MALAWI: African Population Conference & more – 21st May 2024

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 23rd of May twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

Don’t be startled if you experience heavy traffic in Lilongwe this week; Malawi is hosting the ninth African Population Conference, which seeks to share information on how the increasing population affects social, economic, and political development in African countries.

President Lazarus Chakwera officially opened the conference on Monday the 20th. It will run up to Friday the 24th under the theme Leveraging Human Capital to Achieve Transformation in a World of Uncertainty.

Over 600 delegates from many African countries attended the conference to discuss the challenges that rapid population growth is bringing to the continent and the measures to control the effects of the boom.

Malawi has finally approved the Free Trade Area agreement, nine years after the government signed the deal. It comprises the East African Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, and the Southern African Development Community. It has a gross domestic product worth 1.2 trillion dollars and a market of 600 million people.

While there are tons of benefits, trade experts fear that the country is not ready because of its weak industries, turbulent economy, and poor infrastructure.

Joseph Mwanamvekha, Malawi’s former Finance Minister, said the assimilation of the county’s economy into wider economies means Malawian goods will compete with others within the continent. He said this might push the country to import more, which will affect its ability to generate forex and jobs, and may cause local manufacturing companies to close due to stiff international competition.

Despite trade experts’ concerns, it seems Malawian products are in high demand in other countries. For instance, a Malawi booth ran out of stock at the Youth Cultural Festival at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing on Thursday the 16th.

Eight Malawian students were part of over 100 nationalities that displayed their nation’s products at the festival. The students showed local foods including Zigege (boiled potatoes coated with flour), Mandasi (or fritters), and Mang’ina (that is, boiled cow feet), among others.

Local news said the food was sold in about two hours, even though the people paid over ten times the local price. Patrons of the event described Malawi’s booth as a haven of entertainment as the students also displayed the country’s traditional dances and music.

Moving on, the US Country Report on Human Rights Practices has raised several human rights concerns.

It found that between twenty twenty-two and twenty twenty-three, government officials like the police inflicted torture or used excessive force when dealing with suspects. It also called out the bad state of prisons, saying they are overcrowded, have poor sanitation, and inadequate food.

The report deemed the government’s twenty twenty-three order for all refugees to return to Dzaleka Refugee Camp a human rights abuse, because the directive banned refugees from seeking employment or educational opportunities outside the camp.

The document also highlighted the continuous arrests and assaults of local journalists, violating the right to freedom of the press.

In response, Moses Kunkuyu, the Government Spokesperson, said they are working with the responsible bodies to ensure they function efficiently.

In another twenty twenty-three document titled the Child Multi-Dimensional Poverty Report by the National Statistics Office (or NSO) revealed that nearly seventy percent of children in Malawi are multi-dimensionally poor, with the majority living in the Central Region. The most affected live in rural areas.

The NSO describes multi-dimensional poverty as having limited access to resources and services such as health, education, good sanitation, and water, among others. Their report shows the spread and the impact of children’s needs beyond money, since they are vulnerable because they are economically dependent on their guardians.

Healthcare workers have threatened to demonstrate against their low salaries and other poor working conditions. The National Organization of Nurses and Midwives in Malawi (or NONM) and the Physician Assistants Unions of Malawi, among others, said they will have a day-long sit-in on the 10th of June. This means only private hospitals will be operating on that day, affecting lower-class individuals since government hospitals are free or cheap.

Shouts Simeza, the leader for NOMN, said the government is delaying the implementation of the higher salaries that they agreed upon in February.

On Thursday the 16th, Adrian Chikumbe, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, said he was hopeful that the parties would continue their dialogue. He warned against the strike, saying it was unconstitutional and would lead to arrests.

Speaking of protests, the Sugarcane Growers Association of Malawi said they will hold demonstrations in June too. They are protesting against the lack of regulatory framework in the sugar industry.

In a statement, Robert John Dziweni, the Association’s Board Chairperson, said this has caused sugar scarcity and high prices, among other issues. He said the Ministry of Agriculture has been working on a Sugar Industry Bill for the past decade. It had to draw up a final draft by September twenty twenty-three and present it before Parliament, but that didn't happen.

Sugar is Malawi’s third largest forex earner, but it has no law protecting it. If passed, the Sugar Industry Bill would regulate and control the growing and sale of sugarcane, and the manufacturing of sugar products. It would also allow the establishment of a commission to monitor this industry.

A few weeks ago, we mentioned that a locally made alcoholic beverage called Lord take me or Ambuye Ntengeni, killed fourteen individuals in one weekend. The recipe might made its way to neighboring country Zambia, as ten people rumored to have taken the same brew have died.

The ten died between Saturday the 11th and Sunday the 12th.

Zambian authorities have since said the death toll could be higher as they have conducted their investigations in one village only. According to Danny Mwale, the Deputy Spokesperson for the Zambia Police, other villages have reported other fatalities, while more individuals have been hospitalized.

He said the victims suffered from severe symptoms like diarrhea and abdominal pains after drinking the beverage made out of Methylated spirit, water, and shoe polish.

In some news on education, you will have to wait a little longer if you were planning to collect your school certificate from the Malawi National Examinations Board (or MANEB).

On Monday the 20th, MANEB announced the temporary suspension of their certificate replacement and upgrading services, as the exams for primary schools are currently in progress, and tests for secondary schools will start next month.

They said they won’t be offering any certificate-related services from now to the 19th of July.

Media reports indicate that couples aged between twenty and thirty-five have filed ninety percent of the divorce petitions that are currently in court. They said this pattern started in twenty twenty.

On Saturday the 20th, Chief Justice Rezine Mzikamanda stressed the importance of strong marriages, saying they play a critical role in a country’s development —with good families leading to good citizens, who in turn develop the country. He said that most cases can actually be reconciled through mediation or mere conversation.

In sports news, football star Tabitha Chawinga won the Golden Boot in the Women's First Division League on Friday the 17th. This marks the end of her season with the French team Paris Saint Germain (or PSG), and also marks her return to China’s Wuhan Jiangda, where she is contracted.

This is Chawinga’s second golden boot in Europe - recall that her first one was with Italian’s Inter Milan in the Seria A Women last year.

In an interview, Chawinga said that while she was happy to win the Golden Boot, she really wanted to help PSG win a second silverware after winning the Coupé de France. They weren’t able to do this, as they lost 2-1 to Olympique Lyonnais.

And to close this edition, we’ve got a recommendation for you! There is an hour-long documentary called Malawi: The Dictatorship that Nobody Noticed about the country’s history from the eighties to the present day. A YouTube channel called Places with over a hundred thousand subscribers posted the film.

Want to check it out? Follow the link in our show notes!

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

We appreciate all our listeners on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms, especially those who subscribe and share the show with their friends and loved ones! If you ever want to share an episode by sending a small MP3 file to someone through a messaging app, you can download every episode directly from our website at www.rorshok.com/malawi. The link is also available in the show notes. Thank you!

Pitani bwino!