Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 2nd of September twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

Ballot papers have started arriving as Malawi prepares for its general elections, set for the 16th.

On Monday the 1st, the Malawi Electoral Commission received the first package of 115 pallets carrying ballot papers for 108 constituencies via the Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe in the Central Region. The Commission was accompanied by some political parties, including the opposing United Transformation Movement and the Democratic Progressive Party.

There was a little hiccup, as the aircraft carrying the ballots arrived at 3:30 PM, instead of 11:30 AM, making some party members nervous. The Commission said the plane was delayed because it stopped in Kenya for a fuel refill.

The next package will arrive on Wednesday the 4th.

As more election preparations take place, analysts have accused Britain of fueling pre-election unrest because of a last-minute survey that they plan to release on Friday the 5th concerning Malawi’s upcoming elections.

Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office funded the Institute of Public Opinion and Research to release a voter intention survey just eleven days before voting, and analysts feel the move was a threat to Malawi’s delicate democracy because it may manipulate voters’ perceptions at a time when tensions are already high.

In Malawi, there are fears that the survey will set the stage for violence, especially if the survey results do not match the election results.

This news came in as people are already anxious for a High Court ruling that may have serious implications for the upcoming elections.

In previous episodes, we mentioned that some locals had taken the Malawi Electoral Commission to court, demanding an independent audit of the Commission’s voting system and their method of identifying voters. The Commission had refused because they said the information is sensitive, but the group felt the Commission was not being transparent.

The High Court was supposed to rule on the case on Thursday the 28th, but it adjourned to Wednesday the 3rd, meaning people will have to wait a few more days to hear the court’s judgment, fueling already existing tensions.

People will also have to wait a bit longer for the second presidential debate. It was initially scheduled for Friday the 29th, but the Presidential Debates Task Force postponed it because the candidates of two key players in the elections - the ruling Malawi Congress Party and the opposing Democratic Progressive Party - are not participating in the debates.

In our last episode, we reported that the two parties confirmed their candidates wouldn’t take part in all presidential debates for the upcoming elections, despite having participated in previous years.

The Taskforce said they want to engage with both parties to hear their concerns and fix any issues they may have. They will announce a new date for the second debate over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the United Democratic Front (or UDF), which is one of three parties that took part in the first debate, officially launched its manifesto on Sunday the 31st during a rally in Blantyre City in the Southern Region.

Atupele Muluzi, the UDF President, called his manifesto Innovate Malawi, since it focuses on using innovation, digitization, and artificial intelligence to change the country’s economy.

One of Muluzi’s promises was the digitalization of most of the country’s sectors to help turn around the economy as quickly as possible.

During his campaigns over the past month, Vice President Michael Usi said he had proof that some government officials are corrupt. The Anti-Corruption Bureau caught wind of the news and gave Usi twenty-four hours to provide them with proof of his allegations. They also ordered Usi to appear before the Bureau on Monday the 1st of September to answer some questions that could help it with an ongoing investigation into government corruption.

However, Usi went to the High Court to get a stay order so he wouldn’t be forced to appear before the Bureau, saying that the Bureau was infringing on his right to freedom of expression and accused them of disturbing his campaign. But media outlets and comments on social media showed that this only made some locals lose trust in his leadership.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs has ordered export companies to sell twenty-five percent of their export proceeds to the Reserve Bank in order to help with the current forex shortage. Otherwise, they’ll face a penalty worth 200 million Kwacha, which is 115 thousand dollars.

On Friday the 29th, the Reserve Bank said some export companies could apply to be exempt from the directive, but they would have to contribute significantly to the growth in the money supply to be considered for exemption. According to the Reserve Bank Framework, growth markers include export growth, local job creation, and usage of local raw materials, among others.

In an update to a story from our previous show… In last week’s episode, we reported that the Department of Immigration had started reprinting passports after an interruption to their printing system. Now, authorities are already praising the new system, saying the current passports are now compliant with the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (or ICAO), meaning international systems can now read and verify Malawian travel documents instantly.

This is a much-needed assurance, as there were tons of stories of Malawian passport holders being deported back home because machines in other countries couldn’t read their passports.

Still on news about immigration, The Royal Norwegian Embassy opened the Norway Visa Application Center in Lilongwe on Monday the 1st.

The new offices will be handling visa applications from people who want to travel to Schengen countries, such as Germany, Spain, and France. According to a Facebook post by the Embassy, the new office has already started scheduling appointments for visa applicants.

This is a huge development for Malawi and surrounding countries because, people wanting to schedule visa appointments to travel to Norway and other Schengen countries, had to travel all the way to South Africa, where the Embassy’s main offices are located. Visa applications were also processed in South Africa, making the application process longer than usual.

The health sector may have its own breakthrough.

On Monday the 1st, local news said the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Research Programme is working with the University College London on a research project called PneumoProtect that could transform Malawi’s fight against pneumonia and meningitis, which are two of the country’s leading public health challenges.

The study aims to understand how the body’s immune system responds to the bacterium that causes the two diseases, so that they can contribute to the development of affordable vaccines for adults, since most of the ones available now are for children under five.

In entertainment news, Impakt Events, which organizes the annual Sand Music Festival, says the lakeshore event is still set for this year.

Last November, Impakt Events said this year’s festival would take place from the 26th to the 28th of September. This would also mark their return after cancelling their twenty twenty-four event following the death of Lucius Banda, the Festival Founder, last June. However, fans of the festival are now anxious because Impakt Events has still not announced the festival location, ticket prices, or promoted the event.

Laura Banda, Lucius’ daughter, admitted that it is hard managing the festival without her father, but said Impakt Events would issue a formal statement soon with all the necessary updates.

Still on entertainment, in previous episodes, we mentioned that Tay Grin, a local artist, had shared that he would celebrate twenty years in the music industry through a music show that would attract international artists, including Congo’s Awilo Longomba and Nigeria’s Wizkid. The news attracted a lot of doubts, as the two acts cost thousands of dollars.

In an exciting twist of events, Wizkid confirmed his Malawi performance through a Facebook post on Friday the 29th. Fans immediately started demanding to know which would be the ticket outlets so that they could secure their spots.

Tay Grin has yet to share where tickets can be purchased, but they might sell out fast, as people are excited to see Wizkid perform live for the first time in Malawi.

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

Shout out to Singapore, as many of you are listening to us from there. We are curious, we want to know why you are tuning in on this show! We are really happy to have you here. What do you think of the update? How can we make it better? Let us know by emailing us at info@rorshok.com. You can also contact us on Instagram @rorshok_malawi or Twitter @RorshokMalawi

Pitani bwino!