Organisers of Mdawuku wa Atonga (Mwato) Cultural Festival said yesterday that they are 100 percent prepared for this year’s edition to be held on Saturday at Nsani in the area of Senior Chief Mkumbira in Nkhata Bay District. The annual event, which puts in the spotlight Tonga tradition and values, started in 2017 but had breaks between 2019 and 2022 due to Covid and cholera outbreaks. Tonga Heritage Chairperson for Mzuzu Chapter Harris Mzumara said the festival will give people a treat with several activities lined up including traditional dances such as Chilimika, Honala and Malipenga.
Mzumara said this year’s festival is running under a theme which is focusing on environment conservation. He made the remarks when Chibuku Products million to support the event, which has a budget of K48 million. Mzumara indicated that they have not yet met the budgetary obligation, hence asked for more support from well-wishers.
“You would agree with me that deforestation and environmental degradation are getting worse each passing day. So, as a cultural grouping, our message is that we should conserve the environment,” he said. “You will see for yourself the place we are holding the event at; it has a lot of vegetative cover.
We want to show patrons that it is important to conserve what is remaining on the environment,” Mzumara said. Nkhata Bay District Commissioner Rodgers Newa said recently that statistics indicate that the district is losing about 3.4 percent of its trees annually due to deforestation.
Chibuku Products Head of Sales and Distribution for the Northern Region, Kezziland Soko, said the company is a brand of the people who form various cultural groups, hence the support. Soko said their products unify people, just like cultural festivals such as Mwato. “Cultural festivals are one thing that brings people together and we are also called the brand of the people.
So, we are giving back to our people, who also support us,” he said. Mwato was established as Nkhata Bay Tonga Heritage Association before it changed the name to Tonga Heritage. Last year, organisers of the festival used the platform to call upon the government to consider elevating one of the district’s senior chiefs to a rank of a paramount chief to help foster development in the district.
The heritage made reference to other ethnic groups such as the Tumbuka, Ngoni, Nkhonde and the Lomwe, which have paramount chiefs..
