The Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) says it will this June roll out some of the projects of the Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) System.
The system, which uses digital technologies to facilitate the procurement of goods and services by government’s ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) is touted to have the potential to enable procuring and disposing entities (PDEs) to publish tender notices, receive bids from suppliers and manage contracts.
Delivering a public lecture titled ‘Understanding public procurement: The case of Malawi’ at the Catholic University (CU) of Malawi in Chiradzulu yesterday, PPDA director general Edington Chilapondwa said the adoption of electronic procurement through the e-GP system and the e-Government Marketplace (e-GM) platform will enhance efficiency in public procurement processes in Malawi.
Chilapondwa: It will enhance efficiency
He said: “We want to sanitise public procurement by digitising the procurement system.
“The vendor is already on the ground and by June, we may roll out some of the projects of the system. Once we digitise, corruption will go down as the system will eliminate face to face interface, which encourages corruption.”
Chilapondwa urged public officers, bidders and suppliers to adhere to ethical conduct to build public trust and ensure fairness in public procurement.
He observed that public procurement is playing a crucial role in ensuring attainment of Malawi 2063 through efficient and transparent procurement processes, promotion of local industries, driving innovation, and adopting new technologies.
“We are debarring all corrupt suppliers. So far, we have banned five and we are working on six cases which may lead to debarment also,” he said.
Chilapondwa said the banned six suppliers allegedly failed to execute contractual obligations and submitted false information during bidding.
On his part, CU head of accountancy department Brown Kalinga welcomed the roll out of the e-GP system, saying the country is moving towards digitalisation; hence, the plan is a move in the right direction.
In 2020, PPDA announced plans to implement e-procurement to root out corruption in public procurement as about 70 percent of the national budget is spent on procurement.
Public procurement contracts have been fraught with corruption in the country with some public officers convicted for cutting corners.
Malawi Police Service officers yesterday camped at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services in Blantyre to foil a planned sit-in to push for the dismissal of director general Charles Kalumo.
At least 10 uniformed officers, some of them armed, were seen outside the Immigration headquarters while a police vehicle filled with other officers made regular patrols around the area.
In an interview yesterday, South West Region Police spokesperson Joseph Sauka justified the deployment to Immigration offices yesterday, saying police do this “depending on information on the ground”.
However, he could not elaborate on the information the police had about the Immigration headquarters.
Police officers on high alert at the Immigration offices in Blantyre yesterday
Said Sauka: “Strategically, we thought it wise that we should operate from there to tighten security at Immigration headquarters.”
One of the Immigration officers confided in The Nation that police were at the site by 6am.
The officer said some members of staff at Immigration headquarters were expected to be served with interdiction letters for pushing for the resignation of Kalumo, but the staff demanded that Kalumo should serve the letters in person.
The police presence did not affect the department’s operations as some Immigration staff were seen working while others appeared idle as passport printing is yet to resume in Blantyre. The police officers left the premises at around 2pm.
Both Kalumo and Minister of Homeland Security Ken Zikhale Ng’oma did not pick up our calls on several attempts.
Immigration national spokesperson Wellington Chiponde, on the other hand, referred the matter to police on their presence.
On Monday, a group of Immigration officers presented a petition to the Ministry of Homeland Security demanding Kalumo to resign in 10 days.
Spokesperson for the workers Charles Chisi told The Nation on Tuesday that they want Kalumo fired because he treats officers like his children and has destroyed the department.
Kalumo, who was appointed Immigration director general in 2022, has lately come under fire for the passport mess following the hacking of the passport system in April this year.
Passport seekers also demanded that President Lazarus Chakwera fire Zikhale Ng’oma over delays to resume passport printing.
Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Authority (Magla) has given Mangochi Municipal Council 5 000 bags of maize flour worth K200 million to ease the plight of people affected by floods in the area.
Magla’s gesture was in reaction to an appeal by the affected people in the district after rising water levels in Lake Malawi and its sole outlet Shire River destroyed their homes and displaced them.
Speaking after presenting the donation, Magladirector general Rachel Mijiga said their aim is to relieve the victims’ suffering following the natural disaster.
She said: “We received reports that rising water levels in Lake Malawi have affected many people and that flash floods worsened the situation as they damaged crops and properties.
“So, we came in today with maize flour so that we can assist the most affected people around MangochiBoma all the way to Cape Maclear to mitigate their suffering.”
Mijiga: So many people were affected
Mijiga said they expect the donation to alleviate the suffering of the victims.
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Traditional Authority Mapira thanked Magla for the timely donation, saying the relief food will cushion the suffering of the people.
“I thank the authorities for the maize flour. My subjects are going through a difficult time. They lost everything to the floods and rising lake waters. They need help,” he said.
In his remarks, Mangochi Municipal Council representative Kenneth Chimombo said the maize flour will ease the council’s burden in taking care of the victims, some of whom are seeking shelter in public facilities.
About 3 090 people from 525 households along the lakeshore have been displaced by the flooding caused by the swelling lake.
ressure is mounting for highest paid TNM Super League coaches as their employers are keen to see positive signs of ‘return on investment’ with just eight weeks into the season.
FCB Nyasa Bullets, Mighty Mukuru Wanderers, Silver Strikers and Creck Sporting Club boast of being clubs with best paid coaches in the elite local league.
Bullets’ Zimbabwean mentor Kallisto Pasuwa is the highest paid on a $6 050 (about K10.5 million) package per month while Mighty Mukuru Wanderers gaffer Nsanzurwimo Ramadhan of Burundi, who resigned last week, was second on a $3 500 (about K6.3 million) in his one-year deal.
Following Ramadhan’s departure, Silver’s Peter Mponda is on a K5 million per month and the highest among the locals while Creck Sporting Club coach McDonald Mtetemera is third on K1.4 million monthly.
With just eight weeks into the season, Mponda’s Silver are unbeaten and lead the log table with 22 points unbeaten in eight matches.
But it was not rosy for Ramadhan, who resigned due to purported pressure from supporters after the Nomads, who have 12 points, suffered two consecutive 2-0 losses to Silver and Mzuzu City Hammers.
Stepped down: Ramadhan
Mtetemera also faces pressure after his club on Wednesday warned him that he risks the chop if he fails to collect at least seven points form a possible nine in the next three matches.
In a letter dated May 29 2024, signed by general secretary Aaron Abacus Kandiwo Mtaya, the club says it expects more from the technical panel after investing about K100 million.
The letter reads in part: “It has been noted that despite the support and resources provided, the results have not been satisfactory of late. Following a thorough assessment, it has been decided that a disciplinary action in form of a written letter be issued to you, the coaching staff.
