Illegally imported Zambian-White Spoon sugar has finally found its way in Malawi’s markets with thanks to shortage of sugar in the country besides having two sugar manufacturing Companies-Salima Sugar and Illovo Sugar.
Even though the Zambian sugar is in most of the markets across the country, its price K3,200 as sold in Lilongwe and surrounding areas is not cheaper as expected but a little bit better than Malawi sugar which is k4,000 a packet of one Kilogram.
Sugar shortage in Malawi has resulted to the commodity to become exorbitant and is beyond the reach of the poor who already are struggling to buy a pale of maize flour at K3,600 in Mgona township and surrounding areas in Lilongwe.
A Malawi Congress Party (MCP) diehard of Mvera in Dowa district Mr. Rodgers Kamphangala, has called on President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera to address the nation on the scarcity of sugar in Malawi and the reasons that has made the commodity to be sold at K4,000 per one Kilogram packet.
Kamphangala said it is sad that the price of sugar which has gone up beating Illovo Sugar company’s factory price of K1, 912 per one Kilogram packet lamenting that this has again come at a time when most citizens in Malawi are failing to meet their everyday life situations.
He said sugar price of K4,000 per packet has frustrated many Malawians regardless of their political party affiliations saying this is giving opposition parties chance to de-campaign President Chakwera so that he doesn’t bounce back in 2025.
The MCP diehard has claimed that many people in Dowa district have painted Chakwera’s leadership style being black with no hope that he can do better following the implementation of Affordable Input Programme (AIP) in the district that it was far from the people’s expectations.
He said many people in the district thought that President Chakwera would reward the Dowa people with fertilizer coupons for massively vote for him in the June, 2020 fresh presidential elections resulting to an all MCP Dowa District Council. He noted with a great concern that eight village heads received only 8 fertilizer coupons, in some villages not even one benefited reducing the Dowa people to beggars while they are hard-working making Dowa a food basket district feeding other regions in Malawi.
“I am pleading with you President Chakwera to intervene in the sugar crises, continued silence on the issue, is resulting to many people insulting and castigating you who was voted on trust that you will turn around the country’s economy,” said Kamphangala.
_”With rampant nepotism, appeasement policy, tribalism and regionalism practised by the Tonse Alliance regime in accessing opportunities, Malawians are not united contrary to MCP Hi 5 slogan.’_
My teachers and fellow pupils in primary and secondary always chose me to read a passage in English or vernacular because I was exceptionally very good. I read to impress myself and everyone listening to me. They chose me based on merit but my secret was always to try hard and read just like Ben Kangwa of Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation.
When I was in college, I was at the top. One day, I was called at the college administration and told my assignments and projects were simply the best. Even after graduating from college, I have continued to work very hard and be at the top of my job performance. I recently got an award in 2023 on merit. I was recognised for doing a great job.
From Favouritism, Nepotism To Merit
Merit means “worthiness or excellence.” If you receive a certificate of merit in college, you are being recognized for doing a great job. Merit means “deserve. If you judge something or someone on merit or on their merits, your judgment is based on what you notice when you consider them, rather than on things that you know about them from other sources. Everybody must be selected on merit. Each case must be judged on its merits. The merit system is the process of promoting and hiring government employees based on their ability to perform a job, rather than on their political connections. It is the opposite of the spoils system.
Spoils system
In politics and government, a spoils system (also known as a patronage system) is a practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its supporters, friends (cronyism), and relatives (nepotism) as a reward for working towards victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party as opposed to a merit system, where offices are awarded or promoted on the basis of some measure of merit, independent of political activity.
In memoriam civil service as it was, a political cartoon by Thomas Nast showed a statue of Andrew Jackson on a pig, which is over “fraud”, “bribery”, and “spoils”, eating “plunder”. Included in Harper’s Weekly on April 28, 1877.
The term “spoils system” was used particularly in politics of the United States, where the federal government operated on a spoils system until the Pendleton Act was passed in 1883 due to a civil service reform movement. Thereafter the spoils system was largely replaced by nonpartisan merit at the federal level of the United States.
The term was derived from the phrase “to the victor belong the spoils” by New York Senator William L. Marcy, referring to the victory of Andrew Jackson in the election of 1828, with the term spoils meaning goods or benefits taken from the loser in a competition, election or military victory.
Similar spoils systems are common in other nations, such as Malawi, that traditionally have been based on tribal organization or other kinship groups and localism in general. In one of the write ups, Bashir Al Bashir says,”When Chakwera came, we thought its the end of nepotism considering how bitterly he preached against it only to be proved wrong. Chakwera wasn’t bitter about nepotism, he was just jealousy that the beneficiaries were not his children nor his relations. Today, Nick’s wife is Director in the Office of the First Lady, Violet has a government job in UK, his other daughter’s husband is Director of Communication. Every house of a child of Chakwera there is one earning salary from Malawi government and or driving a government vehicle. Devastating nepotism.”
