MALAWI: No Sugar & more – 1st Feb 2024

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 1st of February twenty twenty-four A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

The country is experiencing a shortage of sugar. The news made headlines on Monday the 29th after locals noticed several major stores with empty sugar shelves. Those that had sugar, although in small amounts, were rationing it.

One paper said that in Mzuzu, most shops were limiting sugar purchases to one packet per person.

Some major retail stores have taken advantage of the sugar shortage and have raised its price, in addition to limiting the commodity’s sales.

For instance, Chipiku stores are now selling a kilogram packet of sugar at 2,700 Kwacha or a dollar and sixty cents, up from 2,000 Kwacha or a dollar and nineteen cents. They have rationed their sugar sales to two packets per customer. ShopRite hasn’t raised the price of sugar, but it is only selling four packets per person. Other major retail stores don’t have the commodity.

Unfortunately, authorities are yet to explain the disruption in the sugar supply. Lekani Katandula, the Managing Director at Illovo Sugar—Malawi’s sole sugar manufacturer—told the media to talk to the Ministry of Trade about the shortage. But Sosten Gwengwe, the Trade Minister, referred the issue to the Competition and Fair Trade Commission, who then asked for time before they could respond.

The sugar shortage has sparked rumors of yet another Kwacha devaluation. Typically, a shortage of a vital commodity, like fuel, precedes local devaluations.

However, on Wednesday the 31st, the Reserve Bank quickly quashed those rumors and said they aren’t expecting or working on devaluing the Kwacha. But still, there are doubts since the central bank tends to refute “rumors” that eventually turn out to be true.

In other news, on Friday the 26th, the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services said the country will be experiencing seven dry days. The thing is, the country is supposed to be in its wet season, and drought will affect crop production and the economy at large, since Malawi relies mostly on agriculture.

But in a sudden twist of events, on Wednesday the 31st, the Department said the dry spell might come to an end on Thursday the 1st. They expect rain to start in some parts of the country then, and the rainfall will go on for the entire month. Their report turned out to be true, as some parts of the country, including Blantyre, had heavy rain on Thursday the 1st.

Mota Engil, a contracting company working on the Kamuzu Central Hospital (or KCH) road, one of the busiest roads in Lilongwe, has closed it temporarily to remove the existing culvert and install a new one. They say this is part of their ongoing Capacity Improvement of the Mzimbe Street project. This will affect individuals who work at or around the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, and Kamuzu Central Hospital.

According to their statement—released on Monday the 29th—the road will be closed from Tuesday the 30th to Friday the 2nd, depending on the weather conditions. Drivers have been advised to take the junction to the right before the Area 33 bridge, at the KCH residential homes.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services also announced an interruption of their operations. On Thursday the 25th, they said their “passport issuance system is currently experiencing technical interruptions,” so they are unable to print and process passports.

Unfortunately, while talking to local media, William Chiponde, the Public Relations Officer at the Department, could not say when the issue would be fixed or how many passports had been affected.

In other news, staff from the Blantyre Water Board will be paying some of their customers' visits. They are recalling most of their domestic prepaid meters due to “significant design shortcomings” which are affecting the company’s performance. They said their staff will visit people’s homes to replace prepaid meters with postpaid ones. The staff will have official identification and a letter, so remember to ask for these to avoid thieves or scammers.

A few months ago, the Water Board revealed that they were making losses due to the prepaid meters since customers could control how much water they purchased and used.

In trending news, Towera Soko, a Malawian nurse, was arrested in Bangladesh for having nearly ten kilograms of cocaine worth over nine million dollars. Bangladeshi authorities said this is their biggest seizure of solid cocaine.

John Kabaghe, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Soko was arrested at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dakar, Bangladesh, soon after she landed at the airport. Kabaghe said they are in talks with the Malawi High Commission in India (which also represents Bangladesh) to follow up on the matter.

Rumors have it that Soko travels abroad to buy garments that she sells locally, but she might be using this as a cover for her drug dealing.

In January twenty twenty-two, the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (or Admarc) fired over three thousand employees. Lobin Lowe, who was the Agriculture Minister at the time, ordered the employees’ dismissal in a bid to cut down operational costs for Admarc, which was and still is performing poorly. Unfortunately, Lowe’s decision might cost Admarc a fortune.

The fired employees took Admarc to court for unfair dismissal. On Monday the 29th, the Industrial Relations Court in Blantyre ordered Admarc to compensate all its employees. The court is yet to assess how much the employees will get.

Castel Malawi Limited has started exporting its beverages.

On Wednesday the 31st, the country’s leading alcoholic beverages company announced its entry into the Zambian market, having signed an export agreement with Brands Africa Zambia,which will distribute Castel’s Malawi Gin to selected locations and stores in Zambia. Some of the stores are Pick n Pay, Shoppers 24/7 and The Bottleshop.

Last week, we mentioned that you should stay away from the Facebook page belonging to the Media Institute of Southern Africa–Malawi chapter, or MISA Malawi, because it was hacked. Well, you don’t have to do that anymore.

On Thursday the 25th, MISA Malawi announced the recovery and restoration of its Facebook page. Their statement, posted on their social media pages, said that the MISA Malawi team received support from the Malawi Computer Emergency Response Team and the MISA Regional Office, which is based in Namibia.

According to their statement, stakeholders, members and partners can now interact with the page as usual.

One of the county’s renowned television stations, Mibawa Studios and Mibawa Television, is now under new management, following the resignation of John Nthakomwa, its Founder and Managing Director. Nthakomwa announced his resignation on Saturday the 27th in an social media post that described his journey as “tough, exciting and fulfilling”. Tamanda Kwita, the Acting Managing Director for Mibawa Studios and Mibawa Television, has now taken over Nthakomwa’s role.

But Nthakomwa did not leave without a bang. While announcing his resignation, he also said that he had purchased new and modern equipment for his companies, including a Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K, worth over two thousand dollars.

In sports news, on Saturday the 27th, The Football Association of Malawi (or FAM) released a statement announcing that Malawi’s twenty twenty-four football season will start on the 6th of April. But before that, football lovers will get to enjoy a Charity Shield match organized by NBS Bank on the 30th of March.

FAM Authorities revealed that the twenty twenty-four season will also mark the rollout of e-ticketing, which they hope will minimize ticket fraud at local games.

They also said that they will host a series of trainings, refresher courses and workshops to all Super League coaches, and other stakeholders like the media, to prepare for the football season.

Aaaaaand that's it for this week. So you listen to us, ideally almost every week, but we don't actually know each other. Here's a chance to fix that. On Monday the 8th of April there is a total eclipse of the sun in Dallas, Texas, in the US. There will be events organized the whole weekend before. So on the off chance you can get here, send us an email or check the show notes for more information.

Pitani bwino!