Malawi

Five people have died in Malawi's southern city of Blantyre while two others are receiving treatment for suspected alcohol poisoning.

Nine men were rushed to the city's main referral hospital on Friday night after taking homemade alcohol.

A statement from the Director of Health and Social Services for the Blantyre District Council, Gift Kawalazira, confirmed the death of five men and said two more were receiving treatment at the hospital.

Malawi has been struggling with the illicit sale of cheap alcohol mostly consumed by unemployed young men and some minors.

Several types of cheap beer have been banned in the past, but authorities have not succeeded in having them completely eliminated from the market.

Following the deaths at the weekend, police said they had started a hunt for brewers and sellers of the local brew known by various local names including "take me, Lord", "stagger" and “monkey killer”.

As of Sunday evening no arrests had been made.

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Malawi has declared a state of disaster over a severe drought that is affecting most of the country.

The announcement comes less than a month after neighbouring Zambia made a similar move.

Zimbabwe has also seen much of its crops destroyed.

Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera has requested more than $200m (£158.5m) in humanitarian aid.

The United Nations' World Food Programme has said several southern African nations are on the brink of a hunger crisis because of the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon.

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Malawi Department of Disaster Management Affairs/FacebookCopyright: Malawi Department of Disaster Management Affairs/Facebook

At least six people have died and four were injured from last week’s flash floods in central Malawi, local authorities said.

Over 14,000 people have been displaced, with most of them now staying in camps, the country’s Department of Disaster Management Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday.

It said many of the places that were affected by the floods are still inaccessible due to the extensive damage caused to roads and other infrastructure.

This has hampered the delivery of aid, with humanitarian workers mostly relying on boats to reach affected areas.

The agency has appealed for more help from individuals, companies and aid organisations to support government's efforts to provide relief.

It comes just a year after hundreds of Malawians were killed after Tropical Storm Freddy ripped through southern Africa.

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The influential Catholic church in Malawi has criticised President Lazarus Chakwera, saying the country has become worse in the four years of his leadership.

In a scathing attack that appears to be directed at the president, the church, through its bishops, said “we have witnessed a glaring failure of leadership”.

"Most Malawians fail to see anybody in the current government who cares about them or who is able to improve their situation,” it added.

In a 16-page pastoral letter titled “The sad story of Malawi”, read out in all Catholic churches across the country on Sunday, it accused the administration of multiple failures including unfulfilled campaign promises, nepotism and rampant corruption.

The letter also suggested that when appointing officials, Mr Chakwera's government favours people from the president's ethnic group or region.

“It is essential to ask of candidates, what their record of service has been, what they are capable of doing, before voting for them – not who they are or where they come from or what connections they have,” the church wrote.

The letter also said the government had failed to raise people’s incomes even after the purchasing power of the local currency, the Malawian kwacha, had drastically fallen.

The church said it had attempted to privately engage with Mr Chakwera several times but had been largely unsuccessful, hence the decision to try a different approach through the letter.

Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu has acknowledged the issues raised by the church but says the government will not engage in an item-by-item response to the letter.

“Instead we will not get tired of utilising engagements we do have with the clergy from time to time,” Mr Kunkuyu said.

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Malawi's former ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has apologised for accepting a cash kickback from a company under corruption investigation.

In 2017, while still in power, the party was accused of receiving $85,000 (£68,000) from Pioneer Investment in a controversial food rations deal.

Former President Peter Mutharika was reportedly the sole signatory of the DPP account at the time.

In a statement on Wednesday, the party's spokesperson, Shadric Namalomba, said they refunded it "out of regret for receiving money which was tainted with these serious allegations”.

The Pioneer Investment's chief is currently facing corruption charges for allegedly inflating the amount of the contract with the Malawi Police Service to supply food rations.

Youth and Society (YAS), a rights group, filed a court case against the DPP and two other parties.

The DPP disassociated itself from any dealings with Pioneer Foods, saying it was a law-abiding political party.

In 2021, the government froze Mr Mutharika's bank accounts and arrested some of his party officials over corruption allegations.

Mr Mutharika has accused the current government of politically prosecuting him but the authorities have maintained that they are simply following the law.

In June 2020, Mr Mutharika lost his re-election bid to Lazarus Chakwera, an anti-corruption crusader.

The former president is reportedly planning a comeback in the 2025 general election.

Malawi has confirmed an outbreak of viral conjunctivitis, or pink eye, in the Karonga district, with 109 cases reported since 1 February.

The disease was first identified among long-distance travellers from neighbouring Tanzania, officials at the Songwe border post, and later within the community, Karonga’s director of health services, David Sibale, said.

An outbreak of viral conjunctivitis was reported in Tanzania in mid-January.

