban of the device on our flights. We trust that all our customers will cooperate fully and observe this request which the airline is making based on safety considerations for passengers and crew," he added.

Tlali said that the decision will be effective as of Saturday 10 September until further notice.

Civil aviation authority, Comair respond

The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has also taken note of recent reports of exploding Note 7 batteries and concerns raised regarding the device.

"Moreover, the SACAA has also noted the announcement by Samsung to stop the sales of the Galaxy Note7, and the company's offer to replace similar devices already in customers' possession," SACAA said in a statement to Fin24.

"In light of these developments, the SACAA is currently and carefully looking into this matter and will take an appropriate decision in due course," the statement read.

However, the SACAA said that the current regulations do not prohibit airlines and operators from introducing additional and appropriate measures that would enhance civil aviation safety and security.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Comair – which operates Kulula.com and British Airways flights in South Africa – said that the company's aircraft were not fitted with power sockets, so they would not be affected by faults which have been encountered with the Samsung Note 7.
 

"It's thus not necessary to ban the Samsung Note 7 from our flights," Martin Louw, Comair operations director, told Fin24.

"That said, we adhere precisely to the very specific procedures outlined by the Civil Aviation Authority and Boeing, including those procedures which involve electronic devices. The safety of our crew and passengers is always our foremost priority," Louw said.

Comair said it had not yet received instructions from regulators on the use of power-banks and personal chargers. But if that changed, they would ensure adherence on board aircraft to any new instructions.

"As stated, the safety of our crew and passengers is always our foremost priority," Louw said.

Samsung halts pre-orders

Samsung South Africa on Thursday put a stop all pre-orders of the Note 7 in the country, amid 35 cases of faulty devices as reported by the company.
 

Initial reports suggested that charging the device without the original charger led to the risk of exploding batteries.

The company also told Fin24 earlier that the availability date, which had initially been set as September 23, has also been postponed until further notice.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has this week joined four Australian airlines in banning usage of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on board flights.

Source: Fin24

GE’s offer of best-in-class training for young engineers, known as the Graduate Engineering Training Programme, is open to women and men alike. However, women in technical positions the world over are  frequently in the minority. We recently caught up with two female  participants to chat about their experience and to hear their take on women  involvement in the sector.

Claudia Giurriuta, 31, is from Mozambique and has an interest in subsea drilling. She sees an opportunity to apply her technical knowledge in her home country, where gas is a significant sector.

“My father is an auto electrician. When I  was a child, I used to see my father working at home on weekends and I used to ask questions and spend my time with him. So I realised that I liked what he was doing because it involves technology. It’s not just about using tools. There was more to what he was doing, so my passion for engineering started then,” she says.

She’s one of only two women in the programme. “At the university, we were only two girls in the class with about 30 boys and I got used to the situation. Even as a woman, I have knowledge and the ability to face any professional situation the same way men do,” she says.

Giurriuta faced significant opposition in her career choice. “My father didn’t agree about my choice to be an engineer. He said engineering is not for women and my mother wanted me to be a lawyer. So I had to lie for one year that I was studying to be a lawyer. When I told them I was studying engineering, they didn’t support me at first, so I explained to them that it’s what I want to do professionally and it’s what I’m happy doing. Nowadays, they are proud of me. I am the only woman engineer in my family.”

Marian Muthui, 26, from Nairobi, Kenya, was attracted to engineering because she believes it is a field that has the greatest potential for social impact as it seeks to solve the world’s most “pressing issues”.

“From a young age, I loved science-based subjects and would often tinker with everything I could get my hands on. I would take things apart and put them back together just to try to understand their intricacies and how they worked,” she says.

When she has completed the GETP,  Muthui would like to focus on the energy field as she believes there is a proven correlation between energy security and economic development. “My  future interests are in research and development of various microgeneration technologies in renewable power and transportation,” she says.

Muthui has a mechanical  engineering degree and joined the GETP when it was still being conceptualised. She says she expected to be in the minority. “Sadly, this is not a strange phenomenon. It has been this way since my days in university and it still persists now in the job  market. But, I am optimistic that this will change as the number of women in engineering increases,” she says.

“The programme has been a great opportunity to increase my technical skills and to network with various business leaders. It has definitely been challenging, but I have used those challenges as an opportunity to learn and grow,” she says.

Luckily, Muthui has always had the support of her family to rely on. “Despite the fact that we did not know a single engineer, we educated ourselves on the topic  and saw it as a perfect fit for me in accomplishing my future goals,” she says.

To encourage more girls and young women to study science and engineering, Muthui says exposure is the key factor. “Most young women do not know what exactly engineers do and some believe that it is a  field just for men. In my downtime, I hold workshops with young high-school girls to mentor and encourage them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This is my personal contribution to increasing  the number of women in engineering,” she says.

By Zelalem Girma

A large number of people in developing countries are still poor, undernourished, and with no adequate health-care facility. They don't have access to clean water, and are facing challenges such as in alleviating climate change and in enhancing their development processes.