“Please take this warning seriously and make the necessary adjustments to ensure that Creck Sporting Club achieves the desired results as an ambitious club that does not only aim at beating relegation in the elite league, but also fighting for honours in the country and beyond our borders.”
The club’s board chairperson Muhammad Seleman in an interview yesterday justified the warning letter, saying it was a normal procedure.
He said: “It is normal for any club to take any form of disciplinary action against its members. A written warning is one of the forms of a disciplinary action.”
Mtetemera, who last season led lowly funded Chitipa United to a top four finish, has welcomed the challenge saying it has jerked him up and that he will aim for nine points.
“I have welcomed the challenge 100 percent. I don’t know their motive, but I will just do my job,” he said.
The reaction follows the team’s recent results which have seen them collect 11 points from eight matches.
They tie at 11 points with Moyale Barracks on position six, PremierBet Dedza Dynamos in seventh, Civil Service United are eighth and Mighty Wakawaka Tigers lie ninth on goal difference.
Despite winning all silveware last season, pressure is piling for Pasuwa, who has endured the worst start in five years as the defending champions drew against Moyale Barracks on Monday to collect just 14 points from a possible 24 in eight matches.
The last time they had such a turbulent first eight weeks was in 2019 when they collected 11 points in Pasuwa’s first full season after taking over from Eliah Kananji midway the 2018 season.
National Football Coaches Associations chairperson Aubrey Nankhuni in an interview said they anticipated the development way before the season kicked off.
However, he said there are cases where some clubs are to blame after failing to fulfil contractual agreements.
“In other cases the coaches were forced to leave because of the poor welfare,” he said.
Ramadhan’s resignation coincided with that of Chitipa United head coach McNebert Kadzuwa and his assistant Elvis Kafoteka following their team’s poor performance, taking the number of coaches that have left their clubs this year to six.
Before the duo, Oscar Kaunda dumped Baka FC just a week into the new season, Trevor Kajawa quit his job at Karonga United coach while Christopher Nyambose parted ways with Bangwe All Stars.
According to Kajawa, he was made to work for Karonga United without a contract for four months.
But Karonga United general secretary Ramsey Simwaka justified the delay, saying “There are procedures that we follow. We were still monitoring the coach before offering him a contract”.
Nyambose, on the other hand, terminated his seven-month contract with the Bangwe-based side just after three games in the new season, citing personal reasons, including health grounds.
Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) executive committee has stepped down following concerns its affiliates raised in a petition submitted last month.
In their petition, the affiliates, among others, point at the committee’s failure to fulfil promises made ahead of the 2021 NAM elections.
In a letter dated May 30 2024, signed by the entire executive committee, addressed to Malawi National Council of Sports, which we have seen, the NAM leadership says having critically examined the concerns “and acting in good faith for the sake of netball, the ex-co decided to step down from office with immediate effect”.
Kamata: We have received the letter
Reads the letter in part: “This will allow for a new team to step in and manage the game.
“In order to manage the smooth transition, we pledge our commitment and availability to assist in any issues that may require our attention.
“We wish all the best for the game of netball.”
NAM president Abigail Shariff and general secretary Isaac Chimwala could not be reached for comment yesterday, but in an interview, Sports Council chief executive officer Henry Kamata confirmed receipt of the letter.
He said: “As Malawi National Council of Sports, we have received the letter. Our mandate is to regulate all forms of sport in the country, and accordingly, we will ensure that the transition is managed in a manner that does not disrupt the activities of netball in the country.
“NAM had earlier communicated of an AGM [annual general meeting], where they were expected to table and address issues that were raised by their affiliates; regional, district and technical committees, and we think they will also handle the issue of a new team to lead the netball family.”
Kamata also said the council will provide the necessary financial and technical support if called upon “because netball is a sport brand that all Malawians are proud of”.
Among others, the petition from affiliates accused NAM of failing to secure additional sponsorships, lack of transparency and accountability and setting up developmental structures.
The NAM ex-co was also accused of failing to improve standards of the game as promised during the pre-election campaign.
Women in Mzimba District have expressed excitement with cervical cancer screening courtesy of Global Health Corps and International Training and Education Centre for Health (I-Tech).
Speaking in an interview on Wednesday at Jenda Health Centre, Wezi Zimba of Jenda Section 10 said the outreach initiative offered her an opportunity to know her status.
“Screening for cervical cancer motivates us to speak to fellow women on the importance of testing to know one’s status. According to health personnel, cervical cancer can be treated when detected early,” she said.
Another woman, Letina Phiri from Jenda Section 8A, said cervical cancer was killing many women because they discover it late.
Zimba: Go for cervical cancer screening
“We seized the opportunity to go for testing to know our status. I urge other women to follow suit,” she said.
Jenda Health Centre community nurse Felistus Lungu said there was a high turnout during the outreach programme.
She said: “When we go out in villages to screen women for cervical cancer, they do not show interest until they present themselves to the hospital with symptoms. At this time, it is too late to treat them.
“Cervical cancer cannot be healed when you delay to seek medical help. I urge women that are HIV negative to undergo cervical cancer screening once in three years and those living with HIV once every year.”
I-Tech monitoring and valuation adviser Mafayo Phiri, who is also an aluminus for Global Health Corps, said many women shun cervical cancer screening.
“Most women seek help at a later stage when the cancer cells have spread widely and become untreatable,” he said.
In 2023, Mzimba District Hospital screened 3 245 women for cervical cancer
Malawian consumers should brace for tough times with projections by PwC, an auditing and advisory firm, indicating that the country will slip into hyperinflation mode this year.
The PwC analysis contained in the April 2024 issue of the World Economic Report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) supports assertions that Malawi is heading towards a hyperinflation economy alongside Egypt and Sudan,
Malawi’s inflation as of April this year was recorded at 32.3 percent while Sudan and Egypt’s inflation rates were recorded at 63.3 percent and 35.7 percent, respectively.
This means that within this period, prices of goods and services in Malawi will rise uncontrollably as a rise in money supply will not be supported by economic growth, according to PwC.
Reads the PwC analysis in part: “Entities with the currency of Malawi as their functional currency should start applying International Accounting Standards [IAS] 29 for reporting periods ending on or after 31 December 2024.
“Entities should consider any significant events or conditions that might contradict the conclusion that Malawi is hyper-inflationary between now and the end of 2024, which will include
World Economic Outlook that will be issued in October 2024.”
IAS 29 is specifically designed for companies operating in hyperinflationary environments, suggesting accounting bodies anticipate a severe situation in Malawi.
Reacting to the report yesterday, Scotland-based economist Velli Nyirongo said that excessive domestic government borrowing, higher prices of tobacco which has increased the amount of money in circulation and the 44 percent kwacha devaluation effected in November last year, has landed Malawi in a hyperinflation mode.
