MALAWI: New Budget & more – 29th Feb 2024

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 29th of February twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

Malawi’s twenty twenty-four/25 fiscal plan is now out. Simplex Chithyola Banda, the Finance Minister, presented it in Parliament on Friday the 23rd, and here are some highlights:

The budget is set at nearly 6 trillion Kwacha, or four billion dollars, assuming that the country’s economy will grow by around 3.5% and that inflation will go down from 35 to about 23%.

The government has increased the zero pay-as-you-earn tax bracket from 100 thousand Kwacha or about sixty dollars to 150 thousand Kwacha, or roughly ninety dollars. This means anyone earning below 150 thousand Kwacha will not pay income taxes.

The government has increased the import duty on finished iron sheets from 15 to 25%. It also introduced a surcharge of 10% on sacks for cement packaging, and an import excise duty of 10% on automotive lubricants. This means the prices for these commodities may go up.

Meanwhile, mobile money agents are in high spirits as the government reduced their withholding tax fees from 20 to 1%.

The link to the full budget plan is in our show notes.

In weather-related news, heavy rains have caused flash flooding in Nkhotakota District. A brief preliminary report from the Nkhotakota District Council indicates that the Dwangwa area experienced torrential rains that led to the flooding of the Kwangwa and Kaombe rivers, which then flooded surrounding areas. Most individuals have lost their houses, crops and animals, and there are fears that some people may be missing too.

The Department of Disaster Management Affairs (or DoDMA) said they are working with the Council to deploy search and rescue teams to implement life-saving interventions, conduct rapid assessments and provide basic needs to affected communities.

The rains have also fallen in Karonga District. Reports say over six hundred households were affected after the North Rukuru River flooded due to the heavy rains. Unfortunately, DoDMA said the threat of flash floods is high as the district is still receiving heavy downpours.

DoDMA has since provided foodstuffs such as maize flour and beans to help the affected communities in Karonga get by. They are also urging communities living in flood-prone areas to relocate to safer zones or higher ground.

Unfortunately, the floods have damaged roads and bridges, especially the M5, which passes through Nkhotakota. Videos circulating on social media show that the Kaombe Bridge is fully submerged in water while another bridge, Nkhuyu, has been disjointed from the road. Authorities are yet to establish the extent of the damage since the water levels are too high.

But, Ben Tohno, the Nkhotakota District Commissioner, confirmed that most bridges along the M5 are flooded by water, rendering them impassable.

On another note, the government said the passport situation will be fixed in three weeks. Recall that Malawi hasn’t been able to issue passports this year.

On Tuesday the 27th, Ken Zikhale Ng’oma, the Minister of Homeland Security, told local media during a press brief in Lilongwe that the people who hacked the Passport Issuing System at the Department of Immigration are demanding about two billion Kwacha, or about 1.2 million dollars, to surrender the system. But Ng’oma said the government will not pay the ransom as they are already working on the problem.

Meanwhile, Charles Kalumo, the Immigration Director General, said they have recovered ninety percent of the system, and that the rest will be retrieved in three weeks. However, he didn’t explain what has and is yet to be recovered, raising doubts among the public.

Techno Brain, Malawi’s former passport issuer, also spoke out on the hack. On Tuesday the 27th, they released a statement denying rumors that they blocked the government’s access to the system. They said they themselves have no access to it since they completely transferred its management to the Immigration Department in June twenty twenty-three, after their contract was cancelled. They said they even trained officers from the Department as part of the handovers and have been stepping in to provide technical assistance to the Department from time to time, despite having no contractual obligation to do so.

Techno Brain said that they conducted an assessment of the situation and submitted practical suggestions to the government - upon the executive’s request - but the government never responded.

In trending news, there was an attack on supporters of the former ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party (or DPP), who had gathered at Mbowe in Lilongwe on Saturday the 24th to hold a peaceful march to attract more supporters ahead of the twenty twenty-five general elections.

Enock Limani, a DPP supporter present at the scene, told local media that as they were about to start off, an unknown group of people arrived in a vehicle. They were carrying panga knives, axes, and catapults, and started attacking the supporters. The group broke seven cars, removed their batteries and slashed their tyres.

The media didn’t say how many people were harmed, but they said quite a number of them were rushed to the African Bible College with severe injuries after being found unconscious in nearby bushes.

Meanwhile, Yohane Chepe, a third-year student from the Malawi Adventist University (or MAU), developed an AI system that tracks students’ class attendance using face recognition. While talking to the media on Wednesday the 28th, Chepe said he developed the system to reduce challenges associated with registration in schools. He said the system provides a secure, reliable, and efficient way to keep track of students’ and staff’s attendance.

Chepe is planning to donate the system to selected secondary schools around the country, but he didn’t mention which ones he had in mind.

Speaking of inventions, Dowa district has its own version of an airbender. On Monday the 26th, multitudes gathered at Chinguwo village in Dowa district to watch Ernest Andrew turn air into electricity. Andrew, a secondary school dropout, created an air-powered generator that is currently providing electricity to his community, including Kongwe 2 Primary School, to help students study at night. He told the media that he wants to power the remotest parts of Dowa, where he comes from, in hopes of turning it into a town where people can run electricity-powered businesses.

Among Andrew’s audience were officials from the Office of the President and Cabinet, the National Commission for Science and Technology, the Ministry of Energy, and the Dowa District Council. His villagers were also present, all looking proud and eager to support Andrew.

It’s unfortunate that the Northern Region does not have an airbender of its own since it spent nearly three days without electricity. Its lights went out on the night of Sunday the 25th.

According to a statement by Malawi’s sole electricity provider, the Electricity Supply Corporation (or ESCOM), four structures fell down on their Salima to Nkhotakota transmission lines, resulting in the loss of power supply to Kasungu in the Central Region and the entire Northern Region.

ESCOM has since been restoring power in the affected regions in phases. For instance, some people said their power was restored on Tuesday the 27th, but some complained about having no lights still.

And to close this edition, some entertainment news, there are expectations that the country’s film industry will start performing well. This is following a movie production agreement that the Shepherd Bushiri Foundation (or SBF) signed with Ukwa, a veteran Nigerian actor.

Prophet Shepherd Bushiri, the President of SBF, signed the agreement on Monday the 26th. He says the deal will help the Malawian film industry be part of the international scene. The agreement will help Nigerians and Malawians in the film industry work together. And since Nigeria's film industry is already popular, Malawi could ride on its wave and gain some popularity from it, too.

Bushiri said the two teams’ first production will be released this April.

Aaaaand that’s it for this week.

Do you know that besides the Malawi Update, we also do others? Our latest ones are the Arctic Update, about the area north of the Arctic Circle, the Ocean Update, about the 70% of the earth covered in salt water, and the Multilateral update about all the world's major multilateral institutions. The other ones are all country updates, we have a selection of countries from Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe. Check rorshok.com/updates to see the full list. We left the link in the show notes as well.

Pitani bwino!