MALAWI: New mining deals & more – 30th July 2024

Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 30th of July twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

In energy news, many parts of the country spent most of their weekend in darkness as the Electricity Supply Corporation (or ESCOM) conducted maintenance works in several districts. The news came as a shock since the country hasn’t experienced intermittent power supply in nearly a year now.

However, a statement by ESCOM shows that the blackout was not a routine power outage. Instead, the Corporation was conducting maintenance works at their Nkula A and B Power Stations.

It wasn’t a good experience, but most people took it well since ESCOM communicated it on their social media platforms and kept their customers updated.

Fortunately, some people spent their weekend away from cities and on the shores of the Shire Valley.

On Friday the 26th and Saturday the 27th, art enthusiasts flocked to the Nsanje Prison Grounds for the Khulubvi Cultural Festival, which was meant to celebrate local art and culture. One of the festival organizers, Eric Trinta of the Nyamithambo Arts, said they wanted to show that Shire Valley is full of talent and unique traditions. One of the ways they did this was through a lineup of various traditional dance groups and a display of local foods and aphrodisiacs, which the attendees were allowed to sample.

Local news said the attendees danced the whole weekend away and praised the festival.

Unfortunately, locals may not be dancing for too long; the weather department said Malawi might experience more rainfall than usual this upcoming rainy season, which typically starts from late November to early March.

The Department of Climate Change & Meteorological Services said Malawi experienced El Niño during the twenty twenty-three/twenty twenty-four rainy season, which was characterized by below-normal rainfall. Now, however, the Department has forecasted La Niña in the twenty twenty-four/twenty twenty-five rainy season. La Niña is the opposite of El Niño and is characterized by above-normal rainfall patterns.

We are not sure what this means for farmers or the country at large, but the Department said they will issue detailed rainfall forecasts for the nation and its districts by September, as La Niña has varying impacts on local rainfall patterns each rainy season.

Rainfall patterns are important for locals as Malawi has an agrarian economy.

The Immigration Offices in Mzuzu have resumed their passport printing services. Recall that all three offices in Blantyre, Lilongwe, and Mzuzu halted their services in January after the passport printing system was hacked. The Immigration Department has been restoring its services in phases.

On Monday the 29th, local news said residents of Mzuzu city flocked to the department after hearing the news, which said thatlocals are now able to pay their fees, have their pictures taken, and have their biometric data collected, among others. Despite this, Francis Chitambuli, the Publicist for the Northern Region Immigration Department, said passports will still be printed in Lilongwe.

Locals don’t understand why this is the case. Nonetheless, the positive news is that they don’t have to travel to Lilongwe for passport services anymore.

Meanwhile, locals are looking forward to buying locally-made laptops.

The anticipation comes from an announcement by the Malawi University of Science and Technology (or MUST) to start assembling laptops and tablets.

Professor Address Malata, the Vice-Chancellor at MUST, told local media that the project aims to make gadgets accessible to students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. She said this is important as MUST is a leading university in science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

In news about development, the government is looking to earn about 140 million dollars from two new mining projects. The Ministry of Mining gave two mining companies, Lotus Resources and Lancaster Exploration Limited, permission to start mining at Kayerekera in Karonga and Songwe Hill in Phalombe.

Monica Chang’anamuno, the Mining Minister, said the agreements are set to create numerous jobs and bring a lot of revenue to the Treasury. For instance, Lotus is set to bring 1.6 million dollars per month and about twenty million dollars per year in royalties. In terms of employment, Lancaster is expected to employ 1,200 direct workers and 500 workers per year.

The companies will start work next year, but there is hope that they will bring much-needed relief to Malawi’s forex shortage, which has been there since last year.

The European Union also stepped in to help Malawi’s economy recover. On Tuesday the 30th, the Union, through its European Investment Bank, gave the Malawi government a grant worth about ninety-three million dollars to help with power generation and the capacity-building of civil societies.

Simplex Chithyola Banda, the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, told local media that the funds will help provide quality infrastructure to upgrade the main transmission lines that join the central and northern parts of the country. This, he said, will help generate electricity for agro-based industries, the mining sector, and rural growth centers.

In trending news, locals are questioning how hard law exams are after the recent bar exams registered a failure rate of nearly seventy-five percent.

A newspaper article dated Monday the 29th said sixty-three Law graduates enrolled for the Malawi Legal Practitioners Qualifying Course in the twenty-three/twenty twenty-four academic year, and forty-seven of those passed their Malawi Institute of Legal Education (or Mile) exams, representing a failure rate of nearly seventy-five percent. The Mile exams allow successful graduates to practice law in the Supreme Court of Appeal, the High Court, and other subordinate courts of Malawi.

Angella Dossi, the Registrar for Mile, revealed that only twelve applicants were from a local university. The rest of them were from foreign law universities.

Speaking of universities, perhaps you’re looking to enroll in an institute of higher education yourself. On Saturday the 27th, the National Council for Higher Education approved the accreditation of sixteen new programs at Mzuzu University. The new additions bring the number of total undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses offered at the school to nearly fifty.

Some of these include a Master of Arts in African History and Heritage and a Bachelor of Science in Renewable Energy Systems. For more details, check out the link to the university’s website in the show notes!

In more trends, locals are shocked by the kidnapping of Muhamad Kasiman – a twenty-four-year-old British national who was living in Lilongwe.

The police said Kasiman was kidnapped on Wednesday the 24th in the Falls Estate while coming from the mosque. Hastings Chigalu, the spokesperson for Lilongwe Police, said Kasiman was forced to stop his car when he saw that the road was blocked with huge stones. Once he came out of his vehicle, some unidentified men dragged him into their car and drove off.

Chigalu said they have since recovered Kasiman’s phone, which the police found in another area a few kilometers away from where Kasiman’s car was found. However, they have yet to find Kasiman or identify any suspects.

Locals are becoming increasingly worried about kidnapping cases in Lilongwe. Kasiman’s case is the fourth to happen in the past few months.

In sports news, the Malawi team has progressed into the finals of the twenty twenty-four Africa Cup of Nations Beach Soccer tournament. This comes after an 8-8 draw against Burundi on Saturday the 27th at Sunbird Livingstonia in Salima district. The draw saved them as they won 7-8 against the same team last week, thus giving them a much-needed cushion that pushed them into the finals.

The win indicates improvement from the Malawi team as they finished in sixth position in the twenty twenty-two tournament held in Mozambique.

In entertainment news, organizers of the Mulhako wa Alhomwe festival have announced that it will take place on the 6th of October this year under the theme United for a Common Purpose. This edition will mark the 14th festival since its inception.

While the festival remains highly esteemed due to its celebration of the Lhomwe culture, this year’s experience has a different twist since it will be held at the Mulhako wa Alhomwe Headquarters in Mulanje, after having gone through reconstruction over the past eight months. Now, the headquarters have a Lhomwe Museum and Cultural Home that will be part of the festival experience.

Muchanakwaye Mpuluka, the Mulhako Board Chairperson, told local media that they have planted some traditional herbs, and people will be allowed to see them so they know what they look like and what they are used for. He said this is something they haven’t done before.

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

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 roroshok.com/updates to see the full list and find the link in the shownotes as well.

Pitani bwino!