MALAWI: US Visa Bonds & more – 12th Aug 2025

Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 12th of August twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

Malawians will have to pay a minimum deposit of five thousand dollars for a visa to enter the US.

On Tuesday the 5th, locals had a disappointing end to their day after learning that the US State Department had imposed visa bonds on Malawi and neighboring Zambia to reduce the number of citizens who overstay their visas and those who don’t have enough screening and vetting information.

Even though the deposit will be returned at the end of the visit, it is a stiff requirement because it converts to about nine million Kwacha, which isn’t accessible to many, as the average monthly salary is 300 thousand kwacha, which is a little over 170 dollars.

Those who can afford it have forex-related restrictions, such as banks allowing people to withdraw a maximum of one thousand dollars or less per month.

Speaking of traveling, passport printing has been halted yet again, just a few weeks after the Immigration Department resumed the service, as we mentioned in a previous episode.

On Monday, the 11th, the Malawi High Commission in the US released a statement stating that the Immigration and Citizenship Services Department is switching to an e-Passport system. All passport applications, including processing and payment, will be done online at the High Commission.

As a result, the Department has suspended the processing of passport applications until the new system has been installed. Unfortunately, they did not specify how long this process would take.

In our last episode, we mentioned that there were concerns about the health of the eighty-five-year-old Peter Mutharika, the former Malawi president and the president of the opposing Democratic Progressive Party (or DPP), because he wasn’t as energetic as his colleagues during the launch of his party’s election campaign.

On Saturday the 9th, the Blue Alliance – a partnership between the DPP and the Alliance for Democracy party – announced that Mutharika would not tour the country extensively during the campaign period, and that his team would lead the campaign efforts.

They said the move will allow him to focus on other critical matters. People are not buying it though; they believe it is proof that he is unwell and struggling with age-related illnesses.

Mutharika is one of seventeen presidential aspirants who will be competing in the general elections that will take place on the 16th of September.

On Thursday the 7th, the Malawi Electoral Commission announced that they had received all the nomination papers for candidates running for the presidential seat. They said they had received twenty presidential nominations, accepted seventeen, and rejected three.

It is unclear why the three were rejected, but they are small and unpopular political parties and persons.

Now that the Commission is clear on who the presidential candidates are, the Debate Taskforce has set dates for the Presidential Debates.

On Monday the 11th, the debates will take place on Thursday the 21st and Friday the 21st of August and Thursday the 4th of September. The events will be held in Lilongwe in the Central region.

They also told local media that they have candidates from five major political parties who have already confirmed their participation in the debates, such as the ruling Malawi Congress Party and the opposing United Democratic Front.

As the elections draw near, the media is full of stories of corruption.

The latest story involves Colleen Zamba, the Secretary to the President and Cabinet, who allegedly gave away land worth 150 billion Kwacha, which is nearly ninety million dollars, to a Malawian businessman of Asian descent for free.

On Sunday the 10th, people on social media started discussing the news after a leaked letter revealed that the land, located in Area 55 in Lilongwe, was given to Arise IIP, a company many locals are unfamiliar with, for an undisclosed project.

In the letter, Zamba directed the Malawi Investment Trade Centre to ensure the title deed was transferred within five days, and that it be given for free since the government had partnered with the businessman.

This comes as the country is suffering economic turmoil, including a cement shortage. The few cement bags that are available on the market are being sold at double the normal price.

On Tuesday the 12th, the government announced a new deal with two Zambian cement manufacturers to protect locals from the high prices of local cement. They said the imported cement will be sold at lower prices, but they did not say what the price was. They said twelve thousand bags of cement will arrive in Malawi by Wednesday the 13th.

The news has divided people, as some appreciated the new options, while others wanted the government to support local manufacturers instead.

Unfortunately, the government has yet to resolve the fuel shortage, which has been going on for nearly a month now.

Simso Oil and Transporting Company, which is also a gas station, has been hoarding over 200 thousand liters of petrol at one of its depots with no justifiable reason. The Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority released a statement saying they ordered the company to sell the withheld fuel. They also suspended all fuel allocation stocks to Simso.

The Authority accused the company of undermining national efforts to stabilize fuel supply during an ongoing crisis. People commenting on the news said they were shocked and disgusted by Simso’s behaviour.

Despite its sternness, the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority is walking on thin ice as it owes over 950 billion Kwacha, which is nearly 550 million dollars, to the Petroleum Importers Limited and the National Oil Company of Malawi.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the accumulation of import losses caused the huge debt. The country’s Price Stabilisation Fund, which was designed to protect consumers from fluctuating global fuel prices, typically covers such losses, but it is currently empty.

This means importers may struggle to bring in new fuel consignments without payment, and that the fuel shortage will persist. This also means the Authority might increase fuel prices.

In other news, the Ministry of Finance gave the Higher Education Students’ Loans and Grants Board permission to reveal the names of loan beneficiaries who have not repaid their loans.

The Board also got permission to share credit data with credit reference bureaus, including banks, to ensure that loan defaulters cannot access loans and other credit facilities from commercial banks and other financial institutions.

Authorities from the Board said they resorted to such strict measures after seeing that loan beneficiaries who were capable of repaying their loans neglected to do so. They also said this move will ensure that they recover their funds and assist other needy students, whose numbers increase each year.

In sports news, Temwa Chawinga, a Malawian footballer based in the US, has been nominated for the twenty twenty-five Women’s Ballon d’Or. This makes her the second Malawian footballer to get a Ballon d’Or nomination, after her sister Tabitha made history with her nomination last year. She is also one of two African players on this year’s women’s list, alongside Zambia’s Barbra Banda.

The organizers of the Ballon d’Or broke the news on Thursday the 7th, and released thirty shortlisted names for both the men’s and women’s categories. They said Chawinga’s nomination follows her impressive performance during her Kansas City matches held during the US National Women’s Soccer League.

The final winners will be revealed during the awards ceremony next month.

Finally, local musician Tay Grin clocks twenty years in the music industry this year, and he has decided to celebrate the occasion on the 6th of September at Lilongwe’s Silver Stadium.

However, the biggest highlight is that Tay Grin will bring in Nigeria’s Wizkid and Congo’s Awilo Longomba to headline his event. He announced the news on his Facebook page on Friday the 8th, and said he will announce more artists soon.

While people are excited about the news, they are also worried that Awilo may not show up because he was a no-show for a scheduled performance in May twenty twenty-three.

Fans are debating whether the star will show up this time.

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

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Pitani bwino!