MALAWI: MCP Members Arrested & more – 16th Dec 2025

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 16th of December twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

Kicking off this edition, three members of the opposing Malawi Congress Party (or MCP) were arrested.

On Friday the 12th, the police arrested Vitumbiko Mumba, the former Minister of Trade and MCP running mate, from his home for comments he made during the General Elections, where he insinuated that they were rigged.

The same day, Richard Chimwendo Banda, the MCP Secretary General, handed himself over to the police for the attempted murder of an MCP Youth League member during his time as the MCP Youth Director.

On Sunday the 14th, Jessie Kabwila, the MCP Spokesperson, also handed herself over to the police. Local media said that her arrest may be related to Mumba’s case.

MCP officials have since accused the government of harassing its members.

In other news, The Department of Disaster Management Affairs says this year’s rains have damaged over eight thousand homes and left over forty people injured by lightning strikes. This month alone, fourteen people died compared to eleven in December last year.

On Wednesday the 10th, local news said the storms also destroyed important infrastructure like electricity poles, leading to blackouts in several areas across the country.

The Roads Authority has been doing emergency repairs because mudslides ruined major roads like the Lakeshore Road in Nkhotakota District in the Central Region, which was damaged severely on Saturday the 13th, from heavy rains that started on Wednesday the 10th.

Unfortunately, weather forecasts say the heavy rains will go on until Saturday the 20th, and may cause flash floods in the Central and Southern regions.

The government announced new boards for sixty-six State-Owned Enterprises and Statutory Corporations, such as the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences. The appointments became effective on Tuesday the 9th.

According to a statement by the Chief Secretary, the new Boards of Directors will help public institutions perform better, improve service delivery to locals, and be accountable for how they use public funds.

Local news called this one of the government’s biggest overhauls in public sector reforms.

Since President Peter Mutharika wants to hold public institutions accountable, he introduced a Good Governance Unit that will work with the Treasury, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, and other government entities to track financial activities like procurement and expenditure.

On Monday the 15th, the government said the Unit would help create functional systems to fix persistent issues like the current fuel and forex shortages.

Political analysts feel the government is on the right track, but warned that things could go south easily. For instance, Wonderful Mkhutche advised that the Unit work closely with the Anti-Corruption Bureau to avoid corruption.

In more news from the executive, on Friday the 12th, the Malawi Gazette Supplement reported that the government had increased tollgate fees for drivers traveling on the M1 road between Blantyre in the Southern Region and Lilongwe in the Central Region, effective January twenty twenty-six.

The Gazette said that some fees have doubled, such as Class 1A and Class 1B vehicles, like sedans and pickup trucks, which will now have to pay 2 thousand Kwacha, one dollar and fifteen cents.

However, drivers and other key stakeholders, like the Minibus Owners and Consumer Associations of Malawi, want the government to justify the move, as tollgate fees are supposed to fix roads and the M1 is in bad condition, in spite of the Roads Authority collecting 12 billion Kwacha, nearly 7 million dollars, in tollgate fees between October twenty twenty and October twenty twenty-four.

A new report from the Reserve Bank of Malawi said the country’s tea production earned about 7 billion Kwacha (4 million dollars) in the third quarter, which is significantly higher than the 3.1 billion Kwacha (1.8 million dollars) earned in the previous quarter.

The figures are interesting since the third quarter’s tea production was one of the lowest recorded in recent years at 4.7 million kilograms (over 10 million pounds), which is lower than the 13.4 million kilograms (about 3 million pounds) from the previous quarter.

The tea earnings will provide an 8% boost to the economy, since tea is one of Malawi’s biggest forex earners.

Reports say that Malawi could be losing 25 million Kwacha (about 14 thousand dollars) every day due to illegal mining, yet legal mining activities earned nearly 54 billion Kwacha (31 million dollars) between twenty twenty-two and twenty twenty-three, which is less than 1% of the country’s gross domestic product.

Local news said this shows a huge gap between the amount of minerals Malawi has and the amount of money the country generates from them. Some local communities illegally mine minerals like gold, although it causes them bodily harm or even death. In some areas, like Machinga in the Southern Region, illegal mining activities have increased flood risks and soil erosion.

Several activists have since urged the government to improve their tracking of illegal mining.

Locals can now fly from Malawi to Uganda, now that Malawi Airlines has launched a direct flight from Lilongwe to Uganda’s Entebbe city, where their main international airport is located.

Malawi Airlines launched its first direct flight to Uganda on Friday the 12th, and told local media that they would fly to Uganda four times a week. However, the airline said it will increase its flights if it gets more customers and overall demand.

Local construction company Unik Construction is being accused of firing its employees for no good reason and failing to pay due benefits.

Local media got wind of the news after several employees alleged that the company had let them go without disciplinary hearings or written notices, all of which are against the country’s labor laws. On Monday the 15th, local news reported that some former employees had lodged formal complaints with the Labor Office.

Unik Construction refused to talk to the media, so no one knows their side of the story.

People were shocked that Evelesi Chilumpha, an eighty-one-year-old woman, tried to commit suicide by plunging into the Shire River in the Southern Region on Thursday the 11th.

The police told local media that Chilumpha had been complaining that her granddaughter’s seven children had been stealing from her. They believe her frustration with the issue caused her to want to take her life. Fortunately, a businessman saw everything happen and was able to save her from the crocodile-infested waters before she got harmed.

The last media update said the police had gotten counselling services for Chilumpha and were trying to trace her family. However, the news sparked a social media conversation on how young people treat their elders.

In lighter news, twenty twenty-six is looking a bit clearer with the list of public holidays that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development approved for next year.

According to the statement shared on Friday the 12th, people will have twelve public holidays, including Martyrs’ Day and Independence Day, and some religious holidays such as Easter and Eid Ul Fitr.

The Ministry announced that any holidays falling on a Saturday or Sunday will automatically be observed on Monday as well.

Closing this edition, the country crowned its twenty twenty-five Miss Malawi on Saturday the 13th in an event that attracted hundreds from across the country.

Twelve finalists contested in the beauty pageant, and twenty-six-year-old Thandie Chisi came out as the winner after competing in various categories such as dinner wear, cultural and traditional wear, and swimwear. Her win comes with a 50 million Kwacha cash prize, which is nearly 30 thousand dollars. Part of it will go into a one-year fully paid apartment and other personal expenses, and some to the Miss Malawi Foundation.

After receiving her crown, Chisi said she is excited to work with women and young girls on economic empowerment initiatives.

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

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Pitani bwino!