MACRA and MultiChoice Resolve their Conflict & more –7th Sep 2023

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 7th of September twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

The dispute between the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (or MACRA) and MultiChoice Malawi (or MCM) has finally been resolved. If you recall, the two went to war because MCM increased the prices of its DSTV services without MACRA’s permission, causing MACRA to get an injunction. After failing to reach a consensus, MCM withdrew its services in Malawi.

In the latest update, on Tuesday the 5th, MACRA released a statement saying they met with MCM on Monday the 4th in Lilongwe, where they decided that MCM would resume its DSTV services in Malawi by Friday the 8th.

Customers of DSTV are extremely happy, but no one knows what really happened in the meeting. No other involved parties, including the Ministry of Information, have commented on the issue.

The Malawi Stock Exchange has been ranked sixth on the African market performance list, which a company called African Markets curates on a weekly basis. According to their findings, Malawi has maintained its position for over a month.

Topping the list from first to fifth are Botswana, the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières SA, which is the regional stock exchange for West African countries; Egypt, Ghana, and Kenya.

Speaking of the Stock Exchange, the First Merchant Bank Capital Holdings (or FMBCH) has surpassed the National Bank and became the second most capitalized company on the Exchange. FMBCH now has a market capitalization of 983 billion Kwacha, or 940 million dollars, while the National Bank has 981 billion Kwacha, or 936 million dollars.

The highest capitalizing company is Airtel Malawi, valued at one trillion Kwacha, or about 950 million dollars. This accounts for approximately seventeen percent of the entire Malawi Stock Exchange equity market.

While it isn’t much of a difference, shareholders of FMBCH will be smiling on their way to the bank as they will have a higher return on their investments.

Unfortunately, that won’t be the case for the customers (2:29 dice algo ilegible que no es customers) of Standard Bank. On Tuesday the 5th, Standard Bank increased the interest rate for September loans to approximately twenty-three percent. Last month, the rate was at twenty-two percent. While it is a slight surge, Standard Bank has been increasing its reference rate almost every month. In January this year, the interest rate was at seventeen percent.

On top of that, Standard Bank’s customers have to deal with increased electricity tariffs, which have been hiked by fifty percent.

The Electricity Generation Company (or Egenco) and the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (or ESCOM) asked to increase their tariffs a few months ago, saying they were making losses at their current rates.

MERA held public hearings in the country’s three major cities – Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu – to review Egenco and ESCOM’s proposal.

On Friday the 1st, Henry Kachaje, MERA’s Chief Executive Officer, announced that the MERA board had approved the hike at a meeting held on the 29th of August. He said the increase will be implemented gradually – by eighteen percent in the twenty twenty-three/twenty twenty-four financial year, then sixteen percent in twenty twenty-four/twenty twenty-five, twelve percent in twenty twenty-five/twenty twenty-six, and nine percent in the twenty twenty-six/twenty twenty-seven financial year. (3:34-3:44 dijo lo que quiso y resumio)

Given the country’s economic situation, any tariff hikes, especially on vital commodities, have devastating effects on the citizenry.

MERA also infuriated locals on issues concerning fuel. Amidst the current fuel scarcity, rumors broke out that MERA was planning to increase fuel prices. This caused panic buying in a few stations. (4:05 dijo situations en lugar de stations)

On Friday the 1st, MERA released a statement denying the rumors. They described them as “fake reports” and urged people to disregard them. They also said that the country had “sufficient fuel stocks to meet national demand”. This statement triggered a lot of locals, as some motorists caught wind of MERA’s statement while in a queue, waiting for fuel to be delivered. Needless to say, MERA’s Facebook comment section was filled with offensive comments.

Fuel scarcity is one of the issues that stem from the country’s shortage of forex. Other affected commodities include medicines and fertilizer. While external factors like Tropical Cyclone FREDDY can be blamed for this outcome, internal factors such as the Kwacha’s twenty-eight percent devaluation are also at fault. (4:54 are at default … and there’re also at fault)

The government has been trying to secure a loan from the International Monetary Fund (or IMF). However, Malawi already has 1.2 billion dollars in external debt. To get another loan from the IMF, Malawi must get assurance letters from China and India, which are considered “main bilateral donors”.

Asking for another IMF loan might be considered a “red flag”, especially amid numerous news on corruption among government officials. But on Tuesday the 5th, Gita Gopinath, the First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, hailed President Chakwera for recovering Malawi’s economy. She said the IMF is starting to see results from Malawi’s economic reforms, much to the dismay of many citizens.

(5:42 more on the positive…) Moving on to positive news, a new airline launched its services in Malawi on Monday the 4th. Airlink, a South African airline company, will be traveling between Malawi and South Africa.

Rodger Foster, the Chief Executive Officer for Airlink, announced that the airline will be operating between Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe and OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The airline will also operate between Chileka International Airport in Blantyre and the South African airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

Jacob Hara, the Minister of Transport, said he is optimistic that a new player in Malawi’s travel markets will make air travel more affordable for locals.

Now moving on to local trends, Benson Vitsitsi, the owner of Kwezy Buses, has been arrested on suspicion of being involved in financial crimes. Kwezy is a fleet of buses that travel from city to city.

On Wednesday the 6th, Alfred Chimthere, the Deputy National Police Spokesperson, said Vitsitsi laundered over 5.7 million dollars since twenty seventeen. They suspect he was working with twelve other people including ten Chinese nationals and two Malawian women – Angela Chigwira and Monica Arame. All twelve are at large.

Chimthere said the police charged Vitsitsi with money laundering, illegal externalization of forex, conspiracy to commit offenses, and aiding another to commit offenses.

In more trending news, Daud Banda, a local citizen, went viral on social media after wearing his graduation gown to work. Banda will graduate on Thursday the 7th from Mzuzu University. (7:25 resumio y dijo he said that he wants to …) Banda told local media that he is very excited about getting his degree, and he wants to show it off to the world. So he wore the graduation gown to Petroda fuel station, where he works as a fuel attendant. He told everyone he served he was about to graduate while wearing a huge smile on his face.

Banda is one of over two thousand graduates who will be awarded their degrees and diplomas this week, after successfully completing their studies at Mzuzu University.

The university had a double celebration as it also marked its twenty-fifth year of establishment. On Wednesday the 6th, Mzuzu University hosted a “Silver Jubilee Celebration” at its campus. Some key highlights include a procession march by alumni of the university and a performance of the Malawi Police Brass Band.

The celebration went on until Thursday the 7th.

In very tragic news, a family of six died in a car accident after the car they were in got involved in a head-on collision with a truck belonging to G4S Security company.

The accident happened on the night of Monday the 4th in Mbuna area, located along the Dedza-Lilongwe stretch on the M1 road. Hastings Chigalu, the Lilongwe Police Spokesperson, said the family sustained severe head injuries and died upon impact.

The truck driver sustained minor injuries.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

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Pitani bwino!