MALAWI: Public Holiday Announced & more – 9th Sep 2025

Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 9th of September twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

Tuesday the 16th will be a public holiday. This means that people won’t report to their offices or schools, and that most major stores probably won’t be open.

On Monday the 8th, the Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture shared the news via a statement, saying that the day will be a public holiday since Malawians will be going to cast their votes for the General Elections, which are scheduled for the same day.

In our last episode, we mentioned that people were furious with Britain because it funded a voter intention survey just days before the elections. There were fears the results would fuel election-related unrest, but the survey was released anyway.

On Thursday the 4th, results from the Institute of Public Opinion and Research revealed that former president Peter Mutharika of the opposing Democratic Progressive Party is the preferred presidential candidate. He led the polls with forty-one percent, followed by President Lazarus Chakwera of the ruling Malawi Congress Party with thirty-one percent, and Dalitso Kabambe of the United Transformation Movement ended up third with six percent.

The results are not that different from the first pre-election survey that the Institute released in July, and those from the Afrobarometer, which came out in December last year..

Some stakeholders are still on edge and are expecting post-election unrest, so on Monday the 8th, the Public Affairs Committee made presidential candidates sign a Peace Declaration ahead of the elections.

According to the Committee, the Declaration is a goodwill document that outlines how any potential election disputes will be handled, to ensure healthy communication and mediation.

Only twelve of the seventeen presidential candidates showed up, and some of the most notable candidates, like Peter Mutharika and Vice President Michael Usi, did not attend the event. Civil society groups told local media that the candidates who shunned the event missed their chance to show their commitment to national unity.

Mutharika, alongside President Chakwera, had also shunned the Presidential Debates. In our last episode, we mentioned that the Presidential Debate Task Force would encourage the two presidential candidates to participate in the debates, having missed the first round.

On Monday the 8th, the Taskforce announced that the second presidential debate was set for the night of Tuesday the 9th, but made no mention of Mutharika or Chakwera’s attendance. However, representatives from Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party told local media that they would still not participate in any debates, but that they are open to any questions from the public. Meanwhile, Chakwera has yet to comment on the matter.

Local media said the same parties that attended the first debate, namely the United Democratic Front, the United Transformation Movement, and the People’s Party, will participate in the second debate.

In yet another update from last week’s episode, the Malawi Electoral Commission received its final package of ballot papers on Sunday the 7th. They told local news that they are right on schedule, and that everything is set for the elections next Tuesday.

They said that, from Monday the 8th to Friday the 12th, they will be sending ballot boxes and other election materials to district warehouses. They will spend the weekend and Monday the 15th briefing their staff and verifying that all materials are sealed properly.

On the big voting day, polls will open in the morning, with each center counting and posting its results after the close of each poll. This will help everyone follow all election updates.

Meanwhile, over 460 former Ward Councillors are currently holding vigils in their Councils to force the government to pay them their gratuities, worth over 2.3 billion Kwacha, which is 1.3 million dollars, before the elections. The gratuities were supposed to be paid in July, when their contracts came to an end after serving for six years.

According to local news, on Tuesday the 2nd, thirty-two councillors visited Capitol Hill, where officials promised them payments, but they still haven’t made them.

The government acknowledged the issue and admitted that it owes the former ward councillors their gratuities. They said they are working on making the payments, and told local media they understand why the councillors are angry.

The Ministry of Education and the Malawi National Examination Board released the results for the twenty twenty-five Malawi School Certificate of Education on Friday the 5th. Nearly 195 thousand Form Four secondary school candidates sat for the exams from the 1st to the 25th of July.

According to their joint statement, nearly 113 thousand candidates passed their exams. This represents a fifty-eight percent pass rate, which is a slight increase from last year’s fifty-five.

Guardians and candidates can access the examination results on the National Examination Board’s website, which is in our show notes. You will need the candidate’s examination number and date of birth to access their results.

The Ministry of Education also announced the twenty twenty-five/twenty twenty-six academic year.

According to their statement, released on Sunday the 7th, the first term will start on the 22nd of September and end on the 19th of December. The second term will begin on the 5th of January twenty twenty-six, and close on the 2nd of April, and the third and final term will start on the 20th of April and end on the 24th of July.

This school calendar applies to all schools that offer the National Curriculum.

The announcement is important now because some people were wondering if the elections would tamper with the school calendar. There are fears of post-election demonstrations, so some people assumed that the Ministry would alter the calendar to create a sort of buffer in case there are riots, but it hasn’t.

In sports news, Malawi will be hosting the twenty twenty-five Africa Netball Cup in Lilongwe in the Central Region. The competition will take place from the 8th to the 14th of December. This will be the second time Malawi has hosted the tournament, with the first time being in twenty twelve.

The Netball Association of Malawi announced the news on Monday the 8th, and revealed that the Cup will feature women’s and men’s teams from nine countries.

They did not share more details, like which countries will participate, but they’ll probably release more info in the coming weeks.

On Thursday the 4th, President Chakwera officially opened the newly-built Mwanza Stadium and named it after Joyce Chitsulo, the late Deputy Minister of Local Government, Unity, and Culture, and Member of Parliament for Mwanza West in the Southern Region, who suddenly passed away. He said the move was a fitting tribute to her, since she was passionate about development.

According to local news, the Joyce Chitsulo stadium has a seating capacity of between seven thousand and ten thousand people.

Tributes are pouring in for Bossaro Ice, also known as Iceberg, a local Hip Hop pioneer, who died suddenly on Sunday the 7th.

Neither local news nor Ice’s family has clearly stated the cause of his death, but some comments from his close friends point to a short illness. However, hip hop heads have been sharing Ice’s music on social media, while others have been sharing moments where they met him or saw him perform.

Bossaro Ice became popular in the early two thousands through WuN, a sensational music group that had two other members. The group got so popular that, in two thousand six, the BBC named it the Best Young African Band.

And to close this edition, the preliminary event for Miss Malawi twenty twenty-five will be held on the 18th of October in Blantyre in the Southern Region.

A few weeks ago, organizers of the Miss Malawi pageant held nationwide auditions to select the top thirty contestants who would participate in this year’s event.

This time around, the thirty participants will battle it out on the stage, but only twelve will be selected to compete in the grand finale, which will be held in Lilongwe in December.

You can buy your ticket to the preliminary event online.

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

Do you want to send an episode? You can download any shows at www.rorshok.com/malawi as .mp3 files. Link in the show notes!

Pitani bwino!