He said government has to take decisive action on multiple fronts, including tighter spending, improved exchange rate management, better management of interest rates to balance between boosting the economy and managing excess borrowing.
“Consumers will continue to face a significant erosion of purchasing power, which could lead to a decline in living standards and increased hardship for many Malawians,” he said.
Consumers Association of Malawi executive director John Kapito said in an interview yesterday that when inflation is high, the most affected people are the vulnerable who are many in Malawi.
He said: “High inflation affects production as the cost of imports and produced goods become unaffordable which leads to closures of most industries, creating unemployment among many people.
“These figures should help countries such as Malawi to start planning for the future and realigning the economy with such developments.”
Inflation had been declining since December following a drop in maize prices, as new maize started reaching the market.
But in April 2014, inflation rate increased by 0.5 percentage points to 32.3 percent due to rising food and non-food items, according to National Statistical Office data
World Vision Malawi has announced plans to install a mechanised water system in group village head Mweniyumba in Traditional Authority Kyungu in Karonga District.
In an interview on Wednesday after introducing the project dubbed Lupembe-Mlare Church Water Project to Karonga District Executive Committee members, World Vision Malawi Karonga district programmes manager Hendrix Kalanje said his organisation is committed to improving access to safe water in the district.
A woman shows where they draw water
He said: “Our survey in 2022 reported that 98.4 percent of the households in Lupembe-Mlare Area Programme had access to adequate potable water which was slightly above the nation’s average of 87.3
“However, the results are not evenly distributed as Mweniyumba Village, whose borehole serves 410 people, broke down due to overuse as four neighbouring villages with 1 240 people were also drinking from the same source.”
Kalanje said this has led women and children to walk five kilometres to access clean water, a distance 10 times greater than the recommended Malawi Water Policy of 500 metres from a water source.
Karonga district water, sanitation and hygiene coordinator Hastings Kaira said at least 76 percent of households in the district have access to improved water sources.
“The project will improve access to improved water sources as Mweniyumba community members drink water from shallow wells,” he said.
The project is supported by World Vision Canada to the tune of $35 000 (about K61 million).
The Freedom from Fistula Foundation Bwaila Maternity Wing in Lilongwe has trained 24 ambassadors to raise awareness and reduce the number of fistula cases in the country.
Speaking during the training on Wednesday at the centre, Bwaila Hospital Fistula Centre coordinator Margaret Moyo hailed the patient ambassadors, who included three men, for their work.
Moyo: Ambassadors shared stories
She said the training sought to equip them with skills to better help women with fistula conditions.
Said Moyo: “We also had an interaction with the ambassadors to share their stories and challenges.
“Most of the women, especially in rural areas, stay in hiding because they have lost their dignity. We need these ambassadors, many of whom are survivors, to share their stories and encourage more women to come forward because fistula can be repaired.”
In an interview, one of the participants, Fadson Bauleni Mita, who is also a pastor, said he also uses the pulpit to speak about fistula.
He said: “I have successfully brought 96 patients to this centre for repair and they are now doing well. I encourage my fellow men to support their wives facing this condition.
“Anyone can develop fistula, but the good thing is that it is a condition that can be fixed.”
Another participant Janet Chiwayula, from Nsanje District, said she was happy to be part of the advocacy.
“Women with fistula condition hide because people laugh at them. It is important to speak against such stigma to help the women seek treatment,” she said.
Having developed fistula herself, Chiwayula said she will spread the message to encourage women with the condition to get treatment.
According to the centre, Malawi has at least 20 000 women living with fistula, with 600 new cases registered annually
Gift of the Givers Foundation in partnership with Takamoto Oil Company and Itochu Corporation has launched the construction of a warehouse at group village head Chamanga in Chikwawa District to promote agriculture commercialisation.
Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, the foundation’s country manager Sherifa Mia said they decided to support sesame farmers to go commercial.
She said: “We are implementing this project with two companies which buy sesame from Malawi and other African countries. They saw that sesame from Malawi is of good quality, therefore, we want to encourage farmers to grow more sesame.
Shiraishi (R) and Mia (C) laying the foundation stone
“We will also train the farmers how to take care of sesame to fetch good prices.”
Mia said sesame farmers have for many years not benefitted from their crop because vendors have been buying it at a low price.
“Therefore, organising the farmers into cooperatives will help them to negotiate for better prices as a group,” she said.
Itochu Corporation deputy manager Masahiro Shiraishi said they partnered Gift of the Givers because of the high quality and volume of sesame the area produces.
Chamanga Village Agriculture Stakeholder panel chairperson Tamani Mkuzi thanked the foundation for the gesture, saying the project will help improve the lives of 3687 sesame farmers in the area.
He, however, said many farmers are struggling with pests that are destroying the crop and appealed to well-wishers to support them with pesticides.
Mkuzi urged other farmers in Chikwawa not to give up growing the crop due to low prices, saying the new project will make them realise more income.
The project will cost K130 million and the construction is expected to be completed by October 2024 while the project will end in May 2025
Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) has said rehabilitation of Kapichira Hydro Power Station in Chikwawa District has helped to reduce blackouts in the country.
Egenco public relations and communications manager Moses Gwaza disclosed this yesterday in an interview with Malawi News Agency.
“The station is running perfectly and all the four machines are in perfect condition,” said Gwaza.
He further disclosed that the power station has restored 129.6 megawatts to the national grid.
“The country has surplus electricity since we have enough generation capacity and we are happy, as Egenco, to contribute to national development,” added Gwaza.
He said the power generation company was still investing in different projects in all the country’s regions to sustain generation capacity.
“We will ensure that we continue implementing the projects that we have. We have also started a project in Salima that will add another 50 megawatts to the national grid,” he said.
In a separate interview, Consumers Association of Malawi executive director John Kapito commended Egenco and the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi for turning around the corner to address blackouts, which have been an issue for a long time.
“I would like to commend the two organisations for putting all their efforts to maintain uninterrupted supply. This is obviously good news to the consumers as they will no longer lose perishables in their refrigerators due to power outages,” he said.
Egenco is also diversifying its power sources, which will involve having hydro plants in different districts.
Kapichira Hydro Power Station suffered damage in January 2022 due to Cyclone Anna.
The Malawi Rural Electrification Programme (Marep Phase 9) is expected to miss the second deadline of August 2024 with authorities now eying October 2024.
The project, which had been facing delays since 2020 at procurement and contracting stages, was initially planned to be completed on 31 March, 2024.
