Hon. Owen Chomanika, M.P, Deputy Minister of Local Government

08/01/2025

Dear Followers

Thank you for your support during my time as a Deputy Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture. Now, it pleased His Excellency the State President, Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera to appoint me as the new Minister of Natural Resources and Climate.

Therefore this page will cease to exist this week, therefore I humbly ask you all to Like and Follow my new official page: Dr. Owen Chomanika for more updates about events and anything.

Thank you once more.

Development, Governance and Finance Expert practitioner | Former Cabinet Minister |
Donor-Funded Programs and Public Sector

04/01/2025

We wrapped up the SEWERA League season 3 today at Chikwawa Community Ground where we witnessed football and netball final matches respectively.

As a proven passionate sportsman, I committed to continuing offering the youth of Chikwawa a platform to excel through sports and other activities so that they can develop various skills which can prove handy in life.

The SEWERA League Season Three which had an entry of 76 teams closed with a football final match between Wise Vision Academy FC and Kachere FC, which the former won by a goal to nil while in the netball category, Tsapa Queens edged out Mfera Sisters.

Football category winners pocketed a sum of K500,000 while netball victors took home K200,000. All 76 participating teams received sports uniform and a match ball each.

01/01/2025

01/01/2025

Mafuno abwino a chaka chatsopano cha 2025. Tiyeni tikakumane ku ndime yomaliza ya chikho cha SEWERA LEAGUE loweruka lino pa 4 January 2025 pa Chikwawa Community Ground kumene achinyamata akatiwonetse ma luso awo mu masewero osiyanasiyana.

18/12/2024

I have been privileged to officially open the Musicians Union of Malawi (MUM), Women's Desk Summit taking place at the Bingu International Conference Centre (BICC).

Organized under the theme: Promoting Arts as a Business, the event aims at training women musicians on how they can maximize earnings from their art and in turn improve their contribution to the country's GDP which at the moment stands at just 3 percent.

I called upon the M.U.M members to seriously consider their talent as a business which can also employ others and contribute to the country's economic growth.

The government of His Excellency, The State President Dr Lazarus Chakwera sees the arts industry as one of the critical industries driving economic growth towards realization of the Agenda 2063. This is the reason the state President appointed Q. Malewezi, an artist of repute, as his advisor on Creative Industries.

The government is committed to seeing that more women are empowered as this will have a lasting impact on the country since women have proved to be good managers as corporations run by women, seldom go bankrupt.

The summit has been supported by The Investment School of Creative Arts and the Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Authority (MAGLA).

10/12/2024

As the third and last phase of the 2025 Tripartite Elections voter registration nears closure, I took time to get myself registered at Chikwawa Full Primary School registration centre so that I will be able to cast my vote come 16 September 2025. I am appealing to all people who have not registered up to now, to go to their nearest voter registration centre and register so that they should exercise their right to electing duty bearers of their choice.

Thereafter, I proceeded to Chikwawa Prison where I cheered up the inmates and encouraged them morally. I also donated assorted items like laundry soap and foodstuffs among others, amounting to about K600,000 so as to alleviate some of their day to day challenges.

Chikwawa Prison currently has a total of 415 inmates from the districts of Chikwawa and Nsanje respectively.

04/12/2024

The government of Malawi under the leadership of His Excellency the State President, Dr Lazarus Chakwera is committed to seeing that all chieftaincy vacancies around the country are filled up so that development flourishes in all areas as chiefs are a catalyst for development.

This is why His Excellency delegated me to conduct installation ceremonies of Traditional Authorities Kasumbu and Kalumo of Dedza and Ntchisi districts respectively today on Wednesday 4 December, 2024 following their appointment earlier this year.

Elevation ceremony of TA Kasumbu took place at his headquarters at Mulunduni in Dedza district while for TA Kalumo took place at Ntchisi District Headquarters. I urged the newly installed chiefs to be promoters of peace and unity in their respective areas of jurisdiction as this is a catalyst for development.

I also appealed to royal family members to amicably resolve any chieftaincy wrangles as the disagreements end up suffocating the progress of development in affected areas.

Jimmy Layiten has been installed as TA Kasumbu and is the 8th chief since the chieftaincy was established while Peter Kavumbura is the sixth Kalumo since the royalty was established in the 1900s.

03/12/2024

As the government of Malawi under the leadership of His Excellency the State President, Dr Lazarus Chakwera is not relenting in it's commitment to see the arts industry flourish in the country, today I was honoured to open the 2024 National Conference for the Creative and Heritage Industries at The Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe.

Held under the theme; "Empowering Malawi's Creative and Heritage Industries for Sustainable Development," the 3 day conference aims at discussing policy issues and research matters for the arts and heritage sector.

I urged the key players in the arts and heritage industry to be innovative and competitive. I emphasized on the need for our artists' creativity and quality output so that our content is able to compete on the international market thereby making the arts industry a significant player in the economy of Malawi.

I pointed out the government's commitment to the growth of the industry some of which is the recently enacted The National Arts and Heritage Act of 2024. However, I reminded participants of the conference that for the Act to be effective, players in the industry need to be on top of their game.

The conference has brought together representatives of cultural organizations and associations, policy makers, cultural experts, traditional leaders, custodians and communities of practice, researchers, the academia, civil society, development partners, the private sector, the media, among others.

