MALAWI: New Government Appointments & more – 28th Oct 2025

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 28th of October twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

President Peter Mutharika made some official appointments on Monday the 27th. In previous episodes, we mentioned that he had dissolved and fired boards of parastatals, and that the country has a partial cabinet, as he is yet to appoint a new one.

The newest additions include the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Press Secretary, the Chief Advisor on Manifesto Implementation, the Solicitor General, and the Chief Advisor on Religious Affairs.

Locals have focused on the appointment of Cathy Maulidi as the Press Secretary because she is a popular journalist. Many have applauded her, since most watched her growth in the media over the years.

In just a few days, the President will open the fifty-second Session of Parliament. The opening, set for Friday the 31st, will mark the official First Meeting of the National Assembly. It will also be where officials discuss the twenty twenty-five/twenty twenty-six Mid-Term Budget Review.

Local news highlighted how, just like the elections, this parliamentary session will draw a lot of attention on both local and international platforms because people will expect to hear President Mutharika share his administration’s agenda.

Perhaps the state of disaster will be on the parliamentary agenda. On Saturday the 25th, Mutharika declared a state of disaster in eleven districts out of twenty-eight, including Blantyre and Mulanje in the Southern Region, and Lilongwe and Salima in the Central Region.

According to the government’s statement, Mutharika noted that there is a severe food shortage in these areas caused by prolonged dry spells, high costs of commodities, and other economic issues, which were highlighted in the Food Situation Report by the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee.

The government is currently facilitating humanitarian assistance to the affected districts to address the situation, and has since appealed to well-wishers from the local and international communities to help Malawi.

Meanwhile, the government signed a seventy-six-million-dollar maize procurement deal with Zambia to import 200 thousand metric tonnes of maize. The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development signed the deal on Wednesday the 23rd, as a short-term measure to ensure locals have access to food amidst the current hunger situation.

They told local media that they are trying their best to restore the country’s food stability and sustainability and build a resilient and food-secure country.

While commenting on the development, the Zambian government said it gave Malawi a staggered payment plan so that the country would not get strained financially.

Although there is a short-term fix for Malawi’s food shortage, one has yet to be found for the new gonorrhea strain, which health authorities say is resistant to medication and treatment.

Local news said that the Ministry of Health noted that the Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria has caused a critical public health emergency because it is hard to control, and patients are not recovering even when they get treatment.

Unfortunately, data from the Ministry of Health shows an increase in STI cases. There were nearly 550 thousand in twenty twenty-four, up from a little over 500 thousand in twenty twenty-three, and 445 thousand in twenty twenty-two. Still, the Ministry thinks the figures are much higher since many cases from private hospitals are not recorded.

In more updates from the health sector, local news revealed that some officials sold an ambulance and six tricycle scooters that the British government donated to Malawi under a three-million-pound (four-million-dollar) UK Aid Match Maternal Health program to help pregnant women in Karonga in the Northern Region be transported safely to hospitals.

According to The Telegraph news outlet, the Karonga District Council secretly auctioned off all the vehicles and medical equipment, including an ultrasound machine, earlier this year. When asked, the authorities said the gifts were broken and costly to fix, but locals were outraged because it turns out some of the proceeds from the auction were used to fix four vehicles belonging to district officials.

Civil society groups want the Anti-Corruption Bureau to investigate the sale. Meanwhile, the Ministries of Health and Local Government are refusing to talk to the media.

Luckily, Malawi’s reputation hasn’t completely deteriorated since international observers applauded the country for its recent peaceful and transparent presidential elections.

The National Democratic Institute worked alongside Chisankho Watch, a local observer, and gave it technical and financial support so that it could monitor pre-election and election processes, including voter registration and nomination of candidates.

An article on the Institute’s website highlighted the tensions surrounding the elections and said some candidates escalated it by declaring themselves winners prematurely, which caused fears of possible demonstrations. However, the Institute noted that citizen observation played a huge role in avoiding this, since locals had enough information to know when they were being lied to. They feel that observers helped locals to vote freely and transparently, and uphold democracy.

In the education sector, on Saturday the 25th, the Ministry of Education launched a new National Curriculum Framework which they say will make education more practical, inclusive, and skills-driven.

Local news said the new curriculum replaces the Outcome-Based Curriculum with a Competency-Based Curriculum, which emphasizes critical thinking, creativity, and real-life application of knowledge.

It also changes the entire education system into what the government is calling the 1-6-6-3 structure, where students have one year of preparatory class, six years of primary school, six of secondary, and three of tertiary education or vocational training. Before, they had eight years of primary, four years of secondary, and four years of tertiary education.

The Ministry said it will implement the new curriculum in phases.

The mining sector will also be undergoing some changes, now that President Mutharika has banned exports of raw materials.

The President announced the news on Thursday the 23rd, saying it will boost Malawi’s economic independence, since domestic processing will grow local industries and create jobs. He told local media that Malawi could save up to 500 million dollars every year from this.

Analysts said Malawi could benefit greatly because it is home to multiple precious stones like coal, rutile, and uranium. However, they also warned that Malawi will need adequate infrastructure, technology and enforcement to succeed.

On Thursday the 16th, South Africa revised some of its travel requirements for people who want to enter the country, and some of those changes affect Malawian passport holders.

On Thursday the 22nd, the Malawi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Malawians who have diplomatic and ordinary passports can enter South Africa for up to thirty days without a visa. However, those who have service passports will now be required to apply for a free visa before they travel to South Africa.

Before this, all Malawians could enter South Africa without a visa.

This development came just before the Department of Immigration and Citizenship released a statement saying they would be conducting a verification exercise for all service passports that were issued between June twenty twenty and September twenty twenty-five. They said they noticed the service passport was being abused, and they want to ensure that only legitimate civil service members own the passport.

According to their statement, the verification exercise will start on Monday the 27th and go on till the 27th of November. During this period, people who own service passports will need to report to the government’s Controlling Officers to get their identity and passport verified. If they don’t, the passport will be canceled immediately.

Finally, Harvey’s Garden and Kaya Lounge in Blantyre will be shut down on the 1st of December.

The Blantyre City Council broke the news on Thursday the 23rd, saying some locals living close to the entertainment spots complained that they caused too much noise and logistical issues, since cars would block their roads and driveways whenever they had social activities. They took the issue to the High Court and got an injunction allowing the places to shut down. This happened because they were operating in residential areas.

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

Did you know that we talk about many places besides Malawi? We’ve got nine country updates! We also have three more non-sovereign shows, about the Ocean, the Arctic and Multilateral organizations. Interested? Check out the link in the show notes. Got any feedback? You know how to contact us.

Pitani bwino!