A technician connects a rural dwelling to the grid under Marep
In an earlier interview, Ministry of Energy Principal Secretary Alfonso Chikuni said the March 31 deadline was not practical as construction of the power lines started late.
He said work in some sites started in January this year while in other sites it started in February.
“When we were setting the March 31 target, the plan was that we will sign contracts by September 2023. However, contracts were signed in December and contractors started work in January, 2024 while others started in February,” said Chikuni.
On resources, he said they are available, but he feared that the programme will face challenges towards the end due to a K40 billion deficit.
Meanwhile, chief energy officer in the Ministry of Energy Austin Theu said the project which is connecting 438 sites is now expected to be completed in October, two months later than the recently set deadline.
Theu said: “Most contractors have made significant progress on the sites and we expect the few that experienced some delays to finalize everything within a month or two after the August deadline.”
According to Theu, Marep Phase 9 will connect 438 sites across the country with an average of 175 households’ connections per site.
In a separate interview, Chairperson of Natural Resources and Climate Change Committee of Parliament Werani Chilenga whose committee inspected some sites of the project in Chikwawa and Machinga recently, said he is impressed with the progress.
“So far so good, we are very impressed with the Ministry of Energy’s progress and we hope that the scenario we saw in Chikwawa and Mulanje is the same with all sites because we have been told, for example, in Chikwawa, the site will be electrified by next week.
“This project is long overdue because of challenges the ministry was facing like forex acquisition and other issues with contractors so we are glad that those were sorted out,” Chilenga said.
Among others, Marep is funded through a rural electrification levy in the petroleum pump price build up.
Initially, Marep 9 was estimated to cost K40 billion in 2022, but due to devaluation of the kwacha and other factors it was revised to K70 billion.
Marep was mooted to increase access to electricity, especially in rural areas where just about five percent of the population is connected.
The Marep 9 planning started in 2019 but four years down the line, the programme has not been completed due to a number of challenges.
The first tender for the supply of Marep 9 materials was floated in May 2020. However, the Tonse Alliance administration suspended issuance of new contracts in June 2020, a development which led to the expiry of bid validities.
Upon lifting of the ban, retendering began, but the process was stopped again by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) because of some irregularities reported to and confirmed by the ACB.
Procurement of contractors for construction of the power lines also experienced delays in granting of no objection
Marep started in 1980 under Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi as the implementing agency through donor financing. In 1995, the Government of Malawi took over implementation of the programme with the Department of Energy as the implementing agency.
Roads Fund Administration (RFA) has collected a cumulative K9.1 billion from tollgates as at February 2024. However, the fund says the money is not enough to rehabilitate some sections of the M1. Our reporter GRACE PHIRI engages RFA public relations manager MASAUKO MNGWALUKO on why the money in the bag cannot meet the cost of patching the potholes on the road and more.
One of the exsting toll gates
Looking at the rising costs of road construction and rehabilitation, how do you plan to finance public roads in the country?
RFA is fully aware of the need for more resources for maintenance of public roads. In view of this we have identified tolling [erecting tollgates] as one of the futuristic strategies to ensure there is sustained road financing and road maintenance. We are planning to increase the number of tollgates from the current two to four in the coming financial year.
How far have you gone with revenue diversification efforts?
RFA has already diversified through the introduction of tolling. We are also working with some financial institutions to raise roads bonds for financing major road maintenance and rehabilitation. Currently, in Lilongwe, we are financing the rehabilitation and upgrading of the Kenyatta Drive to Shoprite and Mzimba Street from Kamuzu Central Hospital to Crossroads to six-lane road projects using the Roads Bond facility.
To date, how much have you raised from toll gates?
As of end February 2024 we had raised K9.1 billion from the road toll. Out of this, we are paying for operating expenses of the toll gates and the maintenance and rehabilitation works.
With all that money in the kitty, why do we still have potholes on key roads?
For the potholes of the tolled road, the money is enough to ensure the potholes are worked on. However, besides pothole-patching, some sections of the road need to be rehabilitated. This will require a lot of money. The Roads Authority (RA), who are responsible for all road works on M1, will, therefore, do this in phases due to inadequate resources. As and when more resources are available, the RA will deploy more contractors to rehabilitate the road.
What is the economic impact of the country’s inability to maintain the road network, notably M1, M5 etc?
The two are very key roads and they facilitate a lot of economic and social activities such as access to markets, commerce, health service and many other activities. You can, therefore, imagine the impact the failure to maintain these roads would have on the economy as a whole.
What do you say about the current financing model in terms of delivering optimal results?
There is always need for more resources and we continue looking at ways on how we can enhance our resource base. Tolling is one such ways. Currently, that is what we are pursuing. We will continue to build more tollgates where justifiable. However, we have noted in recent times that the effects of the devaluation, rising cost of raw materials for road maintenance/rehabilitation and the erosion of the value in our toll fees will require a review of the toll rates if tolling is to be meaningful.
Near my office at Ginnery Corner in Blantyre is a short, stout forty-something-year-old fellow who I have watched selling soft drinks over the past two decades.
Literally, this man has grown on this street, including his beard, which I now see him spotting and pulling every now and then. But that bush is the only thing that has grown with him apart from his family, of course. His business is still the same though.
He still orders two crates of soft drinks every day because that is the working capital he has had consistently.
Occasionally, he would ‘eat’ his capital and then turn to the nearby Directorate of Road Traffic and Safety Services where ‘amathamanga’ as some sort of ‘dobadoba’ or middleman.
At that corrupt department, he helps lazy folks get their drivers’ licenses, certificates of fitness and registration documents for their vehicles through shortcuts, well, that is a polite way of saying bribery towards the right officers whose agent is ‘Shorty’.
Once he gets enough from his commissions for his two crates, he returns to his clean soft drinks business, as if acknowledging that udobadoba is a dirty way of earning a living and only resorts to it out of desperation to survive.
Otherwise, ‘Shorty’ works hard, arrives on the street by 7am, knocks off 12 hours later and has followed the same routine throughout the 20 years I have known him. But there is nothing about him that shows progress.
Shorty’s tale is a microcosm of the story of his country, Malawi. In 2004, the same year I knew ‘Shorty’, Malawi’s international poverty line stood at around 70 percent and two decades later, that figure is largely the same.
During most of this period, Malawi implemented three medium-term national development strategies that were supposed to be aligned to Vision 2020—the purveyor of the country’s long-term national development aspirations—at whose expiry Malawi should have become a middle income economy.
The country never even came close by the year 2020. These three documents were the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy I, II and III although the first years of the vision were operationalized by the Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy.
These four successive documents and the vision they served, left the same 70 percent of Malawians exactly as they found them: living on US$2.15 per person every day with income per capita at around US$645 instead of the $1 036 they should have had by year 2020.
