Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 19th of August twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

President Chakwera honored former Malawi presidents by renaming some places after them.

This means that from now on, Chileka Airport in Blantyre in the Southern Region will be called Bakili Muluzi International Airport; the unnamed portion of the Western Bypass Road in Lilongwe in the Central Region is now the Joyce Banda Highway; and the unnamed Area 18 Cloverleaf Interchange in Lilongwe is now called the Arthur Peter Mutharika Interchange.

Social media comments show that many people think the change is silly and unnecessary.

The United Transformation Movement (or UTM) launched its manifesto on Saturday the 16th, positioning itself as one of the strongest contenders for the presidential seat in the general elections that will take place on the 16th of September.

The manifesto, called The People’s Manifesto - The Third Revolution, wooed people with its promise to introduce a new political culture, including mandatory audits of government expenditure and removal of the president’s immunity from prosecution.

However, what had people talking was the mention of statistics by Dalitso Kabambe, the UTM President. For instance, he said ninety percent of Malawians do not have access to safe drinking water, sixty percent live in grass-thatched houses, and only fifteen percent of the population is wealthy — and most of them are politicians.

In more statistics, a graphic poster that the Times Newspaper shared on Thursday the 14th, showed that a huge number of independent candidates will participate in this year’s parliamentary elections.

630 candidates will run independently, followed by 219 from the ruling Malawi Congress Party, with the opposing Democratic Progressive Party coming in third with 195 candidates. You can check out the list with the link in our show notes.

The statistics had people talking on social media, raising questions about why many political aspirants were choosing to go solo, as it might indicate disagreements within parties or a lack of trust in the political parties.

In previous episodes, we mentioned that President Chakwera had chosen Vitumbiko Mumba, the Trade Minister, as his running mate. We also reported on Vice President Michael Usi’s public criticism for taking a huge delegation to an international meeting. Now, people are wondering if Chakwera and Usi are not seeing eye to eye anymore.

On Wednesday the 13th, local news announced that the President had sent Mumba to represent him at the 45th Southern African Development Community Summit in Madagascar on Sunday the 17th.

However, the move raised eyebrows, since this is typically the Vice President’s job. Drama is brewing underneath.

Speaking of drama… The Copyright Society of Malawi (or COSOMA) has been distributing funds to artists and art groups under its Copyright Fund for several months, but its latest disbursement, made on Wednesday the 13th, has been surrounded by controversy.

During its sixth call, COSOMA distributed 190 million Kwacha - which is almost 110 thousand dollars - to ten artists and creative bodies, but Dr Chimwemwe Mhango, the COSOMA Board Chairperson, and Deborah Ntopa, a COSOMA Board Member, were awarded thirty-five million Kwacha, which is twenty thousand dollars, of those funds. The move raised questions on fairness and transparency, as there is a conflict of interest.

Angry artists have since created a petition demanding that the Board Members return the grants or resign. It had nearly 1,900 signatures on Tuesday the 17th.

In a heartbreaking update, Senior Chief Theresa Kachindamoto of Dedza District in the Central Region, passed on on Wednesday the 13th, after a short illness.

She was celebrated in Malawi and beyond for her fight against child marriages, having dissolved over 3,500 illegal marriages since her installation as Senior Chief in two thousand three. Her passion to end child marriages and persuade parents to send their daughters back to school won her international recognition, with human rights organizations and global media outlets hailing her as a model for advancing women’s and children’s rights. She was also nicknamed the Terminator.

Kachindamoto was laid to rest on Saturday the 16th, with many people, including President Chakwera, expressing their grief over her death.

On that note about kids, Malamulo Mission Hospital in Thyolo District in the Southern Region will no longer offer free medical services to children aged twelve and below.

For many years, Malamulo received donor support from a long-time American donor to cover treatment costs for children; however, they halted the funding a few months ago, forcing the hospital to fend for itself.

On Friday the 15th, Senior Chief Khwethemule from the area described the news as a big blow to children because most families cannot afford hospital fees.

According to local news, the hospital has since reached out to the Christian Health Association of Malawi, requesting assistance.

Still in health, Malawi has a shortage of anti-tuberculosis (or TB) medicine.

On Tuesday the 19th, the Ministry of Health disclosed that the country has low stocks of first-line anti-TB medicines across all regional warehouses because of a disruption in the global supply chain. They explained that a huge international TB medicine supplier had to shut down in May twenty twenty-four temporarily, leading to delayed and minimal deliveries. They said those effects are still causing problems now.

Despite this development, the Ministry said they have at least two months' worth of medicine, and that they are working to normalize their supply levels very quickly. In the meantime, the Ministry has advised hospitals to prioritize patients who are already on treatment.

In other news, the results of the twenty twenty-five Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (or PSLCE) and the Junior Certificate of Education (or JCE) examinations are now out. Students sat for the exams between June and July.

The Malawi National Examinations Board announced the results on Monday the 18th. They said that, out of nearly 248 thousand candidates who sat for the PSLCE exams, about 217 thousand have passed, representing an eighty-eight percent pass rate, up from last year’s eighty-six percent.

Out of 158 thousand students who sat for the JCE exams, nearly 123 thousand passed — a seventy-six percent pass rate, which is an increase from last year’s seventy-one percent.

Both candidates and schools can access the exam results on the Board’s online portal.

People were shocked and disappointed with the news that some unknown assailants had set fire to a watermelon field belonging to a youth group in Nkhotakota District in the Central Region on the night of Wednesday the 13th.

Adam Abubakar, the youth group leader, was sad that they had lost sixty million Kwacha (nearly thirty-five thousand dollars) worth of investments and potential earnings. They were supposed to harvest their watermelons at the end of this month and sell them in high-demand markets like Lilongwe.

The story got over seven thousand comments on social media, with many saying the culprits were wicked and enemies of progress.

The Maso Awards will be hosting its annual ceremony in Lilongwe City in the Central Region on the 13th of December.

Its organizers shared the news on Thursday the 14th, and said they will be held under the theme Wealth Creation Through Exporting Arts to celebrate the potential of Malawi’s creative industry to drive economic growth and unlock global opportunities.

The event will have thirty categories recognizing excellence in music, film, and the performing arts, such as the Artist of the Year for both males and females, the Best Song of the Year, and the Best Movie.

Maso Awards will announce the nominations and voting dates soon.

Closing this edition, the Karonga Museum in the Northern Region is currently hosting a month-long exhibition, which opened on Wednesday the 13th, under the theme Albinism: Just a Gene, to raise awareness on albinism.

According to local news, the exhibition is based on a book by Professor Gudrun Rappold, who works at the Institute of Human Genetics in Germany. On Tuesday the 19th, he told local media that both the exhibition and his book aim to promote inclusion, challenge misconceptions, and celebrate diversity. He feels his work is important in countries like Malawi, where people living with albinism are attacked and killed due to false beliefs and superstitions.

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

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Pitani bwino!