The Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Authority (MAGLA) on Monday hosted Southern Region-based journalists to equip them with the knowledge to educate the public on responsible gambling and its regulations. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒇 40 𝑱𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔 from different media houses including Community Radio stations. Speaking during the opening of the training session, MAGLA Director General Racheal Mijiga emphasized the pivotal role of the media in driving awareness about gambling and its implications. “𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦. 𝐺𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔; 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡,” said Mijiga. Mijiga urged the media to help dismiss misconceptions, ensuring the public understands gambling as a recreational activity. “The first responsibility starts with me, as an individual, to understand what is expected when it comes to gambling, the benefits and the ills. The media’s role is to sensitize and drive awareness, highlighting that gambling should be approached as entertainment after meeting other financial obligations.” “The Authority has made strides in raising awareness. This year, we have intensified our efforts through mass door-to-door campaigns conducted monthly, and outreach programs at trading centres. These initiatives aim to educate people on what gambling is truly about,” explained Mijiga. Emmanuel Chibwana, Secretary General for the Southern Region Press Club, underscored the importance of journalists being well-informed about gambling and its regulations. “Journalists need to understand how gambling operates and the regulations involved for them to report responsibly. As you know, MAGLA is promoting responsible gambling, so as journalists, we need to know what responsible gambling is all about.” “If a journalist knows and has the information, it will be very easy for him or her to inform others. But for somebody who has no information, it becomes challenging to educate others,” said Chibwana. The training concluded with a call to action for journalists to champion responsible gambling through their platforms, ensuring the message reaches all corners of Malawi. MAGLA reiterated its commitment to working closely with the media to uphold its mandate of regulating the industry while protecting citizens.

The Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Authority (MAGLA) has supported this year’s Nation Publication Limited (NPL) Mothers’ Fun Run Project for Chikwawa District Hospital with K10 million.Speaking during a symbolic cheque presentation in Blantyre, MAGLA Director General Rachael Mijiga said the Authority thought of donating the money to support the noble cause that NPL has been doing.“This is the 19th year for the mother’s fun run to be taking place and we always come in to support because they are doing a great job. Mothers are the bedrock of society, if we have strong and healthy mothers, they will have strong babies that will turn out to be future productive citizens of this country.”“So, we all need to come in and hold hands as the government cannot do it alone, it cannot be everywhere and that is why we need to chip in,” said Mijiga.In his remarks NPL Weekend Nation Editor Steven Nhlane hailed MAGLA for the donation which he said will go a long way in boosting the Mothers Fun Run cause of reducing maternal and neonatal deaths.“Our target is to raise K300 Million and so far, we have covered about half of that amount. The program this year will be implemented in Chikwawa District which has 12 health facilities, said Nhlane.

General surgical procedures at Mangochi district hospital are expected to improve after Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Authority (MAGLA) donated an anaesthesia machine worth 26 million Kwacha. Speaking during the official handover ceremony of the anaesthesia machine in Mangochi, Board chairperson for MAGLA Benard Ndau, said the donation falls in line with the institution’s mandate of using part of its generated resources, to improve social services in the communities, while at the same time promoting tourism. He added that Mangochi being one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country for both local and international tourists, there is need for the district to have provision of quality health services because tourists are attracted to sites which have all basic amenities. District Medical officer for Mangochi Dr Mark Kamfunda in his remarks explained how huge of a challenge it has been for the hospital to treat critical cases requiring surgery, after its machine broke down early January this year. He said this resulted into 120 referrals to Zomba district hospital, a move which has proven to be costly for both the hospital and patients. Dr Kamfunda said the donation by MAGLA is timely, and will go a long way in serving the people of Mangochi and surrounding communities. Mangochi district hospital was opened in 1981 and carters for a population of more than 1.3 million people. It is also the main referral hospital for 56 surrounding health centres.

Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Authority has donated 10 million Kwacha towards the 2023 Nation Publications Limited safe motherhood initiative – mothers’ fun run. In her remarks before making the cheque presentation in Blantyre, MAGLA Director General Rachel Mijiga emphasized on the need for all citizenry to take the responsibility of ensuring that mothers give birth in a safe and healthy environment, in order to reduce maternal deaths. She added that households are part of the institutions that form the economic structure and a mother holds that institution, as such, functional households, with healthy mothers will lead to having productive youths who contribute greatly to the economic development of the country. Therefore, she called upon corporate citizens, to invest in safe motherhood for Mother Malawi to have a healthy pipeline of productive youths that feed into the labour market for the efficient and effective operations of economic sectors, hence MAGLA’s support to the noble cause. Receiving the donation, deputy CEO for NPL Alfred Ntonga expressed gratitude for MAGLA’s gesture, saying it will go a long way in saving the lives of mothers and children in Malawi. This year, the initiative targets Nkhatabay District Hospital and 23 surrounding health centres. Over 200 million Kwacha is expected to be raised for the cause.

The Malawi Gaming & Lotteries Authority (MAGLA) was the main sponsor for this year’s Mulanje Mountain Porters Race which was held on Saturday in Mulanje, in which Evance Nyazule won in the men’s category while Teresa triumphed in the women’s section. The event was graced by high profile guests the Minister of Tourism , Vera Kantukule (Guest of Honour), Malawi National Council of Sports Board Chairperson, Sunduzwayo Madise , Malawi Gaming & Lotteries Authority Director General, Rachel Mijiga and the District Commissioner for Mulanje, David Gondwe.