Government instead kicked that cane down the road to the year 2030, but now the National Planning Commission says the country is also unlikely to become a lower middle income country by 2030 as planned and may only reach the goal 15 years after the target.
Updating the Budget and Finance Committee of Parliament in Lilongwe, NPC director general Thomas Munthali, however, said if there is a radical course correction through implementation of catalytic interventions that can help chalk a consistent growth of 6.4 percent then Malawi could achieve the target by 2036.
But if the country still wants to reach its lower middle income status target by the original date of 2030, then it must grow by at least 10 percent annually in the remaining six years—a feat that is almost impossible given the country’s economic performance over the past 30 years (1994-to date) during which growth has averaged just around four percent.
Government has said a series of internal disasters and external crises that have spilled over to Malawi have derailed the local economy from growing at the six percent minimum needed to cut poverty and raise people’s incomes.
To be sure, the floods in 2015, the drought in 2016, Cyclone Idai in 2019, Cyclone Anna and Tropical Storm Gombe in 2022, Cyclone Freddy in 2023 and now the El Nino effects have over the past decade played a huge part in crippling the agriculture sector, which is the country’s economic mainstay with direct bearing on the living standards of at least 80 percent of the population.
These natural disasters have also devastated infrastructure in the transport and energy sectors as well as in social sectors of health and education that required government to spend money it did not have, to prevent them from complete collapse.
Again, the external shocks from the Russian invasion of Ukraine—widely blamed for worsening global supply chain disruptions, which were triggered by Covid-19 lockdowns that reached their peak at the beginning of the Malawi2063 agenda in 2020—is one of the major outside forces scattering execution of its domestic agenda. Yet, the fact remains that these climate shocks will always be there just as foreign powers will always go to war without a second thought of how tiny Malawi will be affected by bombings thousands of miles away. Malawi just has to work around these.
What this country needs is a sound governance regime with strong and independent institutions that enforce transparency and holds everyone accountable, including the Head of State.
Such a governance architecture could bring back confidence in government and its systems, including those on public finance and economic management, which can in turn boost inflows in general budgetary support directly to government to ensure harminised spending and accountability for results; attract foreign direct investment to create jobs and boost exports and encourage Malawians to pay their taxes religiously trusting that their money will really be used to develop the country for their benefit and those of their children.
Only then can ‘Shorty’, who I saw on Thursday morning dejectedly carrying his two crates of soft drinks, really grow his small business and make his family live a little better without resorting to the very corruption seen through the road traffic directorate that pulls back this country.
Despite tobacco fetching good prices in the country this year, figures from neighbouring countries show that prices there are still attractive to Malawi farmers, hence the increase in smuggling cases.
Zimbabwe, for instance, tobacco prices opened at $4.92 (about K8 614) per kilogramme (kg), up from the previous year’s $4.35 (about K7 616) per kg.
One of the trucks intercepted at Silombe Village in Namitete, Lilongwe
In Zambia, the highest price reached $6.99 (about K12 239) per kg while the average price is $3.36 (about K5 883) per kg.
This comes at a time authorities are boasting better tobacco prices this year in domestic floors, which are averaging $2.78 (about K4 867) per kg with $3.25 (about K5 690) per kg recorded as the highest price mainly for barley.
Meanwhile, there are growing cases of smuggling, especially in Mchinji, where either farmers or middlemen aim at sending their tobacco to Zambia for higher prices.
One farmer, who bypasses local floors told Voice of America that they get double the profits from cross-border trading.
“Currently, tobacco prices at the floors in Zambia are averaged $5/kg for the highest quality leaf while the cheapest is $2/kg while here in Malawi, the average price for the highest-quality leaf is $3.05 and the cheapest is $2.40/kg,” he said.
In an interview, Tama Farmers Trust president Abiel Kalima Banda said he is not sure about the prices in Zambia and Zimbabwe, stressing that the Tobacco Commission (TC) could be better-placed to comment.
Kalima said: “I don’t want to comment about prices in our neighbouring countries. What we know so far is that the ones involved in smuggling are middlemen or vendors whose main interests are not tobacco prices, because we are hearing they exchange the leaf with assets such as motorbikes.”
In a separate interview, TC spokesperson Telephorus Chigwenembe said the high prices of tobacco in neighbouring countries is likely to depend on the type of tobacco and quality, but he said the buyers are better-placed to explain what is happening.
“On price variations, I think it has to depend on the type of tobacco because some tobacco types fetch significantly higher prices than burley but, again, there are also issues of quality which could be considered,” he said.
Meanwhile, an agricultural expert Leonard Chimwaza described the situation as complex, stressing that this shows existing gaps on market intelligence and price-negotiating capabilities, among other factors.
“I don’t agree on the quality aspect because we have seen that Zimbabwe and Zambia tobacco is not different from ours in terms of standard. I think such price variations could call for proper market intelligence with the buyers and some price-negotiating strategies.
“The challenge is, maybe, we are not able to follow through to establish whether Malawi tobacco is sold at lower prices at the international market to substantiate quality suggestions; otherwise, I believe tobacco produced within this region is similar in terms of quality,” Chimwaza said.
Recently, TC and the police confiscated flu cured tobacco in a two-tonnes truck in Mchinji, suspected to be smuggled to Zambia and another two tonnes in Namitete believed to be heading to Mozambique.
The incidents also followed interception of a truck carrying 48 bales of flu cured tobacco which was about to be smuggled out of the country in Mchinji.
Through a 1997 Declaration on Gender and Development, Southern African Development Community (Sadc) countries are mandated to establish policy and institutional frameworks for advancing gender equality.
The Sadc member-States are implored to do so by setting up advisory systems with government and non-governmental organisations to monitor gender issues.
Women have stepped up efforts to increase numbers in political positions
It is an uphill task considering how women are treated in most African countries. Elsewhere on the continent women are treated like second-class citizens, not allowed to come anywhere near decision-making processes.
In the case of Malawi, Mzimba, in particular, almost all chiefs are men, which means there is no voice of women on decisions affecting them, a situation that worries Foundation for Children’s Rights executive director Jenipher Mkandawire.
She says: “This [having all male chiefs] has its own implications, especially when it comes to promoting women to participate in politics.
“It sends a bad signal to the electorate, as they are made to believe that women cannot lead. It also creates a rough ride for women who are culturally perceived to be at the tail, not the head.
Mkandawire stresses that much as culture has to be respected and appreciated, there is need to start recognising women so that they also take up chieftaincy positions.
Trends
However, since the ushering in of a democratic government in 1994 in Malawi, there has been an increase in the number of women taking up positions in government.During the 1994 elections, 46 women stood for parliamentary elections and 10 made it into the 177-member august House, representing 5.6 percent.
