MALAWI: Mpox Cases & more – 22nd April 2025

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

The Ministry of Health confirmed two cases of Mpox in Lilongwe District in the Central Region on Thursday the 17th. They urged locals not to panic, saying they have everything under control.

On Sunday the 20th, local news said the Ministry of Health is currently in talks with the World Health Organization to try and get the Mpox vaccine.

Mpox is a viral disease that is transmitted from animals to humans and from person to person. It is spread through different ways, including close contact with an infected person or animal, and via body fluids. Some of its signs include a fever and rash. The Ministry said anyone can get the disease, but children, pregnant women and people with multiple sexual partners have a higher chance of infection.

In previous episodes, we mentioned that the Ministry of Trade banned the import of products that are produced locally, such as milk and rice, to boost local businesses.

Neighboring Tanzania did not take the news very well. On Wednesday the 16th, Hussein Bashe, Tanzania’s Agriculture Minister, said they will retaliate if Malawi does not lift its ban by Wednesday the 23rd, with measures such as banning Malawi from exporting its goods to Tanzania, or from sending any goods to other countries via Tanzania.

The reason behind Tanzania’s threat is that the ban prevented them from exporting several agricultural products to Malawi, affecting the earnings of Tanzanian traders who rely on Malawi as a key export market.

The government is yet to comment on the matter.

On the other hand, the government is trying to fix its relations with the US, which gave Malawi sixty days to address some national security issues that came up after the US found out that Dozy Mmobuosi, a Nigerian businessman, who is a fraud convict in the US, was given a Malawian diplomatic passport in twenty twenty-three.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services gave Mmobuosi seven days to surrender his diplomatic passport. They said that the issuance of the passport was an administrative oversight that goes against Malawi’s laws, but some experts accused the government of not investigating Mmobuosi enough. Experts also think the administrative error is just an excuse because it took about seven hours for the diplomatic passport to be produced.

No official channels were followed, and the passport was produced during the night when offices were closed, suggesting that some strings had to be pulled to get it done.

On Saturday the 19th, the Ministry of Homeland Security said they had revoked Mmobuosi’s passport.

Still on news about international relations, the Chinese Embassy has promised to give Malawi eighty million US dollars for the construction of the Malawi Judiciary Complex in Lilongwe. This means the Judiciary’s Headquarters will move from Blantyre in the South, where the Executive and Legislature offices are also located.

Authorities from both countries had a signing ceremony for the agreement of the project on Saturday the 19th. During the event, Lu Xu, the Chinese Ambassador to Malawi, said the funds will be given to the country through a grant, and that the construction will start between late twenty twenty-five and early twenty twenty-six.

Titus Mvalo, the Minister of Justice, said the complex will solve a lot of the infrastructure challenges that the Judiciary currently faces.

In other news, the Lilongwe City Council raised the monthly rentals for its properties on Thursday the 17th. The majority of the properties’ rentals have gone up by an average of seventy-five percent.

For instance, the rent at Wenela Complex went up from 464 thousand Kwacha, which is about 270 dollars, to 812 thousand Kwacha, which is nearly 470 dollars.

Some business owners said the hike was too much, but Macloud Kadam'manja, the CEO of the Council, said they had to increase the rentals to make up for maintenance works and other costs.

Thom Mpinganjira, a celebrated businessman, said he will be adding another company to the Cancer Center. Mpinganjira opened the International Blantyre Cancer Center (or IBCC) last March, and he said it has performed beyond his expectations.

On Thursday the 17th, he said that the Center has treated over 300 cancer patients through services like chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which were not available in Malawi before. He said his new company, the IBCC Diagnostics Centre Limited, will diagnose different cancer-related diseases, and house state-of-the-art equipment such as an ultrasound machine, a mammogram, and a pathology lab.

The football fraternity is mourning Yasin Osman who died on Monday the 21st after a short illness. He was seventy-five.

At the time of his death, Osman was the Technical Director for the Mighty Wanderers, a local football team. However, his football journey began in the late sixties, when he played for the Mighty Wanderers team and the Flames national team. He stopped playing in the eighties and went on to coach numerous football teams across the country.

Tributes have been pouring in on all sorts of media, including local radio and television stations, and on social media

Pope Francis also died on Monday the 21st, and the Malawi Conference of Catholic Bishops (or MCCB) strongly recommended that all priests and other members within the church celebrate Holy Masses for the next few days in his honor.

Their statement, released on Monday the 21st, also said that, once the Pope’s burial date is announced, the Bishops will celebrate similar Masses in all their Cathedrals, and that the prayers will be presided over by members of the MCCB or their delegates.

Still on religion, the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (or CCAP) had some internal arguments.

On Tuesday the 15th, Peter Mutharika, former President and leader of the Democratic Progressive Party, hosted six pastors from the CCAP Nkhoma Synod from Lilongwe at his Page House in Mangochi District in the Southern Region. The pastors went to pray for Mutharika so that he could win the September presidential elections.

However, on Wednesday the 16th, the Synod wrote a statement denying their involvement. They said the pastors visited Mutharika in their own capacity, and not on behalf of the church. The statement also warned other CCAP Ministers from using the church to practice their individual and political choices.

Skeffa Chimoto, a renowned musician, has officially joined politics after winning the parliamentary Primary Elections, which were held in his home district, Nkhotakota in the Central Region. Chimoto first announced his decision to contest as an MP last year after people from his village encouraged him to do so.

The Primary Elections took place on Saturday the 19th, and Chimoto won the election with 934 votes. The runner-up, Gerald Makokola, got 403, while Osman Mkanyila Saidi ended up with only ten.

Chimoto said he will represent the ruling Malawi Congress Party in the 16th of September General Elections.

In trending news, an anonymous football player working for the Scorchers, the women’s national football team, took to management to report sexual assault by Daudi Mtanthiko, an Executive Member of the Football Association of Malawi (or FAM).

According to local news, the anonymous victim said that, when Malawi was in South Africa, Mtanthiko sent her text messages asking her to go to his room and when she refused, he went to her room around 7 PM, forcefully let himself in, and then removed his trousers. She said he also tried to guilt-trip her to have sex with him and force himself on her, and only left when she threatened to scream for help.

On Tuesday the 15th, FAM said they would investigate the issue, but many were disappointed that they made no mention of suspending Mtanthiko.

There was a public holiday to celebrate Easter from Friday the 18th to Monday the 21st. Most people did not go to work, but they spent the majority of the holiday without electricity because the Electricity Generation Company scheduled some maintenance works at their major power stations, Nkula A and B.

A statement from the Company released on Wednesday the 16th said the maintenance would start at 10 PM on Thursday the 17th and continue until 5 PM on Monday the 21st.

Most areas had no electricity for a minimum of six hours a day, thus dampening what could have been a fun holiday.

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

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Pitani bwino!