MALAWI: Fuel Shortage & more – 22nd Oct 2024

Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 22nd of October twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

Fuel is scarce in the country. Most roads are filled with long queues of motorists who have parked their cars at gas stations, waiting for fuel to arrive. The Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (or MERA) acknowledged the fuel shortage and assured that they are working to stabilize the situation.

Fitina Khonje, MERA’s Consumer Affairs And Public Relations Manager, said that the lack of foreign currency caused the scarcity, but that they have everything under control. A a quick scroll on MERA’s Facebook timeline shows multiple posts of fuel delivery schedules, which they introduced to help motorists get fuel.

On Wednesday the 16th, MERA also banned locals from purchasing fuel in jerrycans. They said this leads to fuel trading malpractices, where some locals hoard fuel or buy it in bulk to sell to others at exorbitant prices.

The Electricity Supply Corporation won’t give locals a break either. On Wednesday the 16th, they said people should brace for power outages because they have a low electricity supply. They reduced their electricity generation on purpose to make way for maintenance works.

They didn’t say where or why these maintenance works were happening, but it might be at places which had been vandalized. Last week, the Corporation complained that they were losing too much money due to vandalism.

In other news, on Friday the 18th, Annabel Mtalimanja, the Chairperson of The Malawi Electoral Commission, announced plans to implement a nomination discount of fifty percent for all female candidates who want to contest in the twenty twenty-five Presidential Elections.

She said the move seeks to tackle financial challenges that women face when trying to get into politics. She also said they want to increase female representation in Parliament from the current twenty-two percent to at least thirty percent. Their ultimate aim, however, is to get to a fifty percent female representation.

Mtalimanja said the Commission will give all the details about nomination fees in November.

Speaking of Mtalimanja, opposition parties are demanding that she step down from her position. On Wednesday the 16th, the Democratic Progressive Party, the United Transformation Movement (or UTM), and the Alliance for Democracy party, held a press conference where they alleged that Mtalimanja is compromised as she is allegedly affiliated with the current ruling party, the Malawi Congress Party (or MCP). They also alleged that Andrew Mpesi, the Chief Executive Commissioner for the Malawi Electoral Commission is also linked to MCP and should step down too.

They accused the Commission of cooking up voters’ registration figures. The opposition parties warned that if the two don’t step down, they will call for nationwide demonstrations.

Going back to nomination fees for presidential candidates, the UTM has pegged them at twenty million Kwacha, which is about twelve thousand dollars.

The price was put into question as it might have been too high, but Felix Njawala, the Party Spokesperson, said they do not have any donors to fund their activities. He believes their members are true patriots who will not mind paying the fees and that they agree with the prices, since none of them have complained.

Njawala might be right, because Fred Kalua, a member of the UTM, better known by his musician name, Fredokiss, announced that he would be running for the presidency in the upcoming elections. He broke the news on his Facebook page on Thursday the 17th and said it is time for the youth to be bold and take charge of their future.

Fredokiss will make his candidacy official during the UTM Convention, which will take place on the 17th of November up north in Mzuzu city.

In other news, traders will be able to import goods between Malawi and Mozambique without paying duty. This follows an agreement called the Simplified Trade Regime that the governments of the two countries signed on Friday the 18th.

Sosten Gwengwe, the Minister of Trade and Industry for Malawi, clarified that the deal only applies to goods that originate or are produced from either country. He believes that this will help create job opportunities and income for traders of both countries and also improve their economies.

The Malawi Police Service is in high spirits after noting an eighty-five percent decrease in road accidents in the just-passed Mother’s Day holiday, which was celebrated on Tuesday the 15th. Peter Kalaya, the National Police Spokesperson, said the country only registered four accidents, compared to twenty-six that occurred during last year’s holiday.

He said the decline in accidents is due to more traffic officers on the road, which is part of an initiative that the Malawi Police Service has been running in partnership with the Directorate of Road Traffic and Safety Services.

Unfortunately, the numbers don’t look so good for child marriage in Malawi. During a commemorative event for the International Day of the Girl Child held in Mwanza district in the south, Nelida Rodrigues, a Representative of the UN Fund for Population, said half of the girls in Malawi marry before eighteen, and thirty percent give birth before nineteen.

At the event, the Ministry of Gender launched a revised version of the Ending Child Marriage Strategy to change the current situation.

In trending news, a few months ago, the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (or MACRA) closed down Ankolo, a popular courier company, because it failed to pay its license fees on time.

On Wednesday the 16th, a letter from MACRA directed to Ankolo showed that the delivery service provider might be back on the market soon. The letter was directed to Owen Kamwendo, the Manager of Ankolo, and said that MACRA had approved Ankolo’s application to have a Domestic Commercial Courier License.

However, the letter also said Ankolo needs to pay five thousand dollars within thirty days for the license to be gazetted, or else it will be withdrawn.

Next up, word broke out that the National Council for Higher Education had accredited the Bachelor of Law (Honors) program to the Blantyre International University, and people could not stop talking about it. Before this, the university offered the course illegally, so its degrees were not recognized and, therefore invalid.

However, the Council said the accreditation is valid from October twenty twenty-four to October twenty twenty-nine, which equals one academic cycle. The accreditation period is so short because the Council believes the University has several areas to work on. Unfortunately, the letter did not say what these areas were. It only said the school has to submit an improvement plan in three months or be considered an institution that failed to meet the Council’s standards

The Copyright Society of Malawi (or COSOMA) announced that they would distribute royalties to over a hundred artists, authors, and publishers on Thursday the 24th in the central region, in Lilongwe city. The royalties cover works reproduced between October twenty twenty-three and March twenty twenty-four, and amount to over 900 million Kwacha, which is 520 thousand dollars.

Shadreck Kumtengo, the Head of Distribution at COSOMA, said that the “upcoming distribution not only rewards the contributions of local talent but also highlights the significance of protecting creative works in Malawi."

And to wrap up this edition, one artist in particular is receiving special attention. Hazel Mak, a musician, was nominated for the Best UK African Artist award at the international Black Entertainment, Film, Fashion, Television, Arts and Sports Awards which will take place on Saturday the 26th in London.

When interviewed by local media, Hazel Mak said she was excited about her nomination. She said she considers it a sign that Malawian music is becoming internationally recognized.

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

Thanks for tuning into the Rorshok Malawi update. You can connect with us on social media as on Twitter as @RorshokMalawi or Instagram as @rorshok_malawi

Pitani bwino!