MALAWI: Austerity Measures & more – 11th Nov 2025

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 11th of November twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

The government wants to reduce public spending, so it has introduced austerity measures for the remainder of the twenty twenty-five/twenty twenty-six financial year.

Some of them include that the Treasury will have to approve all new government hires and promotions, and the purchase of expensive assets like vehicles; the government has also chopped fuel allocations for cabinet ministers and other public officers by thirty percent; and the President will approve foreign travel, including the delegates and allocated funds. Government officials will no longer host meetings and workshops at the lake, as they have been ordered to use their offices instead or host their gatherings online.

People are loving the new measures and are pleased that the President is holding public officials accountable.

The government is also determined to make life easier for locals and has removed examination fees for students in public schools. In previous episodes, we mentioned that free public education was one of President Mutharika’s campaign promises.

Unfortunately, students who learn in private schools will still need to pay the full examination fees to the Malawi National Examinations Board. There is a general assumption that kids in private schools come from well-off families since their fees are expensive, and public schools are free.

On Monday the 10th, the Examinations Board opened up registration for candidates who want to sit for national examinations in twenty twenty-six. Registrations will close on the 15th of December.

Despite these celebrated moves, some people are missing the previous government. On Monday the 10th, the Nyasa Times wrote about Vitumbiko Mumba, the former Trade Minister, recalling how his trade reforms broke down cartels that controlled the availability of sugar in Malawi.

The article said the reforms forced Illovo Sugar, Malawi’s biggest sugar producer, to ensure fair prices and a steady flow of the commodity on local markets. At the time, Illovo had been accused of exporting sugar while the country had a serious shortage.

Now that the shortage is back, Nyasa Times assumes that the new government isn’t enforcing Mumba’s reforms, that sugar suppliers are taking advantage and causing a deliberate shortage, which would allow them to increase sugar prices.

Next up.. Driving around in Lilongwe in the Central Region will be much better, now that the Lilongwe Bridge is open.

The Ministry of Transport and Public Works officially opened the bridge on Thursday the 6th after limiting its usage so that it could be re-constructed, thanks to funding from the Japanese government. The construction started in November twenty twenty-two and caused a lot of traffic.

The suffering might have been worth it, considering that the Lilongwe bridge is now one of the best in Malawi, as it boasts a five-lane carriageway.

Locals were so excited to use the bridge that they marched onto it while singing soon after the Ministry opened it up for public use. There’s a short clip in our show notes.

Unfortunately, the rainy season will dampen the mood, since the solar-powered generators at the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (or ESCOM) will not produce as much electricity for the national grid, leading to more blackouts.

However, the weather isn’t the only problem ESCOM has. According to their statement from Sunday the 9th, they are still unable to meet the current electricity demand because their output is not enough for the entire country, forcing them to ration electricity.

ESCOM releases weekly blackout schedules so people can plan accordingly. Check the schedules with the link in the show notes.

Meanwhile, mental health professionals have been making fresh calls for men’s mental health ever since a new study by the Malawi Police revealed that over 480 locals committed suicide between January and September. 415 of those numbers were men.

While commenting on the news, Dr Chiwoza Bandawe, a Clinical Psychologist, thinks the men dominated the statistics because local culture teaches them to “hide their feelings and appear strong even when they are falling apart inside”.

Dennis Mwafuriwa, a Mental Health Expert, said many Malawians are facing difficult life situations like grief, relationship issues, and financial stress, and suggested awareness campaigns and practical skills training on how to cope with stress.

Still, women don’t have it easy, as the twenty twenty-five State of the World’s Girls report revealed that thirty-eight percent of girls in Malawi marry before the legal marriage age of eighteen. The Nation newspaper said this makes Malawi the second country with the highest child marriage stats in the Southern Africa region, after Mozambique.

While launching its End Child Marriage campaign on Saturday the 8th, Plan International Malawi doubled down, saying 634 thousand girls get married by the age of fifteen, while 2.6 million marry before the age of eighteen.

On Monday the 10th, local news said that district numbers are much worse compared to the national statistics. Districts like Mulanje and Mangochi in the Southern Region and Mzimba and Chitipa in the Northern Region average forty-five percent annual child marriage rates.

There are rumors that some women may have been scammed into applying for the Alabuga Start program to work and study in Russia. The program is currently being investigated for alleged human trafficking and forced labor. Rumors say the recruited women are being kept in a factory and being forced to assemble drones for the Russian-Ukrainian war.

On Saturday the 8th, local news said hundreds of young African and Asian women, including Malawians, were tricked into going to Russia. It also said that entities like the Human Rights Watch Southern Africa office and the Human Rights Consultative Committee are trying to find out if the rumors are true.

People want the government to act quickly since lives are at stake.

Now on to trending news.. Shepherd Bushiri, a popular pastor and businessman, is seeking justice for his eight-year-old daughter who died in twenty twenty-one.

In twenty twenty-one, Bushiri booked a flight to Kenya so his critically ill daughter could receive medical treatment there since local hospitals were not equipped to help her. However, Steven Kayuni, the then Director of Public Prosecutions, got an injunction to stop Bushiri from leaving Malawi due to ongoing legal issues, and detained the Bushiri family at Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe for five days. When the court granted permission for Bushiri to travel, his daughter had already died.

Now, Bushiri wants Kayuni and everyone involved in his holdup to pay. He believes they misused their power, leading to the death of his child.

More about Bushiri, who is also the President of Goshen Trust, as on Thursday the 6th, he met with the Film Association of Malawi to discuss strategies to transform the country’s film industry into one that can produce content for global audiences.

While there, they invited top international filmmakers and distributors to collaborate with local creatives.

On Friday the 7th, Bushiri said they want the visit to empower local creatives and give them a platform to shine. Meanwhile, the Film Association team is excited for their upcoming guests, as they feel it will open up global networks for them.

And to close this edition, on Friday the 7th, the Telekom Networks Malawi (or TNM), one of Malawi’s internet service providers, experienced a system error that caused people to receive their monthly 370 gigabytes of data bundles at just 500 Kwacha, about thirty US cents, instead of the usual charge of a little over 156 thousand Kwacha, which is ninety dollars.

Customers quickly flocked to buy the bundle and called it happy hour. A few hours later, TNM released a statement apologizing for the error. They said it occurred while they were upgrading their mobile app, and said they would reverse all the transactions that were done at the incorrect rate.

However, some users jokingly fired back, saying they never complained about the error, so TNM should not fix it.

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

Our new, very cool t-shirts are on the way, right in time for Christmas! Stay with us for the reveal!

Pitani bwino!