During the 1999 General Election, 62 women contested for parliamentary seats and the number of female legislators in the now 193-member Parliament increased to 18, representing 9.3 percent.
Then, in 2004, the number of women participating in the parliamentary election more than doubled from 62 to 154. This was an indication that more women were participating in politics. And the number of MPs increased, too, from 18 to 27, representing 14 percent.
The same happened in 2009, when more women, 220, contested and 42 made it to Parliament, representing 22 percent.
In 2014, the number of women contesting increased to 260, but the number that made it to Parliament reduced from 42 to 32, while in 2019, the number of female contestants increased to 310, out of which 45 became parliamentarians, representing 23 percent of the contestants.
It was due to the dwindling numbers of women making it to Parliament that an organisation known as 50:50 Campaign Management Agency was formed.
The campaign’s team leader Viwemi Chavula explains about the agency’s objectives:
“It was all about solidarity with the women’s agenda. You need a pathway for women to get into office and management positions. The agency offers the thinking, plan, structures and process of how to get women into office,” he says.
However, much as there is will and determination to politically empower women, finance is the problem as the agency runs at the mercy of donors. When the donors decide not to fund, the campaign stops, and people forget about it.
Chavula says in addition to being donor-driven, the agency faces difficulties to penetrate rural areas for one reason or another, including disasters as was the case last year when the country was hit with cyclones.
“You should not forget that politics has been commercialised and control of resources by women is a problem. But we are moving forward to ensure that more women take up political leadership positions,” he says.
Zimbabwe
While Malawi has no law ensuring parliamentary seats for women, other countries have, notably Zimbabwe, the constitution provides for a quota system at both local government and parliamentary levels.
In Zimbabwe, 60 seats on top of the 120 in Parliament are reserved for women whereas 30 percent more seats, on top of the 1 970 council seats, are also reserved for women.
But according to Women’s Academy for Leadership and Politician Excellence (Walpe) executive director Sitabile Dewa, many women are still not comfortable with the quotas.
She said: “These quotas are limiting women’s participation in leadership as they [women elected using quota] do not have constituencies or wards, which makes it difficult for them to implement meaningful development.
“In essence, quotas are supposed to complement the elected positions. However, political parties are now using it as an excuse to sideline women from contesting for the directly elected seats.”
Dewa cited the 2023 national elections that showed that only 22 women out of 210 constituencies were directly elected as MPs (representing 12 percent) while 246 out of 1970 wards were elected as councillors (representing 12 percent).
“This was a drop in the number of women directly elected for public offices compared to the 2018 national elections. These figures also go against Constitutional provisions of Sections 17, 56 and 80 which call for gender balance in all leadership and decision-making positions,” she said.
She called upon the government of Zimbabwe to align the Constitution with the Electoral Act to give power to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to reject party lists that are not gender-balanced.
Walpe has been undertaking the #LetsGo50-50 gender equality campaign for the past five years. It seeks to create a just society where women excel in all facets of development through free, active, effective and full participation in leadership, governance and decision-making processes at both local and national levels.
According to Dewa, Zimbabwe is one of the countries that do not have a Gender Equality Act which leaves the discretion to leaders who are mostly men to effect gender-balance in all leadership positions.
She also wants a change in the electoral voting system from the first- past-the-post to proportional representation, to guarantee gender balance.
Botswana
In Botswana, there is no law that allows reserving seats for women, according to Ida Mokereitane, executive director of Emang Basadi Association in Botswana.
She said Botswana has 61 MPs and only seven are women.
Said Mokereitane: “During the 2019 general elections, there were 54 men and three women who were elected, but the President appointed four women and two men as special parliamentarians.
“For the 2024 elections, constituencies have been increased from 57 to 61 plus six special members, totaling 67.”
She dismissed the suggestion that more women will take up political leadership, saying that can only happen after the country changes its voting system.
“The first-past- the-post electoral system is disadvantaging women and other vulnerable groups since the winner takes all.
“There is need to review the system since Botswana has six special nominated members. We are calling for it to be increased to 30 percent.”
She also called for the training of political parties to adopt what she described as “sensitive policies”, manifestos and constitutions that promote gender equality and women’s human rights.
In addition, the association wants political parties and government to agree on reserving seats for women in constituencies and wards.
Zambia
In Zambia, the first-past-the-post determination of electing leaders is a hurdle to aspiring women.
The country has 156 legislators, but in terms of women, there are 20 elected MPs, one nominated, the Vice-President and two deputy Speakers, totaling 25.
Non-governmental Gender Organisations’ Coordinating Council (NGOCC) executive director Anne Mbewe Anamela said such disappointments are the reason they decided to come together to form the coordinating council.
Formed in 1985 out of the realisation that the empowerment of women in the country needed concerted efforts, NGOCC is an umbrella body of 111 organisations spread across 10 provinces and 68 districts, directly targeting six million people.
“The number of women remain unacceptably low considering that they constitute the majority of the population. Currently, the electoral system is First-Past-the-Post, which does not guarantee women representation,” said Anamela.
She called for the amendment of the country’s constitution to compel appointing authorities to think about gender when appointing people in political positions
Namibia and Zebra politics
In Namibia, just like in Botswana, there is also no law that talks about the mandated number of women in Parliament, according to legislator Patience Masua.
“This is because Parliament is elected based on party list. If the list has few women, expect fewer of them in Parliament,” she said.
Namibia uses what they call ‘zebra politics’ whereby, for example, if a political party has 20 male legislators, there has to be 20 females as well.
However, Masua said it is only the ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo) that is following it.
Way forward
Catholic University of Malawi vice-chancellor Associate professor Ngeyi Kanyongolo, said it is possible for countries to implement policies that can respond to challenges women face in politics.
“If we can look at policies such as equal access to education for the girl child, ending violence against women, especially in politics, controlling handouts and illegal campaign financing, levelling the playing field by ensuring transparent primaries [within political parties] and voting, things can change for the women,” said Kanyongolo, a renowned gender activist.
But she stressed that reserving seats or quota for women would be a better way of increasing their numbers in Parliament.
Martha Chizuma left the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) yesterday as the organisation’s director general (DG). She did not renew the contract. In this article I argue that President Lazarus Chawera’s plan to hire Chizuma in his efforts to fight graft in the country was a good move. But unfortunately he abandoned the campaign a few months down the line. There was no execution of the well-meaning plan. So, it is a misnomer to talk about how well Chizuma performed as DG at ACB. The system clipped her wings so the bird could not fly and the whole thing became a poisoned chalice.
