MALAWI: Heavy Rainfall & more – 17th Sep 2024

Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 17th of September twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

The weather department said the country might have heavy rainfall in the upcoming rainy season, unlike last season's dry spell.

On Friday the 13th, the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services said that expected La Niña conditions, which bring about heavy rainfall, will likely impact Malawi, especially from this December to next April, resulting in better yields for farmers.

During the last rainy season, there was a poor harvest across the country due to El Niño, which caused dry spells in many parts of the country. Many farmers lost their crops and animals to the unbearable heat.

On another note, on Friday the 13th, local news said Chitipa District recorded ten new cases of cholera and one death.

Masida Nyirongo, the Spokesperson for the Chitipa District Health Office, said this brings the number of confirmed cholera cases to twenty-two. He said the most affected areas in the district are those bordering Tanzania and Zambia, and that the Health Office has already sent out a Rapid Response Team to assess the situation in the affected areas.

Locals have their eyes locked on the situation, hoping it doesn’t get as bad as last year, where ninety-six people got infected and three died.

Still on health news, the Ministry of Health recorded three measles cases.

According to a statement the Ministry released on Tuesday the 10th, the Mangochi District Health Office was alerted on a cluster of suspected measles cases on the 29th of August. They collected and tested six samples, and three samples belonging to a seven-month-old, a five-year-old and a seven-year-old came out positive.

The Ministry has urged locals not to panic as they said they have everything under control. However, they urged locals to watch out for signs of measles, such as a rash, fever, and runny nose.

On Monday the 16th, the Malawi National Examinations Board (or MANEB) released the results of the Malawi School Certificate of Education exams, which Form Four secondary school students sat for in June. This certificate allows students to apply to colleges and universities.

According to the statement by MANEB, over 177 thousand students sat for the exams, but a little over ninety-seven thousand passed. This represents a pass rate of 55%, which is a slight increase from last year’s 54%. The statement also said the top three performing districts are Zomba Urban, Mzuzu City and Karonga, while the lowest being Machinga, Thyolo, and Lilongwe City.

Guardians and candidates are currently accessing the exam results on MANEB’s website, but locals can get the results from their examination centers, too.

The full statement has other details, like how to handle queries, if any. Check it out with the link in the show notes.

Last week, there were rumors that the Reserve Bank was going to devalue the Kwacha by sixty percent. The rumors started on social media posts saying the International Monetary Fund had written to and directed the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs to devalue the Kwacha to get more loans from them.

However, on Wednesday the 11th, the Reserve Bank released a statement saying the stories were false and should be ignored. They assured that they had no plans to devalue the Kwacha, and said if they had, they would have announced it through their official channels.

Despite the assurance, things are still not looking too good for Malawi’s economy. The Standard Bank said they are going to increase their official exchange rate from 1,751 to 2,300 Kwacha per dollar in October. This follows an Exchange Rate Outlook that they performed, which forecasted economic challenges.

The Outlook report said Malawi has low revenue collection, high expenditure, and delayed implementation of the integrated financial management system – all of which are necessary for Malawi to qualify for another Extended Credit Facility loan from the International Monetary Fund.

They said this would cause another funding gap, which would bring Malawi back to the economic issues it had when foreign exchange became scarce on local markets.

Things aren’t looking too good for motorists either. Local news said most gas stations in Nsanje district have had no petrol since last week, but it’s unclear why.

Times 360, a local media house, conducted site visits in several areas in Nsanje, including Tengani and Fatima, and found that only diesel was available. Some motorists who use petrol vehicles have resorted to buying petrol on the black market. However, it’s selling at 3,400 Kwacha, which is a dollar and ninety cents per liter, instead of the legal price of 2,530 Kwacha, which is a dollar and forty cents..

There might be a new law that governs how property is valuated.

On Monday the 16th, the Parliament unanimously passed the Property Valuation Bill. One of its important highlights is that it proposes new legislation for regulating and practicing property valuation. Among other things, the bill established the office of the Commissioner of Valuation who will act as a public officer and be responsible for advising the government on all matters relating to valuation activities, such as valuation rates.

In development news, the Malawi Housing Corporation (or MHC) signed a deal that will help them build 250 thousand homes.

On Monday the 16th, the MHC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a Kuwait company, the Al-Bader International Development Company, for a construction project called Project 250. Recall that President Chakwera already launched the project in July this year.

Under Project 250, MHC will construct 250 thousand houses in ten years.

At first, there was excitement about the news, until some people looked into Al-Bader. The company was dissolved in twenty nineteen. So the government might have gotten into a fraudulent deal.

The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (or MACRA) also has its own projects: they are planning to get rid of the use of airtime scratch cards by the 31st of December. Scratch cards have digits that, once loaded onto a phone, allow users to purchase airtime that can be used to make phone calls or purchase internet bundles.

On Friday the 13th, Hatchson Mkwapatira, the Consumer Affairs Manager at MACRA, said they want consumers to use digital services to purchase airtime instead. This is currently done through mobile money and banking apps, or through USSD codes, which allow people to use short codes to automatically access telecommunications services.

But, this new development comes with a catch: all consumers will be required to register their phone numbers with their telecommunication providers to keep using most digital services that your telecommunications provider offers. The registration process is free and doesn’t take too long.

Meanwhile, locals are celebrating the opening of a new public high-end secondary school, Jalira Girls Secondary School, in Rumphi, because its headteacher said the school will offer subjects like music, art and design, all of which aren’t offered at national secondary schools.

Maggie Chima, the school’s headteacher, admitted the subjects won’t be examinable as they are not allowed in the country’s curriculum. However, she says they will provide an opportunity for girls to explore their talents alongside their academic activities.

The school has already enrolled seventy students for the twenty twenty-four/ twenty twenty-five academic year. They started school on Monday the 16th, which is when secondary schools opened for their first term.

And to close this edition, someIn trending news,.Village Headman Assani of Mangochi died in a vandalism incident gone wrong.

On Friday the 13th, Amina Daudi, the Spokesperson for the Mangochi Police Station, said they found the body of Assani – whose real name was Stand Ayami – at Chipunga Estate. He was lying next to an electric pole while holding a hacksaw. The police believe he got electrocuted after climbing an electricity pole belonging to the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi and trying to cut a high-voltage wire, which they found vandalized. The police assume he was trying to steal it.

While the incident is unfortunate, it has raised questions about the morals of the village leaders.

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

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Pitani bwino!