Muli bwanji from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 15th of July twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

On Monday the 14th, the Malawi Electoral Commission officially launched the twenty twenty-five General Election Campaign Period, which will run until the 14th of September - just two days away from the 16th of September elections.

Candidates and party representatives are expected to use this period to present their manifestos to the public.

Officials from the Commission urged all candidates and party representatives not to manipulate voters and to stay true to the spirit of democracy. They want a campaign where all candidates and party representatives uphold the truth at all times.

The Malawi Electoral Commission also established that all aspiring candidates for presidential, parliamentary, and local government positions can present their nomination papers for pre-inspection from Wednesday the 16th to Wednesday the 23rd but this process is not mandatory. The official presentation of nomination papers will happen from Thursday the 24th to Wednesday the 30th.

On Saturday the 12th, local news reported that, until Friday the 11th, the Commission had received a total of seventeen nomination papers from aspiring presidential candidates. The list contains a mix of both independent candidates and those representing political parties.

The Commission will continue to register and receive the payment of ten million Kwacha, about 5,800 dollars, from presidential candidates until Wednesday the 30th, which is the final day for the submission and presentation of nomination papers. Since the pre-inspection is optional, more candidates might come forward from Thursday the 24th to Wednesday the 30th.

As for the voters, the Malawi Electoral Commission revealed that there are a little over 7.2 million people who registered to vote in the general elections. This number is lower than the almost 11 million eligible voters that the National Statistics Office projected earlier this year.

On Tuesday the 14th, Justice Annabel Mtalimanja, the Chairperson of the Commission, assured that people who lost or damaged their voter identity cards will still be allowed to vote at the centers where they registered to vote during the registration process using biometric verification data.

She also said voting will be done using ballot papers, with results being transmitted from constituency tally centers to districts, and finally, to the national level. They believe this will remove any fraud concerns that some people had about electronic voting.

Unfortunately, the Malawi Electoral Commission had already caused a stir after announcing the use of an electronic management system (or EMS) for the elections, with some locals and two opposition parties suing them.

The lawsuit follows a June incident, when the Commission rejected a joint proposal by five opposition parties to conduct an independent audit of its EMS. The Commission accused the parties of trying to conduct an audit on flawed assumptions and unsupported allegations.

On Monday the 14th, the High Court ruled that the case should undergo judicial review proceedings to determine whether the Democratic Progressive Party and the United Transformation Movement, among others, could conduct an independent audit of the EMS.

In an interesting twist of events, on Monday the 14th, the State-owned Malawi Broadcasting Corporation published a notice on their Facebook page, inviting all parties participating in the upcoming general elections to share their campaign schedules and activities so that the Corporation could broadcast them on their television, radio, and online platforms. They described this as their commitment to providing fair and balanced coverage.

However, thousands of people mocked the Corporation in the comment section because of their reputation as staunch supporters of the ruling government who tend to shun or badmouth opposing parties.

The Malawi Broadcasting Corporation’s sudden change of heart was put into question.

In other news, neighbouring Tanzania, which is also one of Malawi’s biggest trading partners, recently announced its plans to introduce a mandatory and non-refundable travel insurance of forty-four dollars that will be paid upon entry. This revelation shocked local cross-border traders and member countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.

According to the Tanzanian government, the policy applies to all international visitors regardless of their reason for travelling, and helps ensure that foreigners are protected during their stay in the country, while reducing the burden on Tanzania’s public health system.

On Thursday the 10th, the cross-border Traders Association of Malawi urged the Malawian government to talk to Tanzania, as the move could negatively affect local trade.

On Friday the 16th, during the World Heritage Committee meeting in Paris, UNESCO declared Malawi’s Mulanje Mountain, located in the Southern Region, a World Heritage Site.

This marks a huge win for Malawi, considering that the country sent its first submission to UNESCO twenty years ago. It also acknowledges the exceptional natural value of the mountain and its contribution to global biodiversity.

Mulanje Mountain, which has the highest peak in Southern Africa, has become the third site in the country to receive a World Heritage Site declaration. The first two were the Lake Malawi National Park in the Southern Region and the Chongoni Rock Art in the Central Region.

Ironically, this year’s Porter's Race was hosted at the newly-named World Heritage Site, in Likhubula Forest Ground at the foot of Mulanje Mountain.

Spirits were high on Saturday the 12th when the twenty twenty-five Mulanje Porters’ Race Fun Run took place as one local runner, Anthony Matias, set a new record for the fastest runner with two hours and three minutes, beating last year’s record by six minutes. He walked away with a one-million-Kwacha cash prize, which is about 580 dollars.

Vera Kamtukule, the Minister of Tourism, said Mulanje Mountain being recognized on global listings presents growth opportunities for porters and guides who are the lifeline of tourism.

Still in the tourism industry, on Thursday the 10th, there was a stakeholders meeting discussing the Tourism Act twenty twenty-five, and Kamtukule said that the Malawi Tourism Authority will start operating by late August.

She revealed that the Ministry only has the Board Constitution to work on. Once that is done, they will be able to hire the Director General and the Management team for the Tourism Authority.

In previous episodes, we mentioned that President Lazarus Chakwera approved the Tourism Act twenty twenty-five to replace the Tourism and Hotels Act of nineteen sixty-eight. This new law facilitates the establishment of the Tourism Authority, which will oversee the tourism industry. It will also see the establishment of the Malawi College of Tourism.

Also set to open in August is the Kayelekera Uranium Mine in Karonga District in the Northern Region. It was operational from two thousand nine to twenty fourteen, but closed down when global uranium prices tanked. The mine is now reopening due to a rising global demand for uranium.

On Thursday the 10th, officials from the Ministry of Mining and Lotus Resources Limited, an Australian mining firm that owns the Kayelekera Mine, had a high-level meeting where they said they expect to start mining by the end of July or early August.

Once operational, Kayelekera is expected to become one of Malawi’s largest export revenue sources and create jobs, particularly in the north, which is typically shunned when it comes to national development activities.

Did you know that people had to submit their applications for college admissions by hand until now? Well, digitalization has finally come, as the Ministry of Higher Education recently launched a new online application system for public universities and colleges to do away with paper-based applications.

According to a local news story shared on Sunday the 13th, the new system is expected to modernize student submissions and improve access to higher education, as the Ministry believes some students may have failed to apply for school because they lived far away.

Jessie Kabwila, the Higher Education Minister, said the system allows prospective students to submit their documents and track their status electronically. She described the move as a transformative step for Malawi's education sector.

Closing this edition, Malawi has won bronze from the just-ended Commonwealth Billiards Championship games, which ran from the 2nd to the 6th of July in Mauritius.

Grevin Ginte Stanford, Malawi’s pool master, came in third after winning two games of four.

Stanford’s win made rounds on social media over the weekend, since the Commonwealth Billiards Championship invited Africa’s top sixteen pool players to compete at the games. It might have also sparked interest because it is a popular social game played in bars and other public social spaces in Malawi.

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

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Pitani bwino!