National Bank, partners Malawi army, Catholic Church to plant 100,000 trees in ‘go-green’ campaign
National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc, a subsidiary of conglomerate Press Corporation Limited (PCL) plc has partnered with the Malawi Defence Forces (MDF) and the Roman Catholic Church to plant 100,000 trees this Saturday (January 6, 2018) which has been declared the NBM national tree planting day.
NBM Head of Strategy Marketing and Corporate Affairs Wilkins Mijiga said in an interview with Nyasa Times that the bank has decided to set aside January 6, 2018 as an NBM nationwide tree planting day as a commitment of being a private sector change agent in making Malawi green again.
“The Bank is planting up to 100,000 seedlings partnership with MDF and the Catholic Church with Technical support from the Forestry Directorate of the Department of Forestry and Natural resources and has set aside 6th of January 2018 as a nationwide Tree Planting day.”
“This is the Bank’s Flagship Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) campaign in line with its Sustainability and Social Responsibility ethos.
“We believe that the task of rehabilitating and restituting the state of the environment in Malawi needs leadership at all levels and as a leading Corporate Citizen, National Bank wants to be the private sector change agent in this area of making Malawi Green again. That is why it partnered with equally serious minded and focused institutions like MDF and the Catholic Church in embarking on this leadership journey,” said Mijiga.
He said in Zomba, NBM Chief Executive Officer Macfussy Kawawa will be joined by MDF Commander General Griffin Spoon Phiri and other bank officials, customers and Army officials to plant trees at Cobbe Barracks, Changalume Barracks and Malawi Army Airwing.
“In Lilongwe the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Mr. Chauncy Simwaka alongside Mr. George Nyirenda Manager of Capital City Service Centre will lead the tree planting in Dzalanyama Forest Reserve.”
“In Blantyre the Vicar General, Monsignor Boniface Tamani and our Head of Business Process Management and Administration Mr. Brian Boby will lead the campaign at Limbe Cathedral while in Mzuzu our Mzuzu Service Centre Manager Mr. Eric Munthali and the Commanding Officer of 3 MR (Moyale Barracks) will lead the Campaign,” said Mijiga.
He said the entire National Bank staff and where possible customers will join MDF and Catholic Church members in planting the trees.
“The main types of trees to be planted are natural trees especially those that have a very great pedigree in water and environmental conservation like Mbawa, Mchonya, Msambafumu, Tsamba, Mlombwa, Mlongoti, Nsangu and others,” said Mijiga.
Mijiga said NBM started the ‘go-green campaign’ last year in afforestration drive with two main partners, the MDF and Archdiocese of Blantyre of the Roman Catholic Church before indulging staff members in various service centres to compete in growing nurseries.
“We are delighted that the board approved that the ‘go-green campaign’ be increased and expanded in the 2017/18 rain season. The ills and negative impacts of environmental degradation and damage can never be over emphasised, suffice to say that the devastating power outages we experienced in 2017 are just but a few of the examples of the consequences of a damaged environment,” said Mijiga.
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