MALAWI: Kamtukule departure & more – 6th Aug 2024

Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 6th of August twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

The road to the twenty twenty-five Presidential Elections keeps bringing surprises, the latest one being the Minister of Tourism’s departure from the United Transformation Movement (or UTM), which is one of the country’s political parties.

On Wednesday the 31st, Vera Kamtukule, the Tourism Minister, was unveiled as the newest member of the Malawi Congress Party (or MCP) at the MCP Headquarters in Lilongwe. When asked why she left the UTM, she told local journalists that she came to her decision after moments of reflection and a few consultations.

Locals have been keeping a close eye on the UTM since its founder and leader, former Vice President Saulos Chilima, died in June.

Speaking of leaders, employees of the Malawi Housing Corporation (or MHC) aren’t too happy with theirs, so they are demanding a new senior management team.

On Wednesday the 31st, the employees staged a nationwide sit-in demonstration across all their offices in the country to force Jordan Chipatala, the MHC’s Chief Executive Officer, to resign. They want other senior officials to resign too.

The employees accused Chipatala and other senior members of incompetence, saying they failed to address the issues that they had presented to them. Some of these include a review of their operations, new remittances, and better working conditions.

The Pensions Sector has been experiencing significant growth, with pension assets standing at 2.8 trillion Kwacha or 1.6 billion dollars as of June twenty twenty-four while in twenty eleven, they were standing at 74.8 billion Kwacha or roughly forty-three million dollars. This growth prompted the Reserve Bank of Malawi to launch the Trustee Development Program, which aims to equip pension fund managers or trustees with skills to help them manage funds effectively.

Doctor Wilson Banda, the Registrar of Financial Institutions, said the effective management of pension funds is a key factor in driving Malawi’s economic growth. He said the growth in pension assets currently contributes 7% to the country’s gross domestic product, while it used to be 2% in twenty eleven. He said they anticipate that it could reach 15% by twenty thirty, hence their desire to improve the country’s pension systems.

Meanwhile, the agriculture sector seems to be taking a steady nosedive, but studies blame the youths for this.

A recent study by the MwAPATA Institute—an agriculture research center—and the National Youth Council of Malawi revealed that youth’s engagement in agriculture has declined over the past twenty years. The statistics show that youth engagement was at 83% in twenty ten, but it fell to 76% in twenty twenty.

However, the study also said that youth’s access to funding programs declined, too, from 54% in twenty ten to 28% in twenty twenty. They think this is one reason why young people are opting out of agriculture.

The study has since suggested the establishment of a special agricultural funding facility dedicated to youths. William Chadza, the Executive Director of the MwAPATA Institute, hopes this might promote inclusive agricultural activities, among others.

Another study might expose serious loopholes in the health sector. An article in The Guardian On Sunday called The Fifth of Medicines in Africa May Be Subpar or Fake revealed that Malawi has the highest number of substandard and falsified medicines in Africa. The article mentioned research findings from the Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia.

The study said the medicines could be contributing to the death of countless patients, however, Malawi’s Pharmacy and Medicines Regulatory Authority said they need to reexamine the methodology used in the study to ensure its accuracy.

Despite this, the news spread like wildfire on social media as locals have shared it with their peers, and several local media houses have published it on their platforms.

Moving on to other news, the University of Malawi announced its second Congregation for twenty twenty-four, but they are yet to announce which programs will be graduating this time around.

According to their statement, the graduation ceremonies will be held on the 28th and the 29th of August at the Great Hall in Zomba City.

They have asked graduates and guardians to keep their eyes out for new updates concerning the graduation ceremonies.

More students are on the path to graduating since the Higher Education Student Loans and Grants Board (or HESLGB), through its maiden Grants Scheme, awarded grants to twenty-six students from the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences to help them cover their tuition fees and living expenses for the second year of their study. The students were awarded the grants for getting distinctions in the twenty twenty-three—twenty twenty-four academic year.

Prince Phwetekere, the Executive Director of HESLGB, said the Grants Scheme targets first-year students from accredited higher education institutions. However, students who were awarded grants in their first year can continue to receive grants in subsequent years if they maintain their distinction grades.

Unfortunately, some fresh graduates will not get to enjoy the fruits of their hard university labor.

Mzuzu University held a graduation ceremony for about 670 students on Thursday the 1st, which was presided over by President Lazarus Chakwera, who is also the Chancellor of the university.

On Saturday the 3rd, local news announced that three students from Mzuzu University died in a car accident while returning from their graduation ceremony held at the university.

Details concerning the accident are unclear; however, local news said the accident happened in the early hours of Saturday at Chimbiya Trading Center in Dedza district.

Twenty other students sustained minor injuries.

On to sports news, three Malawians made it to this year’s Paris Olympics, but none of them will continue.

On Thursday the 1st, Malawian swimmer Filipe Gomes failed to qualify for the second round of the fifty-meter men’s freestyle. He finished in position forty-nine out of seventy-four. He also fell short of his record time of 23.99 seconds, as he swam in 24.11 seconds during the Olympics.

On Friday the 2nd, Asimenye Simwaka, a long-distance runner, competed in the women’s 100-meter race. Locals had high hopes for her after she performed extremely well during the preliminary round of the Olympics. However, Simwaka fell out of the competition after she came in position eight of nine during the first round. Local news said she had pulled her right hamstring during a warm-up before the preliminaries, hence her performance. The news said her injury was quite noticeable as Simwaka could be seen struggling with her right leg while running towards the finish line.

On Saturday the 3rd, the last of Malawi’s athletes fell out of the race. Tayamika Chang’anamuno, a swimmer, came out in position seventh out of eight in the women’s fifty-meter freestyle and failed to qualify for the next round.

While some locals were sad to see their fellow countrymen drop out of the race, many admitted that it was a breath of fresh air to see some Malaiwans at the Olympics.

Lastly, if you love roots and reggae music, then you might want to start saving up some cash for a ticket to a live performance by Jamaica’s Burning Spear.

On Tuesday the 6th, two event organizers – Malawi’s Sound Addicts and South Africa’s Sound System Club – announced that they had teamed up to fly the artist into the country for a live performance on the 26th of October. They are yet to say how much the tickets will cost or where the show will take place. However, according to the poster, the event will be part of Burning Spear’s One People Africa Tour, which will see him performing in other countries including Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Locals are already excited about the show since Burning Spear is one of reggae’s longest-standing artists since he has been making music since the 70s.

We’ve shared a popular performance of his uploaded on YouTube last year to spice up your weekend. You can find the link in our show notes.

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

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Pitani bwino!