Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 26th of August twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

The first Presidential debate ahead of the elections, which are scheduled for the 16th of September, that we talked about in a previous episode, happened on Thursday the 21st, but President Chakwera and Peter Mutharika, the leader of the opposing Democratic Progressive Party (or DPP), did not show up.

On Wednesday the 20th, the ruling Malawi Congress Party said Chakwera would not participate in any of these presidential debates because they are not organized with credibility and transparency.

Meanwhile, DPP representatives said the debates are not an objective platform, given their past experiences. They accused the Presidential Debates Task Force, which organizes the debates, of giving some candidates questions beforehand.

However, the Task Force dismissed the comments from the two parties. They told local media that all parties are given papers on the topics to be discussed.

Still, three of the initial five political parties that expressed their interest in participating in the debate showed up. The candidates were Joyce Banda of the People’s Party, Dalitso Kabambe of the United Transformation Movement, and Atupele Muluzi of the United Democratic Front.

According to an article by the Nation newspaper, Banda, who is the only female candidate in the race, pitched herself as a tested leader who can transform the economy the same way she did during her presidency, while Muluzi said he was a good leader who would confront corruption. Kabambe took a different approach, using his economics background to position himself as the solution to Malawi’s “bad state of hunger, poverty, and economic collapse”.

The full debate is available online; the link is in our show notes.

Speaking of Kabambe, The High Court in Lilongwe in the Central Region denied the UTM President’s petition to delay his court case until after the elections.

Kabambe and five others are answering fraud charges because they allegedly organized loans to supply fertilizer to locals under the Affordable Inputs Programme between twenty eighteen and twenty twenty-one, but the fertilizer was never delivered, and the loans are still unpaid.

The ruling, which came out on Friday the 22nd, had many people accusing the High Court of favoritism because Peter Mutharika, the DPP President, was recently given permission to delay his corruption case until after the elections.

Meanwhile, the election campaigns are still ongoing. However, the Office of Registrar of Political Parties noted some issues and started a sensitisation campaign to promote lawful political engagement.

On Friday the 22nd, Kizito Tenthani, the Registrar of Political Parties, told local media that some political parties have been giving out party clothing, cash, and other items during their campaigns, although this is illegal. He said their campaign will make political parties, voters, and other electoral players familiar with the Political Parties Act, so they can uphold democratic integrity.

The Office has since urged the public to report any law violations.

Meanwhile, the Malawi Electoral Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited the EU to provide independent oversight of the country's electoral process.

The EU Election Observation Mission was officially launched on Friday the 22nd in Lilongwe, and has since deployed over 100 observers from all EU member states, and from other countries like Canada, Norway and Switzerland, to monitor Malawi's general elections.

According to local news, the observers will monitor all phases of the electoral process, including the pre-electoral environment, vote counting, and campaign activities. They will then write a report with recommendations to strengthen Malawi’s electoral framework.

On Monday the 25th, local news said that Vincent Sikelo, the Head of the Government Contracting Unit, recently resigned because of unbearable political pressure to endorse irregular contracts that anonymous government insiders say were invalid.

His resignation came shortly after the Investigator Magazine alleged that President Chakwera and Colleen Zamba, the Secretary to the President and Cabinet, are running a systematic looting syndicate where procurement processes are manipulated through questionable contract awards and the sidelining of oversight institutions.

Some analysts believe that Sikelo’s abrupt departure signals some dirty government secrets. Now, civil society organizations are demanding an audit of all government contracts that were made under the current administration.

The news about the elections has taken a different angle following a viral post by Kondwani Kachamba Ngwira, an Entrepreneur and Social Media Influencer.

On Monday the 25th, through a Facebook post, Ngwira promised to secure one thousand scholarships for Master's and PhD studies for Malawians if Peter Mutharika wins the upcoming elections, as part of his celebration. He said European and Asian directors who oversee scholarship programs will visit Malawi for three days to award the scholarships.

The news quickly attracted a lot of attention, with some praising him and trusting that he would keep his word. However, his remarks were also put into question, with some users on social media accusing Ngwira of being pro-Mutharika and running a campaign stunt guised as a humanitarian initiative.

In an update to a story from our previous episode… Last week, we mentioned that some artists were angry that the Copyright Society of Malawi (or COSOMA) had awarded grants from its Copyright Fund to members of its Board. We also said the angry artists had created a petition that had nearly two thousand signatures, demanding that the Board members return the grants or resign.

On Thursday the 21st, the artists gave the signed petition to the Office of the Ombudsman, urging them to investigate the COSOMA Board’s process and decision-making when awarding grants to its own members. Their petition accused the Board of abusing its power by awarding grants to its decision-makers, and treating eligible applicants unfairly by excluding them without due process or communication.

The Ombudsman said they would look at the petition.

In our last episode, we also mentioned the sudden death of Senior Chief Theresa Kachindamoto, who passed away after a short illness.

On Wednesday the 20th, the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum announced plans to establish the Chief Kachindamoto Award and to include public lectures in their Plenary Assembly Programme to immortalize her efforts to eradicate child marriage and protect children’s rights within the Southern Africa Region.

These ideas align with who Kachindamoto was, as she was known globally as the terminator of child marriages, after ending over one thousand of them during her reign as chief of Dedza District in the Central Region.

A few weeks ago, the government halted passport printing, saying they wanted to switch to E-passports, and that they were setting up the system for it.

On Saturday the 23rd, the Ministry of Homeland Security said they had resumed passport printing, but they were printing the usual, hardcopy documents. They told local media that the Department of Immigration is printing at least one thousand passports every day. However, they revealed that they have a backlog of over 100 thousand applications accumulated over several years.

The National Advocacy Platform is concerned with the backlog and wants the government to clear it quickly. They feel Malawians have already suffered long delays.

The government also launched the National Carbon Market Framework on Friday the 22nd. According to local news, the policy will help position Malawi within the global carbon trading arena, helping it get climate finance and green investments..

During the launch, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change gave all carbon companies and projects a mandatory period of ninety days for them to ensure that they comply with the new regulations. The affected parties are supposed to register with the Malawi Carbon Registry System; otherwise, they will be considered illegal.

Finally, in entertainment news, local films will now be screened at the Kweza Arts creative hub in Lilongwe.

On Saturday the 23rd, local news announced that the Film Association of Malawi (or FAMA) had partnered with Kweza Arts to screen FAMA-approved films at the hub's outdoor cinema.

Dorothy Kingston, the FAMA President, said this partnership will help promote local films by giving filmmakers a space to distribute and showcase their work. Q. Malewezi, a renowned poet and founder of Kweza Arts, agreed with Kingston, saying their partnership will create room for filmmakers to grow.

However, neither of them said when they would start screening films at the hub.

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

The new Ramble on Georgian Slang is out now! Check out the hashtag #georgianslang. You can find the episode in the Rorshok Georgia Update on your favorite streaming platform or follow the link in the show notes!

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Pitani bwino!