Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 24th of February twenty twenty-six. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

The latest Basket Needs Assessment by the Centre for Social Concern revealed that, as of January twenty twenty-six, the cost of living in urban areas is now at one million Kwacha per month, which is 580 dollars. This means it has more than doubled from the 429 thousand Kwacha (250 dollars) that was recorded in January twenty twenty-four. The study said many families are struggling to meet their basic needs, since the minimum wage is 126 thousand Kwacha per month (seventy dollars) for formal employees.

The study said high inflation and the recent tax and fuel hikes, which we covered in previous episodes, are the biggest culprits. Perhaps things will get better if the 95% minimum wage hike that the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions is pushing for goes through.

The Ministry of Lands wants to restore order in land administration, so for the next two months, it will conduct a land ownership audit exercise to determine who legally owns what land by cross-checking owners’ documents with official records. They hope this will tackle trespasses, illegal sales, and illegal land allocations that are now rampant.

They officially launched their audits on Monday the 23rd, and said they will start in Lilongwe in the Central Region.

Many locals are happy with the development because it fixes many land disputes that they have complained about for years. The Ministry even admitted that the complaints are what pushed them to start the audit.

The Ministry of Lands was unaware that its own employees were stealing right under their nose. The news made social media headlines last week after a video showed two men draining a car of its fuel and putting it into jerrycans.

On Tuesday the 24th, local media revealed that the two men were a driver working at the Ministry and his friend. When questioned by the police, the driver confessed that they had stolen ten liters (almost three gallons) of fuel, which the government provides to high-ranking civil servants as part of their remuneration package.

The police have since arrested the two and the individual who bought the stolen fuel, as it was sold illegally.

Malawi’s Constitution gives the Director of Public Prosecutions the powers to start, take over, and stop criminal cases at any time. The idea was to avoid political interference, but now, people are wondering if the office has too much power.

The questions started after the Director of Public Prosecutions recently discontinued over ten high-profile cases involving cabinet ministers, former high-ranking government officials, and other prominent political figures. Some of the cases have been in court for years, raising questions about who keeps the Prosecutor in check and ensures justice is served when the office’s integrity comes into question.

Several media houses and the public are demanding that the government look into the matter, as it could send the message that powerful people can get away with crimes.

To know more about this story, check out the links in the show notes.

In previous episodes, we mentioned that in twenty twenty-four, Vice President Saulos Chilima died in a plane crash that claimed nine lives, and that the previous government investigated the accident and found no foul play. Now, the current government has ordered a fresh investigation into the crash because it believes previous reports on the case didn’t give clear explanations of how the accident actually happened.

On Tuesday the 24th, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs told the Parliament that previous reports by the Commission of Inquiry and the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation had serious gaps which made their findings hard to trust.

On to health news, as Cholera cases are still on the rise, according to the latest findings by the Public Health Institute of Malawi.

Their Cholera Situation Report said that they recorded six new cases in the Chikwawa District in the Southern Region between the 11th and 13th of February in children aged between four and nineteen. This brings the national cholera count to ninety-seven cases and two deaths as of December twenty twenty-five, with most cases stemming from the districts within the Southern and Central Regions.

Health authorities are currently trying to contain the spread and have sent out District Rapid Response Teams to trace and investigate cases. Still, they have urged people to be careful, since cholera often spreads in the rainy season.

Meanwhile, gynaecologists say they have noted a surge in fibroid cases too.

A Gynaecologist working at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre in the Southern Region told local media that they had detected 250 uterine fibroid cases in twenty twenty-five, and that this January, they found fibroids in nearly forty women.

Doctors at Mzuzu Central Hospital in the Northern Region noticed a similar surge, with gynaecologists registering 125 cases last year and operating on five cases per month.

Unfortunately, the doctors didn't say why fibroids are on the rise, but noted that most cases were found in women aged twenty-five and above.

Local journalist John-Paul Kayun wondered why African Swine Fever attacks local pigs in January, then slowly disappears as months go by, only to return the following January. He visited Mchinji District in the Central Region, where authorities confirmed an outbreak of African Swine Fever, with 700 pigs at risk, 175 confirmed sick, and 151 dead in just a matter of days.

John-Paul said that pig farmers are to blame, since they sell their pigs at night so buyers can't see the signs indicating that the pigs are sick, and reduce pork prices to ensure the meat sells. This goes against the authorities’ recommendations to quarantine sick pigs, close pig markets, and bury dead pigs.

Doctors said that African Swine Fever is very contagious and needs collaboration between farmers and local authorities to get rid of it.

The Malawi Congress of Trade Unions said that Malawi’s attractiveness to investors is at 466 million dollars in twenty twenty-five, up from 220 million dollars in twenty twenty-four. This represents a 112% increase.

Their findings said the interested investors include a Chinese company that wants to open a 189-million-dollar-cement manufacturing company, and a Burundian company that wants to spend 182 million dollars building a fertilizer manufacturing plant.

Unfortunately, the study says there is a huge gap between interest and reality, since the actual investment rate is only 25%, with only 55 million dollars actually invested in twenty nineteen.

In our last episode, we mentioned that President Peter Mutharika had stopped doctors working in government hospitals from running their own hospitals and pharmacies, saying it was a conflict of interest that fueled corruptive practices in hospitals.

On Friday the 20th, the Medical Doctors Union of Malawi and the Society of Medical Doctors wrote a letter to the President, asking him to reconsider his Executive Order, saying it was a blanket restriction that could affect people’s ability to access health services. They also argued that it infringed on their economic rights.

They said they want to meet with the Ministry of Health to discuss a way forward that protects them and the people as well.

And to close the last episode of the Rorshok Malawi update: Is Joyce Mvula retired or not? We reported that she had announced her retirement in a previous episode, but the recent lineup by the Netball Association of Malawi for the national team playing in the twenty twenty-seven Commonwealth Games includes her name, so we’re all confused.

It seems Mvula is confused too, because when local media questioned her on Sunday the 22nd, she was surprised that she had been named. Authorities at the Association said they included Mvula because the new Coach Consultant advised them to do so.

Netball enthusiasts are clearly confused by the Association’s move, but it seems no one will clear things up anytime soon.

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

This is our last goodbye. We are very sad that this project has to come to an end. Thank you so much for your support for our experiment. We put so much effort into making these updates, so we hope you have connected with them and with us. We are really grateful to each one of you who has stuck with us until the end.

Again, thank you so much for being on the other side.

You can still contact us at info@rorshok.com. Who knows, we might get the Malawi update running again someday.

Pitani bwino!