Stories written by Lameck Masina
Lameck Masina is a journalist based in Blantyre, Malawi. He has been in the field since 1995 working in both print and electronic media. Besides IPS, he files for several international media organisations. He is currently working as an online editor for privately-owned Capital Radio in Blantyre, Malawi.

Malawi’s COVID-19 Cash Transfer Almost Ready But Election Fever may Prevent Lockdown

By Lameck Masina
Malawi remains one of the few nations in the world that has not gone into a coronavirus lockdown as the government rushes to meet the conditions of a court order to implement a cash transfer scheme for the poor before doing so. But as some parts of the world are slowing coming out of their lockdowns, it could be likely this southern African nation won’t go into one as the rerun of the country’s presidential election nears. 

HIV/AIDS: Fund Rejection Worries Health Campaigners

By Lameck Masina
Health rights activists in Malawi are expressing concern over the recent rejection of the country’s proposal for close to six hundred million dollars to the Global Fund to fight HIV, tuberculosis and malaria between 2011 and 2016.

Proposed Pension Bill Outrages Malawi Workers

By Lameck Masina
A draft pension bill has created great concern among workers in Malawi, with some hurriedly seeking early retirement before it will be passed. The bone of contention is a section pegging the retirement age for women at 55 and men at 60.
Belita Simpokolwe (in striped T-shirt) is only 13 but her stepfather married her off to a 77-year-old man. Credit: Lameck Masina/IPS

MALAWI: Women Fight Harmful Cultural Practices

By Lameck Masina
An experience which Belita Simpokolwe went through in December last year remains deeply etched in her memory. "Sometimes I fail to concentrate in class when these things come back to my mind," laments 13-year-old Simpokolwe, a grade six pupil at Kawale Primary School, in the northern Malawi district of Chitipa.