First Lady at Zokonda Amayi Macheza: ‘Women key to Malawi development agenda’

First Lady Gertrude Mutharika says genuine women involvement and participation in various development efforts that the country is undertaking, is, what is required to fast track the social and economic development of the country.

Madam Mutharika said this on Wednesday night at COMESA Hall in Blantyre during the annual Zokonda Amayi Macheza event organised by Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC).

The event held under the theme ‘empower women, empower the nation’ was created from MBC’s popular Zokonda Amayi programme aired on its Radio One channel where women from across Malawi call in to pass greetings to each other and share tips on how to take care of their families.

The First Lady said the theme should remind and call everyone to action to improve the social and economic status of women as a key factor to the social and economic development of the country.

“Women are in majority, about over 52 percent of our total population and they have a special character and talent that when involved they add a lot of value and bring tangible results . It is therefore absurd to believe that this country can attain meaningful development without their strong involvement and participation at all levels,” said Madam Mutharika.

She explained that her Beautify Malawi (Beam) Trust is currently championing girl’s education under the bursaries and girls’ hostels projects as a deliberate effort to ensure that the country creates a socially and economically empowered generation of women.

“We have launched the girl’s hostels project and construction of these hostels in a number of Community Day Secondary Schools is underway. We are also getting school fees sponsorship for needy girls and this year we are expecting to find sponsorship for over 300 girls,” she said.

The First Lady commended the MBC management for adding value to the Zokonda Amayi radio programme by making it a vehicle for women transformation both socially and economically.

Director General for MBC Aubrey Sumbuleta hailed the First Lady for gracing the event saying it demonstrates high level commitment to the MBC cause.

During the event MBC and the Zokonda Amayi Macheza group donated up to 50 bags of cement to Beautify Malawi as part of their contribution to the Girls Hostel project.

Apart from dining and dancing with the First Lady, various women went away with different prizes including a fridge provided by Madam Mutharika.