MALAWI: Forex Shortage & more – 25th Feb 2025

Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 25th of February twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

Police in Lilongwe City in the Central Region have been raiding homes in search of people who were keeping forex in their homes illegally and made some arrests.

On Thursday the 20th, the news said police seized 700 thousand US dollars from two people - a Chinese and a Filipino. They also confiscated thirteen unlicensed guns from the two men.

On Sunday the 23rd, the police also arrested five people for keeping South African Rands and US dollars in their homes illegally.

Peter Kalaya, the National Police Spokesperson, said they are following leads from whistleblowers to make the arrests. However, some social media users from Lilongwe shared that their cars were searched by the police at random.

Still on forex, The Center for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (or CDEDI) accused government officials, ministers, and banks of trading forex on the black market.

During a press briefing on Thursday the 20th, Sylvester Namiwa, the CDEDI Executive Director, said some authorities were requesting funds on the pretext of using them for official government business. He added that others were using their authority to get forex from banks, and then they sold it on the black market at inflated prices.

A dollar at the Reserve Bank is 1,751 Kwacha, but it’s over 5,000 Kwacha on the black market and the rate goes up every other day.

In case you’re wondering just how bad the forex situation is, one of the country’s biggest food stores, Food Lovers Market, has closed its Lilongwe – Gateway Mall store.

The statement the corporation released on Friday the 21st said the country’s trading environment is too challenging, especially because of the severe forex shortage. They said this has made their business unsustainable as they are making significant financial losses.

Their statement didn’t mention anything about their Blantyre store, but consumers fear it will also be closed down soon.

Another notable brand, Chibuku Products Limited, announced that their Super Maheu drink will no longer come with straws because of the forex shortage, which has made it hard for them to consistently source straws internationally.

According to their statement, the company decided to continue supplying Maheu without straws until the forex situation stabilizes, instead of halting Maheu production altogether.

Social media users were shocked that the extent of the forex shortage had gotten this bad. Some were surprised and saddened that Malawi does not produce its own straws, although plastic companies exist in the country.

Meanwhile, vendors who sell second-hand clothes imported from Europe in Lilongwe took to the streets, protesting the prices of bales of the clothes, which have skyrocketed due to the forex shortage. They marched to the Parliament and stoned some MPs who tried to speak with them.

We’ve got a video, check it out with the link in our show notes.

Local news said that the vendors and other business operators within the vicinity agreed not to open up shop to force authorities to offer them solutions. So business in Lilongwe was at a standstill for most of the day.

Later on, Sosten Gwengwe, the Minister of Trade and Industry, said the government stands with the vendors and revoked licenses for all wholesale traders who import bales of second-hand clothes to force them to reduce their prices. However, analysts think this is a short-term solution as the prices of bales reflect the forex situation.

The government might get more trouble from civil servants.

In the first week of February, the Civil Servants Trade Union demanded that the government increase their salaries by 44% and their allowances by 200%. The Union met with government officials on Friday the 21st to discuss the issue, but the civil servants rejected the government’s offer because it was way below their demands. They refused to tell the media how much the government offered them, and only said they failed to reach a consensus.

The two parties will meet again on Friday the 28th, but the Union said they are ready to hold demonstrations if they don’t get what they want.

The State House is still doing some mending after President Lazarus Chakwera’s State of the Nation Address (or SONA) got some backlash - which we covered in our last episode.

On Friday the 21st, the President hosted the SONA For Youth and invited 100 youngsters to a town-hall-style meeting to discuss his previous SONA and other issues the youths may have. The event was also live streamed, check it out with the link in our show notes.

Unfortunately, the event wasn’t well received, especially after the State House announced they would be taking in pre-delivered questions from the audience — this would allow the government to vet questions and only choose the ones they liked.

The SONA For Youth might have been a little too late, because the government had not engaged youths since winning the elections in twenty twenty.

One of the reasons the first SONA was criticized was because the government lied about implementing some development works. For instance, they said they had built some clinics in Nkhata Bay District in the Northern Region, but they hadn’t. In fact, the Ministry of Health only launched the construction of the four clinics on Sunday the 23rd.

The Ministry said the health facilities will be completed within three months.

Instead of being applauded, the government was accused of trying to garner support ahead of the elections.

On that note, the presidential elections are coming up this September, and a lot of discussions on social media indicate that people are leaning towards voting old presidents into power. But maybe the newly formed party Liberation for Economic Freedom (or LEF), will change some minds.

Aaron Silanga, the LEF Publicity Secretary, told local news that the party will hold its first-ever convention on the 4th of April, where they will establish a strong leadership structure. He also said all positions within the party will be contested because they believe in democracy and transparency.

Silanga said they have no intentions of forming alliances with other parties ahead of the elections.

Still on the elections, Sukez, a prominent filmmaker, took to his Facebook page on Saturday the 22nd to warn youths about politicians who may use them during the upcoming elections.

Sukez revealed that in twenty twenty, a major political party asked to borrow his camera equipment to cover their campaigns, saying they would repay him for his generosity after they won. He said he offered them free services that were worth millions, but ever since they got into power, they have ignored all his messages for support, including attending his film premiers and helping with flight costs to attend award shows where his movies were nominated.

He called politicians crooks and urged youths to tread carefully with them. Some people sympathized with him. However, many poked fun at his situation. Some also said that he only revealed the story because he didn’t benefit from the government.

On Sunday the 23rd, there was a nationwide blackout but the Electricity Supply Corporation (or ESCOM) didn’t know what caused it.

The lights went off around 4 PM, and ESCOM released a statement around 5:30 PM saying they experienced a system shutdown, but didn’t know why. The lights came back on around 9 PM in most parts of the country, but other ESCOM customers spent the rest of the day with no electricity.

According to social media posts and comments, many are tired of ESCOM and its excuses. Most comments on ESCOM’s social media posts mocked them for not having a handle on things.

Let’s close this edition with sports news. The Football Association of Zambia (or FAZ) gave two local footballers, Tabitha and Temwa Chawinga, Certificates of Recognition on Sunday the 23rd, during an awards ceremony in Zambia.

Andrew Kamanga, the FAZ President, said they recognized the two sisters’ exceptional accomplishments, their role in advancing women’s football, and for setting a benchmark for excellence in the sport.

Speaking in the award ceremony, Tabitha Chawinga, who also is the Captain of the local women’s football team, the Scorchers, said the recognition serves as fuel for their work.

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

In case you didn’t know, besides the Rorshok Malawi Update, we also do others! We’ve got many country updates from Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe. But we also have non-country updates, including the Arctic Update, about the area north of the Arctic Circle, the Multilateral Update, about the world’s major multilateral institutions, and the Ocean Update, about the 70% of the world covered in salt water,

If you want to check out the full list of updates, go to roroshok.com/updates. The link is in the show notes.

Pitani bwino!