MALAWI: Vice President Dies & more – 11th Jun 2024

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 11th of June twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

Vice President Saulos Chilima died. On Monday the 10th, Chilima boarded an aircraft belonging to the Malawi Defence Force (or MDF) with nine other passengers. His plane was meant to land at 10 AM but it didn’t.

Around 5 PM, the Office of the President and Cabinet released a statement saying aviation authorities had failed to locate the aircraft because it had gone off the radar. President Chakwera ordered an immediate search and rescue operation, but locals questioned why he had taken so long to look for Chilima.

On Tuesday the 10th, several stakeholders, including the US government offered an aircraft to support the search mission.

During a press conference held around 10 AM, Paul Valentino Phiri, the MDF Commander General, revealed that over 200 soldiers, including police and forestry officers, were searching the Chikangawa Forest Reserve. It was rainy, windy and foggy the day before, and the forest covers nearly 1,200 kilometers, and they suspected that the aircraft crashed there.

Around 11 AM, pictures of a plane wreckage started circulating on social media. Around 12 PM, President Chakwera held a national address. He confirmed that Chilima and the other nine passengers had died in the wreckage.

Where was Chilima going? He was headed to Mzuzu to attend the funeral of another authority, Ralph Kasambara.

In our previous episode we mentioned that Kasambara was the country’s former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and died on Friday the 7th in Lilongwe. He was found dead in a lodge in Area 47, and autopsy results released on Saturday the 8th by the police said he died from heart failure.

Having heart conditions is even more worrisome now as healthcare professionals across the country are demonstrating as a last resort to demand higher pay from the government. A few months ago, the executive held talks with the healthcare workers’ entities, such as the National Organization for Nurses and Midwives, and agreed to raise healthcare professionals’ salaries by fifteen percent, but they haven’t done it yet.

At 7 AM, some healthcare professionals at Mzimba District Hospital started their demonstrations by chanting songs and dancing on the hospital’s premises.

Kamuzu Central, the capital’s major hospital, is also holding demonstrations. Healthcare professionals will respond to emergencies only.

On Monday the 10th, Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda, the Attorney General, obtained an injunction at the Industrial Relations Court in Lilongwe to stop the demonstrations as healthcare workers provide essential services. However, Solomon Chomba, the President of the Physician Assistants Union of Malawi, said he would challenge the injunction.

Speaking of demonstrations, last Monday the 3rd, officers at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services gave Charles Kalumo, their Director General, ten days to resign or be fired due to allegations that he was a tyrannical leader. Those working at local airports and borders threatened to demonstrate on Thursday the 6th, but on Wednesday the 5th, Kalumo’s office threatened to fire all demonstrators, so the strike didn’t happen.

However, on Thursday the 6th, the High Court stepped in and annulled Kalumo’s appointment as Immigration’s Director General, saying his recruitment was illegal and unconstitutional. The court also ordered that the Minister of Homeland Security fill the Director General post in the meantime.

After the court made its ruling, officials at the Immigration Headquarters in Blantyre danced and sang in celebration. Find a short clip in our show notes!

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (or ACB) is also under new management. In a previous show, we mentioned that the Office of the President and Cabinet (or OPC) refused to renew Martha Chizuma’s contract as the ACB's Director General. Well, Hillary Chilomba replaced her. He used to be Chizuma’s deputy.

Meanwhile, locals are waiting for the OPC to comment on Chizuma's official replacement.

In shocking news, Senior Chief Mgulumya of Machinga district has gone missing. She disappeared on Thursday the 6th. Paramount Chief Kawinga, who also happens to be related to Mgulumya, confirmed the news on Saturday the 8th.

Kawinga said Mgulumya - whose real name is Umia Kawinga - left her house to go for a Full Council Meeting with officials from the Machinga District Council in Liwonde district. She arrived in Liwonde but didn’t make it to the meeting because she visited a friend, a tailor, who said Kawinga left her house at 6 PM, but she never made it home. No one can account for her whereabouts.

On brighter news, the Malawi Electoral Commission (or MEC) finalized shipping in all its Election Management Devices (or EMDs), which are portable devices that have many functions, such as registering voters and managing results.

A few weeks ago, local news said the MEC had only shipped in ninety percent of their EMDs, but on Friday the 7th, the MEC said it had imported all the 6,500 required and is expected to start registering voters for next year’s presidential elections this September.

Richard Chapweteka, the Commissioner for MEC, said they will conduct a demonstration on how the devices work before their voter registration exercise. He hopes this will promote transparency and avoid court cases.

The Ministry of Mining launched the new Occupational Safety and Health Standards for the mining sector on Thursday the 6th in Lilongwe. The document has ninety-six standards aimed at addressing accidents and health risks workers face in the mines.

In development news, the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (or MUBAS) wants to start manufacturing lime and cement through its company, Mubas Commercial Limited, after getting an Exploration Licence from the government.

Joshua Chisambi, the Head of Mining Engineering Department at MUBAS, also revealed the university already has a limestone exploration site in Balaka district. On Saturday the 8th, Chisambi took Monica Chang'anamuno, the Minister of Mining, and Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima, the Minister of Education, on a tour of the site.

He told local media that they plan to start with lime production for both agricultural and industrial use, since most of the country’s lime is imported from Zambia.

Moving on, Malawi may get its first airport city. On Friday the 7th, Airport Development Limited (or ADL) said they had identified a developer to build an airport city at the Kamuzu International Airport (or KIA) in Lilongwe.

Victor Lungu, ADL’s CEO, said the airport city would include shopping malls, hotels, an aviation university, and housing units. He said they’re also working on giving KIA a facelift. Lungu also said Chileka Airport in Blantyre will also get its own boost.

Lungu told local media that ADL has several projects aimed at improving Malawi’s airport infrastructure. These include new Mzuzu and Mangochi airports.

In some sports news, the Flames suffered a painful defeat against Equatorial Guinea at the World Cup qualifiers on Monday the 10th.

In the eighty-first minute, a free kick from Equatorial Guinea led to a one-to-nil goal, with Malawi on the losing end.

While the loss is a bummer, there is still hope for the Flames as they are in position four in Group H of the World Cup qualifiers.

Perhaps some football fans got some relief from their own loss as Kenya played against Ivory Coast in their World Cup qualifier game on Tuesday the 11th at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe. The two teams were forced to play there after the Confederation of African Football deemed Kenyan stadiums unfit to host international games.

It was tough luck for Kenyans but a spate of good luck for locals who got to watch some live qualifiers right in their home country.

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

Thank you so much to everyone who filled in the survey over the past few weeks, we really appreciate your comments and ideas. Many of you mentioned you would like to get some more in depth episodes and interviews, is that something you would like? Do you have any topics in mind? Something specific about the Rorshok Malawi Update that you want to know more about for us to do a special show on? We want to do some new things very soon! Please email us at info@rorshok.com. If you left an email to contact you in the survey, we’ll reach out to you very soon. The survey is still linked in the show notes if you are interested in that as well.

Pitani bwino!