New Chairperson, office bearers for Malawi Association UK
The umbrella association of Malawians in the United Kingdom (MAUK) has new office bearers following an Annual General Meeting (AGM) and elective conference, which took place last Saturday, 30th October 2021.
The new office bearers comprise Tadeyo Mphande as MAUK Chairperson, George Ndisale as Vice Chairperson, Jean Mvalo as the Secretary General, Miss Gertrude Munthali as the Vice Secretary General and Henry Ntholowa as the treasurer.
The outgoing secretariat team, which was led by Hannington Gondwe, organised the first-ever glamorous and well-organised AGM and elective conference that took place between 1 pm and 5 pm at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Nottingham.
To welcome the new office bearers, the outgoing team organised a dinner and dance at the same hotel where about 100 people enjoyed a three-course meal and danced the night away.
The outgoing secretariat, which comprised Gondwe (Chairperson), Lizzie Malloch (SG), Susan Chigamba (Vice SG), Saidi Phiri (treasurer) and Shentone Banda (vice treasurer), wished the new office bearers all the best and pledged full support to ensure a smooth transition.
The AGM and elections were streamed on MALAWI Association Facebook page to give an opportunity to those that were unable to attend to hear the work done by the outgoing team and crucially hear the pitches from the contestants for the Secretariat positions.
The outgoing team, besides restructuring the internal processes of Malawi Association UK, has created several good governance policy documents not available when the outgoing team assumed office.
One of the policy documents that was drafted was the election policy document, which has been used for the just ended election.
The policy document amongst other things aims to eliminate the geographical advantages that plagued previous elections that led to people residing from areas where the AGM/elections were taking place to have a numerical advantage.
To counter this, a team of independent election commissioners led by Bishop Robbie Chiphaliwali of Living Waters Church was set up to manage the election process whose starting point was self-nomination or candidates being nominated by community members.
The candidates that showed interest had to complete an expression of interest form that was used by the election commissioners with checking eligibility and the shortlisting process.
Besides Chiphaliwali, the other independent election commissioners were Dr Charles Kachisa (community leader and lecturer), Eve Hamuza (community leader and qualified accountant), Christina Nyirenda (community leader and Nurse), Mzondi Lungu (qualified lawyer), Yendamo Kapalamula (community leader and professional social worker) and Alex Sukali (community leader and entrepreneur).
Gondwe, who did not contest, informed the incoming team last Saturday that ‘the outgoing secretariat had a specific task, which was to reorganise the internal structures of Malawi Association so that moving forward it should be able to withstand external scrutiny.
“Therefore, the foundation is set for the new team to comfortably engage external stakeholders and continue to add value to the Malawian community in the UK,” he said.
Gondwe also reassured the incoming team that the outgoing team will be there to support the new team, when requested to, as the improvement of the welfare of Malawians should and is the central focus of all Malawians in the UK.
He further wished the new team well and said he had no doubts that the Association is in capable new hands and look forward to the Association soaring to greater heights.
The AGM and elective conference was sponsored by MotoMoney a newly launched money transfer company (https://www.motomoney.com).
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