MALAWI: Eid Holiday & more – 11th Apr 2024

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 4th of April twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

The Muslim Association of Malawi (or MAM) announced that their Eid Ul Fitr celebrations will be held on Thursday the 11th. This means it will be a public holiday, and many facilities such as schools, banks, and supermarkets will be closed.

The holiday marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan. Sheikh Dinala Chabulika, the Publicity Secretary for MAM, reminded people to give to charity and the less fortunate to celebrate the season.

Moving on, Malawi made the World Economics’ list of the top ten best-governed countries in Africa. According to World Economics, an economics research company, good governance is the ability to embrace principles such as accountability, inclusivity, transparency, and adherence to the rule of law. The World Economics governance index evaluates governance through indicators such as corruption perception, rule of law, press freedom, and political rights.

Malawi came out 7th and Mauritius first.

It is interesting that World Economics thinks the country is performing well in terms of press freedom, especially now that a journalist was recently arrested for a story he published concerning alleged corruption in the government.

On Tuesday the 9th, local press revealed that MacMillan Mhone, a journalist working with the Nation Publications Limited, was arrested in Blantyre on Monday the 10th because of a story he published last year in Malawi24, another news outlet. In the story, Mhone exposed that Abdul Batatawala, a businessperson and corruption suspect, set up proxy companies to circumvent a court ruling that barred him from conducting business with the Malawi government.

Several media houses and human rights groups called Mhone’s arrest a threat to press freedom and demanded his release.

On Wednesday the 9th, the police charged Mhone with cyber spamming, publication of news likely to cause fear or public alarm, and extortion after Batatawala filed a complaint against him.

Speaking of corruption, Martha Chizuma, the Director General for the Anti-Corruption Bureau, may not be in office for long. A local paper revealed that Colleen Zamba, the Secretary to the President and Cabinet, rejected Chizuma’s application to have her contract renewed for undisclosed reasons.

The newspaper got tipped off by highly placed insiders at Capital Hill. But when queried by the media, Zamba said she did not receive any application from Chizuma. Chizuma, on the other hand, said she had no idea her application was rejected.

The government is also under fire concerning a bill that amended the Legal Education and Legal Practitioners Act. The Act required that law graduates undergo courses at the Malawi Institute for Legal Education (or Mile) and pass their exams to be admitted to the bar. However, the new bill, which was passed on Friday the 5th, has scrapped that requirement for some law graduates. It also removed the requirement for newly admitted lawyers to practice under the supervision of a prescribed legal practitioner for a certain period of time.

Titus Mvalo, the Minister of Justice, said they encountered issues implementing the Act since some law institutions already offer courses similar to Mile's. He also said the public also questioned the level of competence of some lawyers.

The move was called into question as it might cause an influx of half-trained legal practitioners in the country. Users on social media called it a “mediocre move by a mediocre government.”

Still on Parliament, officials from the Ministry of Energy and the Electricity Supply Corporation (or ESCOM) hope the President will give the green light to the recently amended Electricity Act Bill. They think that it will help curb the now-rampant vandalism of ESCOM’s assets, such as their transformers, wires and poles, since the amended act offers more severe punishment for convicted vandals.

Under the amended act, convicted vandals will mostly be fined 100 million Kwacha or about fifty-eight thousand dollars and be imprisoned for twenty years. Before this, the fine was five million Kwacha or three thousand dollars, with an imprisonment of ten years.

Common vandalism cases include connecting electricity to premises without written authorization from ESCOM or tampering with electricity meters.

But perhaps people won’t be mad at the government for too long, because it wrote off six billion Kwacha or 3.5 million dollars worth of loans that citizens borrowed from the National Economic Empowerment Fund (or NEEF) - a local entity that gives citizens business loans. Local papers said the Cabinet met on Monday the 8th and agreed to write off the loans. Officials from NEEF begged the government to do so because the loans were affecting the institution’s operations.

However, some economic analysts have called the move into question. For instance, Velli Nyirongo said that, since NEEF is a government-loaned entity, it could be influenced by political agendas.

In trending news, there is a new alcohol called Ambuye Tengeni, Lord take me. The alcohol is in fact taking people, as the police have linked it to eight deaths that occurred in Manase township in Blantyre between Friday the 5th and Monday the 8th. Chrissy Banda, the Spokesperson for the Blantyre District Health Office, confirmed that right now one person is in the intensive care unit, and three were discharged.

The police have since banned the alcohol and arrested those who make and sell it. Such alcohols are made locally and are ‌high in methanol - a chemical used to fuel vehicles and stoves, and in the production of plastics and paints, among others. An anonymous consumer of the beverage told a local paper that a plastic bottlecap of the liquor could knock you out in minutes.

Airtel Malawi, a local telecommunications company, has adjusted its voice, data, and text message prices. They came into effect on Wednesday the 10th. This comes barely four months after their last price adjustment last December. They said that the reasons for these increases are the cumulative loss of the value of the Kwacha and the rise in general and commercial electricity tariffs, among others. A part of their statement said they would reduce the benefits in their bundles and discontinue some of them.

The Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (or QECH) in Blantyre is usually packed with vendors right outside the fence. When the vendors arrived at the QECH on Wednesday the 10th, they found that the Blantyre City Council had set their stalls on fire. They immediately retaliated and held protests, burning old tires and blocking the road to the hospital and Kamba township with rocks and tree branches. The police and the Blantyre City Fire Brigade intervened.

Patrick Liphava, the chairperson for the QECH market vendors, said they were angry at the Council’s short-notice-attempt to relocate them, since it cost them their goods.

Later on, officials from the Council met with the vendors’ representatives at the Blantyre Civic Center. They agreed that the vendors would not operate outside the QECH until next Friday, when the Council will provide further direction.

The country has not printed any new identity cards in over a year, and the National Registration Bureau (or NRB) said the expiry date for all national IDs will remain suspended until January twenty twenty-six. This means that all IDs are valid until then, despite the expiry date indicated on the card.

However, NRB is currently conducting a nationwide National ID Outreach and Community Death Registration Exercise. Under this exercise, citizens who have just turned sixteen will register for their first national ID, and those who lost or damaged theirs can get a new one.

NRB is also carrying out a Community Death Registration exercise to register all deaths from twenty seventeen to date so they can remove deceased persons from their database.

The two exercises are being implemented in Blantyre rural, Lilongwe East, and Rumphi districts.

If you like festivals, we’ve got some news for you. A few weeks ago, the Lake of Stars Festival announced its return after a four-year hiatus. They said they would host their next festival from the 6th to the 8th of September. It will take place in Nkhotakota at Fish Eagle Bay Lodge. Tickets will go on sale on Friday the 12th.

The Urban Music Party (or UMP) Festival will take place from the 25th to the 28th of October at Cape Maclear in Mangochi.

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

We want to invite you to take a look at one of Rorshok's other projects. The Daily Knowledge is a daily pocket newspaper that comes out Monday through Friday. It is in our Ourzine format, a little booklet that you have to print in order to read. In the Daily Knowledge ourzine you’ll find a collection of interesting newsletters and selected articles that take about an hour to read. Visit rorshok.com/ourzines/thedailyknowledge/ to find the latest editions. The link will also be in the show notes.

Pitani bwino!