The conference has been organized with the support of the Malawi National Commission for UNESCO, the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Malawi, and the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa (ROSA).

28/11/2024

Today I had the honour of informing the nation through the press of the upcoming 2024 National Conference for the Creative and Heritage which will be held from 3rd to 4th December, 2024.

This conference is part of the project "Strengthening of the Institutional Capacities in Implementing the Malawi National Cultural Policy in line with the UNESCO 2025 Convention on the Promotion and Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions."

This conference will provide a platform for key stakeholders in the arts and heritage sector to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the recently enacted National Arts and Heritage Act (NAH) 2024 which among others, provides a framework for the coordination of programmes within the creative and heritage industry, management of the National Arts and Heritage Promotion Fund, and creation of opportunities for networking and marketing of products and services both locally and internationally.

The forum is of paramount importance as it will bring together a diverse group of participants including representatives from government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), arts and cultural practitioners, academics and researchers, civil society organizations, the private sector, the traditional leaders, development partners and the media.

Among the objectives for the conference are to increase awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the provisions of NAH Act, including the mandate and functions of the Council. Secondly, it aims to review and validate the draft regulations for the operationalization of the National Arts and Heritage Promotion Fund while also reporting on the review of the National Cultural Policy. Thirdly, the conference will disseminate outcomes of the online survey on the contributions of the Cultural and Creative Industries to Development and other research issues for the sector.

On behalf of the Government of Malawi, the Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture expresses its profound gratitude to the Norwegian Government for their support.

15/11/2024

As part of Malawi Government 's delegation to the United Nations' Conference on Climate Change, Conference of Parties 29 (COP29) currently underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, earlier today I participated in a ShareHub discussion.

Under the theme: Leveraging Local Action for Global Climate Finance; The Role of Local Stakeholders in Advancing Climate Action, I emphasized the government's interest and commitment in localizing efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change as opposed to existing systems which are more centralized.

In order to change this, I pointed out that it is crucial that the government at all levels including the local government, has to be included in the adaptation process. In this regard, the Malawi Government is working with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) to employ innovative climate finance mechanisms and sources, to incentivise continuous improvement in climate change responses at local government and grassroot levels where action is most needed.

With 16 major flooding events, two severe droughts, five storm related disasters and a rainfall related landslide since 2010, and certainly other disasters to come, Malawi needs strong and resilient mechanisms to cope up with the challenges. I singled out Performance Based Climate Resilience Programme with the support of UNCDF in which our government piloted in three disaster prone districts. The lessons learnt from this pilot is the importance of localization of climate change interventions which has seen us getting good results with repairs already done on some damaged infrastructure.

I emphasized that indigenous wisdom is already there, however, what is needed is technical assistance.

I see COP 29 as a potentially pivotal moment for the global climate finance landscape, with the expected adoption of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on Climate Finance. NCQG is a key element of the Paris Agreement, designed to set a new financial target to support Least Developed Countries (LDCs), SIDs and African countries in their climate actions.

29/10/2024

On behalf of the Minister of Tourism, Honourable Vera Kamtukule, today I had the honour of officially opening the 9th Meeting of African Wildlife Forensics Network at Sigelege Beach Hotel in Salima. The meeting has pooled together participants from 14 Sub Sahara African states with a common goal of finding how we can incorporate forensics in combatting wildlife crime which continues to thrive.

Corruption is seriously slowing down the fight against illicit wildlife trade such that there is a need for forensic expertise in combatting the vice which according to recent statistics, has seen African countries losing about US$23 billion annually. The wealth and prosperity sustainability of the continent is at risk from the traffickers and criminals.

Wildlife crime has proved costly to Malawi too. Traffickers have proved difficult to tame and as a result, for instance; we have lost the precious miombo trees in Lengwe National Park in Chikwawa to traffickers. These are the precious trees which could take us a good 200 years to replace. This could in turn negatively affect our tourism sector which is largely nature based hence the need for concerted effort to fight wildlife crime as such, forensic expertise could prove handy.

However, on a positive note, it is pleasing to learn that Malawi Government under His Excellency the State President, Dr Lazarus Chakwera with the generous support from various cooperating partners has managed to construct a wildlife laboratory which is a great plus in the fight against wildlife crimes.

Some of the countries that are attending the meeting are; Cameroun, Niger, Senegal, Congo Brazzaville, Namibia, Uganda, Tanzania, Eswatini and Zimbabwe among others. Trace Forensic Network, is the organizing body.

24/10/2024

It was a happy day at Masasa Primary School Grounds on Wednesday where on behalf of His Excellency the State President, Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, I presided over the elevation ceremony of Traditional Authority Masasa of Ntcheu district to Senior Chief level following his recent elevation.

As a government of the people, we are committed to recognition and promotion of various chieftaincies across the nation knowing that traditional chiefs play vital roles, among others; spearheading development, promoting unity and peace, and being custodians of culture for various tribes. It is for these reasons I called upon the newly elevated chief not to abandon his subjects because of his newly acquired status.

I recognized the newly elevated Inkosi Masasa for his keen interest in the development of his area such that he keeps track and submits monthly reports of various developmental projects and activities taking place in his area of jurisdiction to the District Commissioner's office. This is commendable and worthy emulating.

Inkosi Masasa was installed chief in 1992 under Inkosi ya Makosi Gomani of the Maseko Ngoni.