Increase in Water Tariffs & more –15th June 2023

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 15th of June twenty twenty-threeA quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

Locals will have to pay more for basic services.

Last week, local news reported that the country’s five water boards had increased their tariffs by an average of fifty percent. The Northern Region Water Board was given a sixty-five percent hike, Blantyre Water Board was given a ninety percent tariff hike, and the Central and Southern Region Water Boards were given a fifty percent tariff hike. Some of the Boards have already implemented the changes, but others will do so gradually.

John Kapito, the Executive Director of the Consumers Association of Malawi, has accused the Boards of pushing their inefficiencies to the customers and has threatened to go to court.

Meanwhile, the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (or ESCOM) has also asked to increase their tariffs.

ESCOM submits a base tariff application to the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority or MERA once every four years.

On Tuesday the 13th, ESCOM asked MERA to approve a 70 percent tariff hike from twenty twenty-three to twenty twenty-seven. They said this will help them finance their operational and capital requirements.

MERA said they will conduct public hearings on ESCOM’s submission in order to decide whether or not to approve the tariffs in July twenty twenty-three in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.

Still on price increases, recall that Illovo Sugar Malawi—the country’s sole sugar manufacturer–increased the price of sugar “to curb illegal exports of the commodity”.

On Wednesday the 14th, the Ministry of Trade and Industry released a statement saying Simplex Chithyola, the Minister of Trade and Industry, and Sosten Gwengwe, the Minister of Finance, held a meeting with Jimmy Lipunga, Illovo’s Board Chairperson and Lekani Katandula, Illovo’s Managing Director on Sunday the 11th.

The government had threatened to issue licenses for sugar imports to other traders if Illovo did not reduce their prices. The government said Illovo agreed to lower their prices and will do so within a week.

Locals were anticipating the reduced sugar prices but were hit with a dramatic twist of events instead.

On Wednesday the 14th, Illovo released a statement saying they had not committed to reducing sugar prices. Olive Kawelama, the Communications and Stakeholder Relations Manager for Illovo, confirmed they had met with the Ministry, but said they were asked to consider reducing sugar prices. This way the Ministry would consider canceling the licenses for sugar importation.

She said Illovo agreed to reply to the Ministry within a week, and not to reduce their prices.

A lot of people are hoping the government will give out sugar licenses to other retailers.

More eye-brow-raising news sprung out after local media revealed that the government had reversed its decision to appoint Mayamiko Nkoloma, a technology expert, as the Commissioner of the National Planning Commission (or NPC).

Last month, Peter Simbani, the Controller of Statutory Corporation, said the government had appointed Nkoloma as the NPC Commissioner, but the Public Appointments Committee had to confirm it.

On Wednesday the 14th, local media shared a private letter from the NPC addressed to Nkoloma, saying the government had reversed his appointment with immediate effect. It didn’t say why.

The private letter was called into question. Some people think something fishy happened, and are side-eyeing the NPC.

Locals are concerned that the prices of commodities might go up because Ralph Tseka, the Spokesperson for the Reserve Bank of Malawi, said on Friday the 9th that the country has run out of foreign exchange reserves.

He said the country’s forex won’t last a month, since the government has been spending fifty million US dollars per month on fuel, depleting the country’s fuel reserves.

Malawi has been facing forex shortages for months, and some economic exports have suggested another Kwacha devaluation. Last week, David Young, the US Ambassador to Malawi, advised President Chakwera to devalue the Kwacha so that the exchange rate for the dollar matches the black market rates.

If President Chakwera follows this advice, the Kwacha devaluation will lead to a price hike for commodities such as cooking oil.

Betchani Tchereni, an Economic Expert, said Malawi has a habit of importing second-hand items (which is illegal), and this leads to a depletion of foreign reserves in the country. Authorities have increased taxes on imports because they are trying to stop people from buying things from outside the country using foreign currency, which as a consequence, leaves Malawi. He made this comment while speaking on the Malawi Revenue Authority’s decision to conduct a physical examination of used underwear.

Speaking of forex shortage, the fiscal police at Kamuzu International Airport arrested five women for money laundering.

They had 338 ATM cards from different local banks used to launder money. The five – Sellina Mkandawire, Fatima Dziko, Diness Mphande, Hanifa Osman and Fukamapiri—all aged between thirty-three and sixty-six – were arrested shortly after landing in the country from Dubai.

The police said the women were working with officials from banks as well as the Reserve Bank of Malawi. There are growing calls for the police to release their findings.

In other news… Last week we mentioned that Ken Zikhale Ng’oma, the Minister of Homeland Security, said they will continue their arrests of refugees since some of them are wanted fugitives.

On Monday the 12th, the government revealed that they had deported Vincent Njondanyo Kanyoni, a fifty-three-year-old Rwandan who is wanted in his country.

Yolande Makolo‎, the Spokesperson and Head of Government Communications, also confirmed Kanyoni’s arrest but did not reveal why he was wanted.

Amidst the government’s “persecution” of refugees, local media has revealed that the Immigration Department issued a Malawian diplomatic passport to Dozy Mmobuosi, a Nigerian national whose background is full with fraud allegations.

Rumors have it that Mmobuosi received his passport two hours after making an application, even though it was after working hours.

Spokespersons for the Homeland Affairs and Foreign Affairs Ministries said the directive to issue a passport to Mmobuosi did not come from their ministries. However, an anonymous source said that President Chakwera ordered Mmobuosi’s passport issuance shortly after meeting with former president Bakili Muluzi last week.

The Immigration Department is notorious for delaying the release of passports so this news has angered a lot of locals who have to wait in long queues to apply for one, and then endure weeks or months before it is processed or approved.

Recall that Mmobuosi is sponsoring Bakili’s Tigwirane Manje which loosely translates as Let's Hold Hands Initiative which seeks to build houses for Tropical Cyclone FREDDY survivors.

President Chakwera co-hosted the first-ever National Conference on Separation of Powers with Rezine Mzikamanda, the Chief Justice, and Catherine Gotani-Hara, the Speaker of Parliament. The conference was held on Monday the 12th and Tuesday the 13th in Lilongwe.

President Chakwera said the conference seeks to pursue accountancy and transparency among people with fiduciary positions in all government branches and agencies.

Two clips from the conference have been trending. In the first clip, Mzikamanda referred to President Chakwera as the Vice President, whose name is Saulos Chilima. He apologized and tried to correct himself, but this didn’t stop people from laughing. A few hours later, Dr John Barker, a fellow of the Lauterpacht Center for International Law, made a similar error while making his salutations too. He referred to the Vice President as “Saulos Chakwera”, and quickly followed it up with, “Here we go again!”, causing the conference hall to erupt with laughter.

You can watch the clips in our show notes.

Authorities’ behavior was called into question since they tend to focus on “insignificant” issues.

On Monday the 12th, authorities in the Central East Education Division (or CEED) say that some teachers wore “seductive clothes”. Billy Banda, the Division Manager, said teachers must dress in a way that does not offend or distract learners or fellow teachers.

A statement dated Monday the 12th by the CEED said bareback dresses, mini-skirts, tight and short trousers, sagging pants, and blouses that show cleavage are among the pieces of clothing that should be avoided.

One comment on Twitter reads: “Our children still learn under trees but it’s the knees you’re worried about”.

And that's it for this week. Another quick question. How are we doing on bias? Ax grinding? We try to be independent and stick to the facts and context with favor and fear of none. How are we doing? So do we seem even a teensy bit biased? Tell us at malawi@rorshok.com

Pitani bwino!