It is not speculation that President Lazarus Chakwera appointed Chizuma as ACB DG with good intentions. She was appointed from a list of three best candidates that the selection team submitted to the President. Her name was then submitted to the Public Appointments Committee of Parliament (PAC) to confirm the appointment. But the committee initially rejected her, which to me, was the first tell-tale sign that some people were clearly not comfortable with this fearless legal bulldozer heading the country’s graft-busting body.
But there was a public outcry against her rejection. And in his State of the Nation Address, Chakwera added his weight to the public’s outcry describing PAC’s stand as being based on personal and political interests and against the spirit of fighting graft in the country.
It is worth noting that the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) protested the re-tabling of the motion for PAC to reconsider its position on Chizuma. But her stellar performance as Ombudsman made her a public favourite. PAC, therefore, had no choice but to confirm Chizuma.
It can be surmised without fear of contradiction that her rejection was motivated by the fact that while serving as Ombudsman, Chizuma riled many senior public servants. Among other things, she ordered senior technocrats at the Office of the President and Cabinet, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Agriculture to issue an apology for their handling of a $50 million loan from an Indian bank to procure tractors for rural farmers. She also investigated how State machinery abused Covid-19 funds as well as the unprocedural recruitments of top executives in various State agencies including the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority.
All seemed to be well between Chizuma and President Chakwera with the latter, as of November 26 2021, declaring that he fully supported her crusade against corruption in the country.
Then boom!! On January 2022, a corruption scandal emerged. A UK-based businessman, Zuneth Sattar, was accused of allegedly bribing several government officials in order to obtain hefty contracts in Malawi government. Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and ACB had launched an investigation into Sattar’s alleged State capture. ACB arrested one Cabinet minister, Kezzie Msukwa in connection with the alleged bribes.
Chakwera had previously fired two Cabinet ministers who were embroiled in graft or abuse of office. But this time around, he failed to fire Msukwa from Cabinet prompting angry rebuke from influential actors, the church and members of the public.
Relenting, Chakwera, soon after dissolved Cabinet and he also concurrently launched a scathing attack on Chizuma for allegedly breaking her oath of office. This was to do with a recording in which Chizuma was heard commenting on issues surrounding the Sattar investigation with an unknown third party, was in circulation.
She had been duped.
Not only was the attack on Chizuma a foreboding of her troubled stay for the rest of her days at ACB, but more malignantly, it oiled the undercurrents against her by the army of those who never wanted her anywhere near the graft-busting body in the first place. But be that as it may, Chakwera who had now fired Msukwa from Cabinet, retained Chizuma as the ACB boss.
On December 6 2022, police arrested Chizuma over the leaked audio recorded in January 2022. Invading her house at 3:00 am in a Swat-style raid, police whisked her to Namitete where, among other things, she was ordered to kneel down during the morning’s roll call. It is obvious the police were only carrying orders from some higher mortals.
All Chizuma’s adversaries were now firing on all cylinders in a war of paralysis and annihilation with the express aim of not only frustrating her but also getting her out of ACB as soon as yesterday. The message could not have been clearer to anyone who had been following the goings-on in the fight against corruption in the country. The system and the powers that be were telling Chizuma that the Sattar issue was a death-dealing explosive she better not dare touch.
Who was Chizuma to fight the whole system? At one point she admitted not being fully supported in the campaign. Indeed she was both not supported and protected.
maSo, if you ask me how Chizuma faired at the ACB, I would say the system abandoned the project for which she was hired. It also made no pretence it wanted to make her and ACB succeed in leading the fight against corruption in the country. There is a saying that ‘who comes to equity must come with clean hands’.
Folks, just before the 2020 Fresh Presidential Election, the NGO Gender Coordination Network (GCN) unveiled a framework to advocate for result-oriented action in the implementation of gender equality efforts in Malawi, including on women’s participation in elections.
The Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Gender Protocol is a tracking tool for the implementation of the Sadc Protocol on Gender and Development that was initially launched at the regional level in 2019.
This is an important instrument for improving women’s participation in decision-making although there is still more work to be done for Malawi to reach its gender equality aspirations as many indicators, including on employment agreements in the public sector, are far from being achieved amid frequent touting of the concept in the local media and elsewhere.
The existing Gender Equality Act looks at a 60-40 ratio of representation in leadership positions, but evidence shows that Malawian women still struggle to match up with their male counterparts and such gaps need more collective action now than ever before as the country draws close to next year’s general elections.
However, this is not to say there have not been improvements on gender in the country over the years. I can cite access to education for girls, the enactment of the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Law and other laws that promote gender equality and increased coverage of the effects of gender-based violence on national development.
Through the 50-50 campaign, the gender equality or equity concept has also motivated many local women to join active politics, participate and stand for political offices. The only thing remaining is more lobbying and more checks and balances to ensure that more women are supported so that Malawi can attain gender targets linked with the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s 2063 agenda for development.
Fortunately, many experts have said that so far no country has achieved 50 percent gender equality in the region amid hopes that certain countries will have achieved some level of gender equality in the next six years.
The fact that Malawi re-launched the 50:50 Campaign recently is in itself good news because the majority of our population is made up of the women and girls who need good foundations to take up future leadership positions in government and the private sector and actively support this country’s development agenda.
It is, therefore, important that as we draw closer to the September 2025 Tripartite Election, we all must embrace public awareness campaigns that seek to boost equal representation and participation of men and women in elected positions.
This can even incorporate leadership training for female aspirants to prepare them mentally and psychologically, thereby enhancing their decision-making capabilities in readiness for the elections.
I say this fully aware that poverty and inadequate finances have previously hindered many women from participating in politics. However, through mentorship and financial support, many female candidates will get motivate to vie for challenging top-level positions in politics and other sectors of our economy and the good thing is that we have scores of them with necessary qualifications and experience.
Thus, failure to support our women financially ahead of 2025 will compromise national efforts to realise the 50:50 Campaign goal, once again making the whole initiative a mere fallacy.
Again, it is my hope that come next year, many women will have access to subsidised election participation fees to boost their participation in the polls. However, attitude change is the only prerequisite for Malawi to realise the tangible fruits of the 50:50 Campaign as some people still view women as failures, weak, and second-fiddle players in our society who lack any leadership skills.
This is the major setback campaigners for the 50:50 initiative encountered previously and they face the same problem ahead of the 2025 elections.
Greetings again from Munda wa Chitedze Farm, where I have relocated from the hustle and bustle of your city.
Life is treating us fine down here. Spending time on the farm has shown me that farming isn’t as easy as it was last year.
It is clear that things are tough for us farmers. But, no matter what challenges we face, we know that one day we will reap the fruits of our sweat.
