Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 25th of September twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (or DPP) is the new president. On Wednesday the 24th, the Malawi Electoral Commission (or MEC) declared him the winner of the general elections, which were held on Tuesday the 16th.

During the address, the Commission said that 5.5 million people voted, and Mutharika won with nearly fifty-seven percent, getting over three million votes, while his biggest contender, President Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (or MCP), came in second with 1.7 million votes. This means Malawians will not have to vote again, since Mutharika’s numbers surpassed the required vote of fifty-percent-plus-one, which the Constitution requires for a presidential win.

MEC’s declaration came just hours after President Chakwera accepted defeat via a televised national address - a move analysts felt calmed down MCP supporters and avoided possible violence.

Vitumbiko Mumba, the MCP running mate, said that MCP would legally challenge any attempts to rig the elections, because “their forensic experts found systematic irregularities designed to deprive MCP of victory”.

On Tuesday the 23rd, Lazarus Chakwera and the MCP asked for a High Court injunction to stop the Electoral Commission from announcing the election results, as well as a judicial review for some election-related concerns that the Commission allegedly failed to address.

The High Court granted the outgoing president and his party the judicial review, but said they would not stop the Commission from announcing the election results.

On Thursday the 25th, the MCP withdrew its application for a judicial review, saying it was unnecessary since Chakwera had accepted defeat the day before.

Some people’s behaviour also threatened to disturb the peace once the election results were announced. Some locals from Blantyre in the Southern Region flooded the streets on the night of Sunday the 22nd, marching and celebrating Peter Mutharika as the winner of the general elections, even though the Electoral Commission had not made an official announcement yet.

According to local news, the chaos started around 8:30 PM in townships located near the city’s business district such as Mbayani, and quickly spread to other areas. By 9PM, people had come out, singing at the top of their lungs and playing drums, declaring that Mutharika had won.

Similar celebrations were held after the official declaration on Wednesday across the country, and by Malawians living in foreign countries like South Africa.

Unfortunately, the election period was very heavy for some people.

On Thursday the 18th, Clement Chikankha, a Constituency Returning Officer (or CRO) during the ongoing elections, threw himself into Nkhoma Sewage Dam in Lilongwe in the Central Region, in an attempt to take his life.

Before that, Chikankha called his colleague, an Assistant Centre Coordinator, to tell him he had failed to deliver well on his duties, and was going to commit suicide. Luckily, they found him and took him to a nearby hospital, where he received treatment and survived.

CROs filed constituency-level results, and received many accusations, including fraud. Analysts said Chikankha’s story shows the mental toll electoral employees were under.

Local media also covered stories of abduction allegations and intimidation of electoral officers.

On Monday the 22nd, Malawi24 said their anonymous source - a police officer working at Area 30 in Lilongwe - told them that a CRO was abducted. When found and questioned by the police, she said members of the ruling MCP confronted her, and asked her why they did not manipulate Peter Mutharika’s votes to make them appear lower, so that the Congress Party could win. She told the police that she was later transferred to the party’s offices, where she was harassed.

Another story by the same publication also alleged that the ruling party tried to kill members of the Democratic Progressive Party.

The DPP has a lot to deal with, now that it is back in power. Recall that the party had already ruled the country from twenty fourteen to twenty twenty.

For instance, an analysis by the United Nations says that most donors may reduce their Official Development Assistance (or ODA) funding to Malawi beyond twenty twenty-seven. According to the UN’s report, Malawi will feel the funding cuts in key sectors like health, education, and food security, making poverty worse. Recall that the ODA is Malawi’s biggest external funding. The UN analysis said that in twenty twenty-three, the ODA accounted for eighty-two percent of the country’s external funds.

Perhaps Mutharika will speak on the issue during his first National Address, set for Friday the 26th at 2 PM Central African Time.

The UN’s analysis comes as the country’s forex shortage is worsening.

On Wednesday the 24th, local news said some commercial banks had suspended debit card payments again, making it impossible for locals to make any card payments for online transactions that require forex. This means businesses cannot buy any products online or pay for things like websites, and average consumers cannot pay for services like Netflix or Spotify.

Banks use this measure to preserve local forex and control how locals spend it. Local news said Malawi’s forex reserves are currently at less than 610 million dollars, which is enough for nearly three months of imports, like fuel or medicine.

On the flipside, the Ministry of Agriculture said they have enough fertilizer stocks across Malawi. Three weeks ago, the country went through a fertilizer shortage that saw the government importing fertilizer from neighboring countries, including Zambia.

On Thursday the 25th, the Ministry said they have already sold over 273 thousand bags through their Smallholder Farmers Fertilizer Revolving Fund, and that they are ready to sell more, since Zambia is providing daily supplies of fertilizer to Malawi, thus avoiding any potential shortages.

The Ministry has also confirmed that they will launch this year’s Affordable Inputs Programme on the 1st of October, which helps low-income farmers buy farm inputs at lower costs.

In other news, the Health Office in Mchinji District in the Central Region said the district is facing a leprosy scare.

On Saturday the 20th, the Health Office revealed that they had registered thirty cases between January and September this year, in several hospitals across the district. However, they fear there may be more cases.

They admitted that they are having difficulties containing the disease, since they do not have enough resources to track their patients or sources, and to create awareness among the public.

Some health and social activists have already started talking to local media about the issue. They are hoping to create awareness and mobilize help and resources.

In entertainment news, Spanner, a foodie and social media influencer known for eating huge amounts of food in very little time, won an eating competition in Nigeria.

He was invited to the country to compete against four other food influencers in a week-long competition, and came out on top with a cash prize of twenty-one million Kwacha, which is twelve thousand dollars. Now, Spanner says he is eyeing the popular America’s Got Talent show, to showcase his skills there.

Over the weekend, he told local news that he has done his part in Africa, and is ready to tackle the rest of the world.

And to finish off this edition, the country is already celebrating locals who are already on their path for global takeover, such as Temwa Chawinga, who came in position seventeen in the recently announced Ballon d’Or rankings for women’s football.

Temwa’s nomination follows her outstanding twenty twenty-four season, where she scored twenty goals in twenty-five matches and won a Golden Boot for the National Women’s Soccer League and became the first African player to do so. This year, she helped Kansas City, her US team, win the twenty twenty-five National Women’s Soccer League trophy.

While commenting on the news, the Football Association of Malawi said Temwa’s achievements will encourage girls in Malawi to take sports seriously.

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

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Pitani bwino!