MALAWI: Disaster & more – 28th Mar 2024

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 28th of March twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

On Saturday the 23rd, President Lazarus Chakwera declared a state of disaster in twenty-three of Malawi’s twenty-eight districts because of the effects of El Niño. These districts are in urgent need of food. Some of the affected districts include Blantyre, Lilongwe, Salima, Kasungu and Mulanje.

Recall that el Niño is a weather phenomenon where winds from the ocean are warmer than average, causing high temperatures and little to no rainfall in affected areas. It is not conducive to farming and causes terrible crop yield.

According to the President, el Niño affected about two million people. He has since asked for support from local and international well-wishers. He said they need an estimated 600 thousand metric tonnes of maize valued at over 350 billion Kwacha or over 200 million dollars to curb the looming hunger.

Despite such an exorbitant request, the Parliament passed the twenty twenty-four/twenty twenty-five budget that does not include the 350 billion Kwacha they need to minimize El Nino’s impact. The budget is set at 5.9 trillion Kwacha or about 3.5 billion dollars. It caters to fifty-nine government ministries, departments, and agencies.

The Agricultural sector got the biggest allocation of over 480 billion Kwacha or about 300 million dollars, followed by the Health and Education with over 340 billion Kwacha or nearly 200 million dollars each.

Simplex Chithyola Banda, the Minister of Finance, told the Parliament that they’re optimistic that the Malawi Revenue Authority will meet the targets on revenue collection to help implement the budget. This was called into question, as he might introduce new or increased taxes.

The talk of the budget has highlighted questionable allocations, such as the increase in expenses in the wage bill at State Residences. Local papers indicate that in the last fiscal budget, which ends on the 31st of March, the wage bill in the state residences was at 3.3 billion Kwacha or about two million dollars. But now, it is pegged at twelve billion Kwacha or nearly seven million dollars. That represents a whopping 300 percent hike in just a year.

The move is questionable since the government has been implementing fiscal-tightening policies to support the country’s economic recovery.

Moses Kunkuyu, the Minister of Information and Digitalization, said the new figures reflect the 44% Kwacha devaluation.

He further refuted the media’s claims, saying the State Residences’ approved wage bill in the twenty twenty-three/twenty twenty-four financial year was nearly 6.5 billion Kwacha or 3.7 million dollars, which was then revised to about 12 billion or seven million dollars during the mid-year budget review in November twenty twenty-three. According to him, the new allocation represents an increase of almost 2%.

Kunkuyu has since urged media houses to verify information with his office before releasing it to the public.

Another budget allocation that has people talking is the allowance for university students.

Simplex Chithyola-Banda announced that the upkeep allowance for students in government institutions of higher learning has been increased to 560 thousand Kwacha or a little over 300 dollars per year, up from 350 thousand Kwacha or 200 dollars. This represents a sixty percent increase.

Citizens had been urging the government to reform policies for university students, so this is a welcome move. However, the government should also look into the student loan system to make it more inclusive and accessible to underprivileged students.

On Wednesday the 27th, police in Mwanza arrested two locals, Andrew Stephano and Justin Lewis, for being found in possession of an air-to-ground bomb. They hid it in a bag and were trying to deliver it to Blantyre city from Mwanza district. The two got caught at a checkpoint along the Mwanza to Blantyre road.

Hope Kasakula, Mwanza Police Spokesperson, said that when queried, Stephano and Lewis said they had a buyer in Blantyre willing to spend 1.2 million Kwacha or 690 dollars for the bomb. They said the buyer wanted to remove a certain liquid in the bomb, but they did not say what that liquid was used for or what it was called.

Last week, the Parliament proposed a bill to legalize cannabis, or chamba. On Thursday the 28th, the Parliament passed the Cannabis Regulations Amendment Bill, which seeks to authorize the cultivation and production of chamba. If it goes through, Malawi will make over 700 million dollars every year.

Currently, members of Parliament are at loggerheads concerning the bill. The draft law was called into question as it needs careful consideration because of the impacts that chamba could have on mental health and social upstanding. However, others think laws regulating its use will work just fine.

Members of the Copyright Society of Malawi (or COSOMA) will have to pay higher fees to become members, process their identity cards, and register their works.

To become a member or register your work, you will now have to pay five thousand Kwacha or three dollars instead of three thousand Kwacha or about two dollars. To have an identity card processed, you have to pay four thousand Kwacha or two dollars and thirty cents, up from two thousand Kwacha or a dollar and fifteen cents.

According to the COSOMA statement, they had to adjust their fees to meet the costs associated with their operations, which have also increased.

The new prices will become effective on the 1st of April.

In other news, the police are under fire for firing teargas at youths who were gathered at Capital Hill roundabout in Lilongwe on Monday the 25th. The youths felt the government was delaying the process of sending them to Israel to work there.

The government signed a youth employment deal with Israel a few months ago. Under that agreement, over a thousand youths will go to work on Israeli farms.

Some eyewitnesses said after the police fired teargas, the youths tried to run but the police followed them and fired more teargas at them. After that, some traffic police officers came and cleared the road because President Chakwera was meant to pass through.

Citizens of Malawi and Ghana will no longer pay visa fees to visit either one of those countries. According to a statement by the Ghanaian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, the two nations entered into an agreement on a visa waiver regime for citizens with ordinary, diplomatic and service passports. It came into effect on the 7th of February.

Travelers with a visa can pass through, travel from or travel to Malawi or Ghana for ninety days without recourse to work within a calendar year.

If you prefer to travel locally, know that you might not taste one of Malawi’s local delicacies, a small fish locally known as bonya. because this week, the Rumphi district banned its sale. The Rumphi District Council told fish traders along the lakeshore areas to stop selling it to help sustain its population in Lake Malawi.

Othaniel Duwe, the Fisheries Extension Officer for Chitimba to the Tchalo area in the district, said the Council observed that bonya is the common fish being sold in local markets. He said this indicates that there is a surge of illegal fishing gear, which often catches smaller fish — which is against the law. Legal fishing gears are big enough to catch bigger fish while letting the smaller fish roam free, thus allowing them to breed and multiply properly.

And to close this edition, Thyolo District Council has banned the buying and selling of maize. Rhustin Banda, the Council’s Chairperson, said the move seeks to curb hunger within the district. He said the Council had noted that there were more maize vendors in their local markets, and that there have been growing cases of maize theft. They think the two correlate.

This means individuals living in Thyolo will have to buy maize from other districts since none will be available in their area. If you sell maize in Thyolo, then you may want to consider alternative markets.

And that’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

Have you ever tried to pick something with a group of people, a movie to watch, a restaurant to go to, a book to read, anything like that?....And the process of deciding is endless, divisive, and annoying?....Yeah, us too.

But....there's light at the end of this particular tunnel! Rorshok has developed an app that makes deciding something within a group very easy and fun. If you'd like to be in the first group of people to try it out and give us your opinions and ideas, let us know at info@rorshok.com.

Pitani bwino!