MALAWI: US Visa Applications Denied & more – 29th April 2025

Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 29th of April twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

The US Embassy denied thirty-nine visa applications from officials who want to attend the Spring Meeting of the International Monetary Fund or IMF. Only four officials were granted visa applications, out of the forty-three submitted.

On Wednesday the 23rd, the officials wrote to the US Embassy to ask why there was a high rejection rate, making it sound like the issue was related to Trump’s foreign relations policies.

However, an anonymous source told the news that the visas for the other officials were denied because they couldn't justify why they wanted to attend the Spring Meeting. It seems they were trying to use tax funds to travel and get allowances from both the government and the IMF for no acceptable reason.

The story led to a much deeper revelation of abuse of office and corruption. This came about after the Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Malawi, accused Malawian diplomats of abusing the US’ visa conditions. On Sunday the 27th, she was interviewed on Times Television’s Hot Current program, and she revealed that some Malawians overstay their visas after arriving in the US, and they either work illegally or apply for asylum under false grounds, like fleeing political arrests.

She said these actions undermine the integrity of the entire visa system, and warned that abusing the visa rules this way could jeopardize opportunities for legitimate visa applicants.

The impact of the US policy shifts is still unraveling for Malawi, with the latest hit being the cancellation of a 350 million dollar contract that was meant to build roads in the Southern and Northern Regions.

On Saturday the 26th, local news announced that Millennium Challenge Corporation, a US foreign aid agency, had decided to terminate its Transport and Land Compact, which became active in May twenty twenty-four and aimed to fix four roads with a combined length of nearly 290 kilometers, which is 180 miles.

The Minister of Transport, said that Malawi is now stuck because they did not include the funded road projects in the just-passed twenty twenty-five/twenty twenty-six National Budget, and since there are no back-up donors, they will have to start looking for new ones.

In our last episode, we mentioned that the Tanzanian government had threatened to retaliate against Malawi’s ban on trade imports if Malawi did not lift the ban, which had stopped Tanzania from exporting its agricultural products to Malawi. Well, on Thursday the 24th, the Tanzanian government indeed hit back and announced a ban on the trade of agricultural produce to and from Malawi. However, it did not last long.

On Friday the 25th, Tanzania said that it lifted the ban because the Malawian government had reached out to discuss how they would resolve the issue. They said they would have a diplomatic ministerial discussion with Malawi on Friday the 2nd.

President Chakwera is under fire for refusing to release the names of prisoners that he pardoned over Easter, rousing suspicion about who is on the pardon list.

On Friday the 25th, the Platform for Investigative Journalism revealed that the Ministry of Homeland gave the President requests for the pardon of Misozi Chanthunya, a murder convict serving a life sentence, and Pika Manondo and Macdonald Kumwembe, who are serving long prison sentences for attempting to murder Paul Mphwiyo, the former Budget Director, during the cashgate scandal, which is Malawi’s biggest fiscal crime.

The Platform couldn’t confirm whether the President granted the pardons to any of the three prisoners, however, their story caused locals to start demanding that the government release the names of pardoned prisoners.

On that note about the president, he was in Lilongwe in the Central Region on Monday the 28th to preside over the official opening of the second Malawi Mining Investment Forum.

President Chakwera told local news that Malawi has vast minerals that are in high demand and have the potential to help the country achieve economic stability. However, in another address, Zikhale Ng’oma, the Minister of Mining, said that despite these mineral resources, Malawi has seen minimal benefits because of poor decision-making, ineffective policies, and rushed mining development.

During the launch, President Chakwera announced the establishment of the Malawi Mining Authority to oversee activities in the mining sector.

On Sunday the 27th, Michael Usi, the Vice President, launched his own political party called Odya Zake Alibe Mlandu, loosely translated as He who eats his own has no troubles. However, on Tuesday the 29th, local news said the party is not registered under the Political Parties Act.

The Registrar of Political Parties said his office hasn’t got Usi’s party on its list of registered political parties, so it isn’t an official party. During the party’s launch, Usi said it was an official political party but did not say whether he would contest in the Presidential Election this September. He also said he would present his manifesto soon.

Usi’s party started as a movement in the run-up to the twenty nineteen elections, but disappeared after Usi joined the United Transformation Movement (or UTM). Usi’s revival of the party comes after he refused to contest for the UTM Presidential role, although he was serving as the UTM President at the time.

Francis Kasaila, the Commissioner of the Malawi Electoral Commission (or MEC), announced his resignation on Wednesday the 23rd on personal grounds. This means the Commission now has five members, but luckily, this is enough to meet legal requirements so the upcoming presidential elections will not be affected.

The law says there cannot be fewer than four commissioners to conduct the Commission’s business.

Kasaila’s resignation came just days after he won the primary elections for the parliamentary seat in the Nsanje Central Constituency in the Southern Region for the Democratic Progressive Party. Many applauded the move, saying his decision to focus on being an MP would not interfere with any operations at MEC.

In an update to a story from our last show, we mentioned that the Electricity Generation Company (or Egenco) carried out maintenance works at their major power stations, leading locals to spend their Easter holiday with no electricity. On Monday the 21st, Egenco released a statement saying it had completed its maintenance works, but the blackouts are still happening.

On Monday the 28th, Egenco’s partner, the Electricity Supply Corporation, released scheduled nationwide blackouts from Monday the 28th to Saturday the 3rd of May. They said there is an increased electricity demand and insufficient capacity which has led to low power supply. Comments on their social media posts are filled with users calling them useless.

Women’s football got a huge boost worth about 390 million Kwacha, which is 225 thousand dollars. On Friday the 25th, the Football Association of Malawi (or FAM), announced that the fund was meant for the Women’s Football Regional Leagues, saying it was a sponsorship deal with BetPawa Malawi, which is a betting company.

Nii Armah Ashong-Katai, the BetPawa Regional Manager for Southern and West Africa, said they aim to raise the bar in women’s football and support the growth of sports across the continent.

According to FAM’s website, the sponsorship will run for one year and fund the teams’ payments and the players’ salaries, end-of-season awards, and league administration.

Private schools that are members of the Private Schools Association of Malawi (or PRISAM) are administering mock exams for their Form Four students ahead of the national exams this June. The mock exams started on Monday the 28th and will run until Thursday the 8th of May.

Ernest Kaonga, the PRISAM President, said the exercise will help them assess the students’ readiness for the Malawi School Certificate of Education exams, which are the final exams at the secondary school level. When successful, students can get selected to study in higher education schools or enter the job market.

Get ready for a public holiday coming up on Thursday the 1st, with the celebration of Labor Day..

The government has yet to announce what it has in store for the national holiday, but it is typically marked with public acknowledgements of employees who stand out in the country or the companies they work for.

Work and schools will be closed on Thursday the 1st, and resume on Friday the 2nd.

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

Want to share an episode? You can download any of them as an .mp3 from our website at www.rorshok.com/malawi — the link’s in the show notes too!

Pitani bwino!