By the end of the month, it had spread to 17 regions in both the mainland and the islands of Zanzibar, with more than 5,000 cases recorded.

Kenya, Comoros, Madagascar and Mayotte have also recorded cases.

Rwanda’s ministry of health issued an alert on Sunday, urging the public to take precautionary measures.

Viral conjunctivitis affects the eyes and can easily spread from one person to another.

Infected people can have a pink or red colour in the white part of their eye, swelling of the conjunctiva (eye lining), increased production of tears, itching, pain, and difficulty seeing.

With good hygiene and avoiding contact with infected people, it tends to heal on its own.

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Malawi has removed visa restrictions for travellers from 79 countries in an effort to boost tourism and trade in the country.

The Homeland Security Minister Ken Zikhałe, in a gazette notice on Wednesday, amended the immigration regulations - effectively lifting visa barriers for citizens from the UK, China, Russia, Germany, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Ghana, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, France and others.

Nationals from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) are also exempt from visa requirements.

This excludes countries that impose visa requirements on Malawian citizens.

The changes also include exemptions for certain groups such as diplomats and government officials, and countries that have mutual exchange agreements for multiple-entry visas with Malawi.

The validity of multiple entry visas in Malawi is now up to 12 months, according to the new visa regulations.

“This monumental decision isn’t just about visas; it’s about unleashing the untapped potential of our beloved Malawi and inviting the world to experience its wonders first-hand," Tourism Minister Vera Kamtukule told local media.

The British embassy in Malawi urged its nationals to take advantage of the relaxed visa restrictions to visit a range of popular tourist attractions in the southern African country.

Malawi joins Kenya and Rwanda in opening up their countries for African travellers.

Read more on Kenya's recently introduced visa-free policy:

• Kenya ETA: President Ruto's vision of visa-free entry proves tricky for some
• Visa on arrival free-of-charge for Africans entering Rwanda

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Police in Malawi have recovered a presidential carpet that had been stolen in the southern town of Mwanza, near the border with Mozambique.

The carpet was taken together with a tent on Wednesday night as the items were being moved to the town, where President Lazarus Chakwera is expected to hold a public event on Friday.

Two men have been arrested in connection with the incident, police spokesperson Peter Kalaya said in a statement.

The two are suspected to have stolen the items from a ministry of transport and public works vehicle along the Zalewa-Mwanza road.

President Chakwera is expected in Mwanza for the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a stadium, as well as to inspect newly built police houses.

The incident comes a few days after unknown people broke into the office of Vice-President Saulos Chilima in the capital, Lilongwe, and stole some items.

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Malawi's government has announced plans to send 5,000 young people to work on Israeli farms, despite criticism for sending 221 young people to the country last weekend.

"We are looking at an initial figure of around 5,000, that's what we are targeting now," Malawi Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu told the BBC's Newsday programme on Tuesday.

"Others [Malawians] have been there for more than five years and we're just adding to those figures."

The minister defended the much-criticised move, saying that it was part of the government's ongoing programme of providing employment to young people locally and abroad.

"This has been happening in Malawi for decades and we've been exporting young people to countries in Africa and outside Africa," Mr Kunkuyu added.

On Monday, Malawian opposition leader Kondwani Nankhumwa had bashed the government during an interview with BBC Newsday, accusing it of endangering Malawians by sending them to a country at war.

However, Mr Kunkuyu said that Israel had assured Malawi that its citizens would work in safe zones unaffected by the fighting.

The Malawians will replace some of the more than 10,000 foreign farm workers who have left Israel because of the war.

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Malawian opposition politicians and rights groups have criticised President Lazarus Chakwera and his government for sending 221 young Malawians to work on farms in Israel.

The move on Saturday followed Israel’s aid package of $60m (£47m) two weeks ago to help Malawi's economic recovery.

The labour export deal has been criticised amid concerns over the secrecy with which it was done and the potential risks to citizens at a time Israel is in a conflict with the Palestinian Hamas group.

“Sending people to a war-torn country like Israel, where some countries are withdrawing their labour is something unheard of,” Malawian opposition leader Kondwani Nankhumwa told the BBC's Newsday programme.

He also questioned why the government had kept the deal secret, only informing parliament about a plan to send workers to an unnamed country on 22 November.

The government has defended the deal, saying that it will export Malawians to Israel and other countries to “fulfil this administration’s commitment to job creation and youth empowerment”.

The government also assured of the safety and security of the Malawians, saying that they will work in locations which are “classified as fit and safe” and will be provided with medical insurance and repatriation protections.

The deal comes amid an economic crisis in Malawi, marked by a 44% currency devaluation and drastic cost-cutting measures by President Chakwera.