Both the environmental and development challenges are coming together to hurt the poor of developing countries as well as the world at large. Thus, developing countries like Ethiopia need a new economic and environmental scheme to tackle both climate change and development challenges.

The current economic model, which is just copied from the American and European, could neither solve the developmental nor the environmental challenges. Hence, developing countries need a new economic model, which not only serves the larger poor and the vulnerable but also ensures to protect the environment.

In Ethiopia, about 20 per cent of the total population is poor, and with no access to electricity. The poor is also affected by diseases. The forest coverage was 40 per cent in Ethiopia at one point in time. But currently, it is about 10 per cent. This indicates that the forest coverage has been lost in the effort to utilize the forest resources for cooking and construction purposes.

The destruction of forest also leads to soil erosion and loss of soil fertility. That in turn affects ground water boost undesirably. Hence, when there is high run off, the agriculture sector will suffer a lot.

Ethiopia must develop using its large number of renewable energy potentials. Recognizing the fact, Ethiopia has been building small, medium and large dams. This could help the country harness its resources and provide electricity for its people abundantly.
 

Though Ethiopia is rich in sunshine and wind, the country needs to promote hydro-power and wind-generated energy to provide electricity for the people.

In any case, generating electricity is still not sufficient, it needs to promote something like social forestry. Indeed, there are two kinds of forestry development approaches. One is conservation of forest for environmental reasons and the other is social forest where you grow trees because you cut trees for different purposes. We all need trees. We need wood for cooking foods, making furniture, and for various other purposes. So, Ethiopia should have a programme of social forestry where the people grow their own trees and for their demand.

This is the way Ethiopia has to move. Developing countries do not need to follow American way of using gas to cook food. Gas is fossil fuel and would cause to bring climate related disasters. Ethiopia has the opportunity to move to renewable energy sources such as hydro-power, wind energy, and social forestry, to meet the needs of the poor and to meet environmental and developmental needs.

Consequently, developing countries should look into different solutions; and do not have to copy the model from developed countries. They have the opportunity to develop various sources in a friendly manner.

Any countries want development because they want to be happy, to prosper, to proceed, and need our environment to be sustainable so that our development lasts not only for us but also for our children in the future.
 

Our forefathers both in Ethiopia used the environment abundantly, and they preserved the environment properly. But, the current concern is on the economic development only.

Such problems are not only confined to Ethiopia, these are everywhere in developing countries. That is governments at all levels have to reconsider and take steps. Individuals, farmers, students, teachers, government, donor society and all others who support development, should provide emphasis to the environment.

In doing so, the concerned bodies would understand the linkages between development and environment. When understand the impacts of development they would reduce the negative impacts.

To curb the challenges of climate change and development, knowledge, understanding and research are needed. Researches should be done locally on local environmental systems. Knowledge coming from Europe or anywhere else may not be directly applicable to Ethiopia. What we need is to understand our own system here in the highland Ethiopian agriculture. When we develop our agriculture, we can develop our business, and keep our local environment safe and sustainable.

Every stakeholder ought to make efforts to incorporate environment and development together and to take development to the general public especially to the farmers in the villages of Ethiopia who are producing food.

Though this agricultural productivity has been bolstering by small farmers scattered all over Ethiopia, they need support, and input. This input comes from governmental or other non-governmental organizations. Governments should acquire fundamental understanding about the causes and effects of environmental degradation, and on the ways of developing the agriculture productivity.
 

Of course, energy is a very important issue. The villagers do not get enough electricity or fossil fuel. Thus, they depend on biomass energy which comes from wood and forest. They are obliged to utilize forest and wood that causes deforestation. They need safe and clean energy.

Ethiopia has rich energy sources from its many rivers. Its rivers are potential source of hydroelectric energy. Although there may have very small hydroelectric projects undertaken in small courses with only 2000, 4000 megawatt usages, the energy from small units cannot supply full electricity service to all villages sustainably. Though biomass fuel comes from forest and agriculture waste, the villagers may not stop using biomass fuel for their social purposes.

Therefore, Countries would use these renewable energy resources to increase soil fertility and high agricultural production. In this regard, countries also need to look for energy from hydroelectric projects, solar and wind energy. Consequently, this would enable people stop using biomass energy, and reinforce Ethiopia to raise the people standard of living speedily.

On the other hand, education must meet the needs of the country. Students should have adequate facilities in the classrooms, as well as need to go to farms and industries to understand the basic knowledge. The Ethiopian education system also must meet the needs of the people.

By Kwame Dankwah

Vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr Mahamudu Bawumia

Vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has lashed out at the economic prowess of the John Mahama-led government, saying it has done little to save the domestic currency.

According to Dr Bawumia, since 2001 the Cedi has performed worst between 2012 and 2016, the period of John Mahama's first term.

The former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank expressed these at an ongoing lecture at the National Theater.

The lecture is on the theme: 'The State of the Ghanaian Economy – A Foundation of Concrete or Straw'. The lecture is chaired by Former President John Agyekum Kufuor.