MALAWI: Policy Rate Unchanged & more – 4th Feb 2025

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 4th of February twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

The Reserve Bank has maintained the policy rate at twenty-six percent, meaning interest rates on loans won’t change.

The Monetary Policy Committee had its first twenty twenty-five meeting and briefed the media on Friday the 31st, where they revealed that their decision is meant to support economic activity and boost forex reserves.

During the media briefing, MacDonald Mafuta-Mwale, the Reserve Bank Governor, revealed that the Bank is working on measures to incentivize productivity and forex generation, and seal loopholes in forex management in the country. He also said they will soon engage the public and private sectors to implement financial sector reforms.

Meanwhile, electricity prices increased by sixteen percent on Saturday the 1st.

The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (or ESCOM) released a statement saying this is the second part of their four-year base tariff, which the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (or MERA) approved in twenty twenty-three – a development we covered in previous episodes.

In twenty twenty-three, ESCOM asked to raise their tariffs by 51 percent, and MERA said they could, but only if they spread the increase over four years, from twenty twenty-three to twenty twenty-seven. The first increase was eighteen percent in twenty twenty-three, and this is the second. There will be another electricity price hike of sixteen percent soon.

Last week we reported that Donald Trump suspended all US Foreign Assistance Programs for the next ninety days and many were scared there wouldn’t be enough medications for prominent diseases like HIV.

But on Wednesday the 29th, the Ministry of Health released a statement assuring locals that all HIV/Aids services have not been affected and will continue to be provided in all public and private health facilities nationwide. They said they have adequate anti-retroviral medications, test kits and other supplies, and that they have put measures in place to get more supplies.

They urged locals to stop panicking, as all the management teams at health facilities have been prepared, and advised, and are ready to ensure medical services are not disrupted. This provided some relief, and the news slowly died down.

However, on Tuesday the 4th, the Central Medical Stores Trust (or CMST)—which provides medical drugs to hospitals nationwide—said there could be a huge shortage of medical drugs if hospitals don’t pay them their debt of 41 billion Kwacha, which is about 24 million dollars, by next month.

Josiah Mayani, the CMST Board Chairperson, said all central hospitals in the four major cities and some district health offices owe them. He said they won’t be able to buy more stock if they don’t get paid since they use the same funds to pay their suppliers. Mayani said the drugs they have now won’t last longer than a month.

When queried by local media, Adrian Chikumbe, the Spokesperson at the Ministry of Health, said the Central Government handles funding to district hospitals, so he couldn’t comment on the matter.

Unfortunately, the Central Government is pressed for money.

They were in the news last week for making Councils wait three months without giving them their salaries. They only paid them on Friday the 31st.

On Tuesday the 4th, local news revealed that civil servants have not received their January salaries. An anonymous source told the news that their last payment was on the 19th of December.

An article from the Nyasa Times said that some of the civil servants include employees from the Information and Education ministries, as well as the Malawi Prison Service. It also revealed that several sectors have been affected by late payments, including Health and Agriculture.

Going back to Trump, his orders also prompted the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or ICE) to deport illegal immigrants.

The latest statistics from the ICE said over 46 thousand illegal immigrants will be deported. Fifty-six of them are Malawians.

The Malawi government has yet to comment on the matter.

In other news, the Education Ministry is looking to end fake degrees and PhDs in the country.

On Thursday the 30th, Dr Jessie Kabwila, the Minister of Higher Education, demanded all holders of fake degrees and PhDs to surrender their certificates to the Ministry before they are caught. She said the government is working on a system to prevent people from getting fake degrees in the country.

Most people with fake degrees get them from non-existent universities, or from universities that are not accredited by the National Council for Higher Education. It is one of the biggest forms of fraud in Malawi, and it is perpetuated by the labor market, which demands degrees to get a well-paying job.

On another note, Paul Velentino Phiri, the Commander General for the Malawi Defense Force, is being sued for ten billion Kwacha, which is almost 6 million dollars, for aggravated damages for false imprisonment and loss of earnings.

Samson Belachew Mulugeta, who owns a boutique hotel in Lilongwe in the Central Region, was imprisoned as a suspect in November twenty twenty-four without a warrant, and is still in custody today. The law says a suspect should be charged or taken to court within twenty-four hours after being arrested.

On Wednesday the 22nd, the High Court ordered that Mulugeta be taken to court within five days or released unconditionally, but he wasn’t. So on Saturday the 25th, Kalekeni Kaphale, a Senior Counsel and former Attorney General, wrote a Notice of Intended Suit to the Army Commander General.

Still on legal cases, the Malawi Law Society suspended Gift Nankhuni, a prominent lawyer, for six months.

Residents of Kuliyani Village in the Central Region filed a complaint against Nankhuni, alleging that he mishandled compensation that the government gave them for confiscating their land in two thousand four. Nankhuni says he gave the funds to the late Saliyeti Kanyamula, who was representing the group during the proceedings. However, the Disciplinary Committee said he did so without notifying the other beneficiaries and found him guilty of fraudulent conduct.

They ordered him to pay 477 million Kwacha, which is over 275 thousand dollars, to the complainants, and an additional 500 thousand Kwacha, which is nearly 290 dollars, to the Society for the disciplinary proceedings.

Speaking of the Malawi Law Society…the grouping has stepped in to help the Legal Aid Bureau handle over 27 thousand pending cases by introducing a nationwide Pro Bono Scheme, which will offer free legal aid services across the country.

On Saturday the 1st, Charles Mpaka, the Society’s President, said they would deploy a panel of lawyers in each district to provide services to ordinary citizens in need.

Chimwemwe Chithope Mwale, the Acting Director for the Legal Aid Bureau, said they are overwhelmed, as they only have forty-eight lawyers to handle all cases nationwide. He said this translates to an average of 560 cases per practitioner.

In rather shocking news, some youths from Bondi Village in Rumphi District in the Northern Region are using plastic bags as condoms because of a condom shortage in their area.

On Monday the 3rd, Denis Mkandawire, the Chairperson of the District Youth Committee, confirmed receiving several reports on the issue. He said some of the youths told him they use plastic bags during sex to avoid pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

He thinks that the problem might be that even though health advisors teach youths in the area about sexually transmitted infections, they do not offer them any contraceptive drugs.

Mkandawire said his office is in talks with health offices within the district to fix the issue.

In our last story, on Tuesday the 4th, President Chakwera congratulated Dr Thomas Munthali on his appointment at the Commonwealth Office in London.

The statement says Dr Munthali will serve as the Head of Economic Policy, and that he is currently serving his last two months as the Director General of the National Planning Commission, after which he will bid his goodbyes and take up his new role.

The President said preparations are underway to get a new Director General for the Commission.

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

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Pitani bwino!