Only a few days ago, someone was questioning the logic in growing chitedze, with all the itching risks involved. It is quite absurd that such a question should arise.
Look, people keep bees for their enjoyment and satisfaction and no one asks questions. The higher the risk, the better the returns.
So, I was at the fish ponds on the Munda wa Chitedze Farm when I got the call from one friend from your city.
Apparently, he was making the call having been caught in a traffic jam created by a presidential convoy.
His main worry was that the President was still addressing a press conference in Lilongwe before flying over to Blantyre for another function.
“You see, the more things change, the more they remain the same. Why should we have whole police officers on the road whenever the President is travelling. Isn’t this business-as-usual?” he said.
His logic was not totally wrong, since during the campaign period we were told such wastefulness would come to an end.
“So you see, being held in such traffic jams has led me to a new pastime. Since the president is travelling more than normally, I have resolved to count the motor vehicles on the convoy. It’s a great way to kill the boredom when you are held. Indeed, I also count the motocycles. Mainly all this is to calculate the tax that goes down the drain with these guzzlers,” he said.
The chilanguni fish we are raising on the farm is doing well. Soon, we will be on the market to supply your protein needs. Who knows, we may come up with a recipe that will go with ground chitedze seeds!
Dear Diary, it is that season again when politicians in your town reposition themselves to promise us the moon, again.
President Lazarus Chakwera has hinted, again, that his face will be on the ballot paper come September next year. For that matter, Lilongwe Mapuyu South parliamentarian Cecilia Kathumba hinted at the fact that they would rather have Chakwera as president for life.
It is funny that such words should come at a time memories are still fresh over the third- term and open-term bills. And to think that a parliamentarian can have thoughts that a life presidency is attainable in Malawi in this time and age is very unfathomable.
As we speak, you see politicians trying hard to position themselves and maintain their relevance.
The other day, one of the workers on the farm was talking with his father. I eavesdropped.
“Dad, who is a person who leaves one party and joins ours?” asked the son.
“A convert my boy, a convert,” answered the father.
“What about the one who leaves our party for another party?”
“A traitor. That one is a traitor and must be hanged,” responded the father.
It appears we have gone into that season where converts and traitors are the in thing. The political tide is rising.
Malawi’s current international relations policy is very difficult to discern.
The (genuine) Ngwazi, His Excellency Dr Hasting Kamuzu Banda, Destroyer of Federation (Dof), Messiah of the Malawi Nation, understood how the West, the hitherto self-styled economic power bloc, behaved. Good meant West. Development meant West. Out of this, Kamuzu fashioned his own international relations policy called ‘pragmatism’.
Malawi’s Pragmatism that embraced Western capitalist financial ideology and socialist political ideology.
Whichever was convenient was the right route to take. The consequence mattered more than the action, or verbal leaning. Kamuzu’s pragmatism was utilitarian (yagwa m’mbale ndi diwo) in all aspects.
When he wanted to build a new capital city in Lilongwe and transfer it from Zomba, he begged for money from the West, he came back with an empty bowl. As someone who believed in the freedom all Africans, Kamuzu was on the horns of dilemma.
As it later transpired, he covertly financially supported Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) to fight against Apartheid. Really? Yeah. Now, you know.
However, while supporting the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, Kamuzu befriended the regime and got a substantial financial donation to realise his dreams of taking the capital to Lilongwe. He also paid a State visit to South Africa to the astonishment of his peers and dined with Apartheid leaders while he contributed to the fight against his very apartheid hosts.
The choice of Lilongwe as the capital of Malawi was a result of his pragmatism. It is central even in the Central Region itself, almost equidistant between Blantyre and Mzuzu (300+km), Salima and Mchinji (100+KM), Titi in Chitipa and Marka in Nsanje (find out on your own).
This would dispute allegations of Chewanisation of Malawi or Kwathuism of development as a policy that dictated the transfer of the capital city from Zomba. Powerful as he was, he would have located the capital at Mtunthama in Kasungu. Period. Who would have questioned the decision of His Excellency the Life President?
President Bakili Muluzi also seemed to be pragmatic. He opened up the country to the Middle East while maintaining relations with the West. While during Kamuzu’s era, Malawi was served by Oilcom (now Puma Energy) only, Muluzi allowed the likes of Petroda (known as Oilcom in Eastern Africa) to open branches in Malawi. Competition in the petroleum business sales business started, which aggressive competition gave birth to the Malawi Regulatory Authority. Verbally, Muluzi championed human rights, rule of law and other ideologies.
Then came (ka) Ngwazi Bingu wa Mutharika, who had worked in the West and at Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) in Lusaka, Marambo.
Bingu went to Taiwan and got the idea of forming the Democratic Peoples Party (similar to the ruling party in Taiwan then). He came back with a cheque that he dangled as a sign that he was more transparent than his predecessor, who had been accused of stealing $11 million (about K19 billion today) sent to government through him.
He broke links with Taiwan and took Malawi to China, a big market that was still looking for friends around the world.
Then, immediately, he decided to convert Bunda into Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the idea of the Lilongwe University of Science and Technology (Lustec) died only to resurrect as Malawi University of Science and Technology (Must) in Thyolo at his personal Ndata Farm. From his book, The African Dream: From Poverty to Prosperity, Must appears to emerged from his dream of a University of Southern Malawi.
To finance Must, he needed a funder. He went to China. To complete the transfer of government from Zomba, he needed to build a new Parliament in Lilongwe.
He asked China. And the money flowed in. We now have the Parliament in Lilongwe (which we are failing to maintain on our own), the President’s Hotel, Umodzi Park, and the Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe.
Pragmatism has guided Malawi’s international policy. Chinenepetsa nkhumba nkutolatola, so goes ancient Malawian wisdom.
The question, today, is why are we failing to hook and hang on to China for our infrastructure development? China is funding projects and investing heavily in its ‘Built and Road Initiative or New Silk Road’ connecting countries and capitals to ease trade. Kenya and Tanzania, today, proudly display their high-speed trains courtesy of China.
New governments in West Africa are turning to the East, to China, to be precise,knowing the West has failed us since the days of slavery. Even Russia and Vietnam are turning to China. So is India.
As President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda once said: “the West’s conditionalities and insistence on human rights ideologies, some anathema to African peoples’ traditions and religious practices, are not helpful for Africa’s development”.
We need serious investment and China is the readiest funder. So, are the other members of the Brics.
In addition to the original founding members (Brazil, India, China and South Africa), Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates have also joined or about to join.
Let’s look East and we will find the necessary unconditional trading partners. But, does Malawi have anything to offer? Yes, products of the mega farms, mineral deposits, coal deposits, and our youthful labour force.