Another writer, Twinkspurgej Jones Gadama argues, “President Chakwera’s administration has faced severe criticism for its alleged practice of nepotism. The appointment of close relatives and associates to key government positions has fueled public discontent. Chakwera owes it to the people to explain why such blatant favoritism exists within his administration and how this aligns with his promises of meritocracy and fair governance.”
Social and political commentator Rick Dzida says, “With rampant nepotism, appeasement policy, tribalism and regionalism practised by the Tonse Alliance regime in accessing opportunities, Malawians are not united contrary to MCP Hi 5 slogan.
It is true that regionalism has taken the centre stage under the tutelage of Reverend Dr Lazarus Chakwera. Most cabinet ministers, Principal Secretaries, Board Chairpersons and Chief Executive Officers of Statutory Corporations come from the Central region.”
Civil service, also known as the merit system, was created to assure that the recruitment and retention of a qualified work force, and, the selection and promotion of employees providing public services and compensated by tax is conducted in a fair and impartial manner and in a competitive fashion.
A merit system is a type of civil service system designed to reward and recruit talented individuals based on their abilities and qualifications, not only only just qualifications but *abilities,* rather than through patronage or nepotism.
We’re talking about the group of people who run the show in government. Collectively, the Ministers are the cabinet. Each minister is responsible for a specific area of government such as Finance, Justice or Foreign Affairs. They oversee everything that happens in their particular governmental department and they drive the agenda of the government.
Together, they can even pass certain regulations that do not need the approval of Parliament. It’s pretty important stuff. So this cabinet business matters to all of us as Malawians.
Who gets to be in cabinet?
The President, who is the leader of the political party that won the most amount of seats in Parliament, determines which Members of Parliament will be in the cabinet. Typically most cabinets will have around 30-40 ministers. These ministers are simply called cabinet ministers.
Once the President has chosen who will be in the cabinet, they will be sworn into their cabinet position. Cabinet ministers must be sworn in and take an oath because they both wield a great deal of political power, but also deal with state secrets that are not revealed to the public due to a potential effect on national security.
What does cabinet do?
Collectively the cabinet will meet often (usually on a weekly or bi-weekly basis) and discuss how their government departments are doing. Think of the cabinet as the board of directors of a large corporation and the President as the chair of the board.
In 2023, President Dr Lazarus Chakwera announced a new cabinet with a reduced number of cabinet ministers to 27 as other ministries were removed or got combined.
Reverend Chakwera and Vice President Dr Saulos Chilima are not holding any ministerial positions. Ministries of Local Government, Unity, and Culture were combined and the number of deputy ministers was reduced. Zikhale Ng’oma, Uchizi Mkandawire, and Moses Kumkuyu are the new faces in the cabinet.
Findings from Afrobarometer’s 2022 survey show that citizens overwhelmingly see their government as failing on economic issues and believe that their country is going in the wrong direction. Few are optimistic that things will improve in the near future.
Police have arrested Chancy Chirwa, a 23-year-old sales lady at Simama General Dealers in Ntchisi.
The arrest follows complaints from a business person, Chikumbutso Kapanda, who alleged to have ordered one bale of sugar at MK57,500 instead of the recommended price of MK37,500.
Malawi Sugar
Investigations indicated that Chirwa had been independently overcharging customers, resulting in significant financial losses, estimated at K2 million, for Kapanda.
Chirwa will soon face theft charges in court in connection with the alleged overpricing scheme.
The incident caused a demonstration by other business people led by councilor Mark Mphezi Mtengo, expressing worries over puffed up commodity prices at the shop.
Poor hygiene is said to be a remedy to cubing the Viral Conjunctivitis, a highly contagious eye infection spreading rapidly in Malawi.
Viral Conjunctivitis, commonly known as Pink Eye, affects the conjunctiva, the thin, transparent layer of tissue that covers the white part of the eye and lines the inside of the eyelid.
Dr. Yohane Mwale, Acting Director of Health and Social Services, Mchinji District Council, Malawi
Recently, the Mchinji district Health office reported seven cases of Viral Conjunctivitis, alarming health authorities. Dr. Yohane Mwale, the Director of Health and Social Services for Mchinji, revealed that five cases originated from Mchinji police station involving suspects, while the other two cases were registered in Traditional Authorities Nyoka and Mduwa respectively.
In response to the outbreak, Dr. Mwale has urged residents in the border district to practice good hygiene, including regular handwashing, avoiding close contact, and seeking medical attention promptly when they develop signs and symptoms of acute viral conjunctivitis.
Parliamentarian for Nkhotakota North Constituency, Henry Chimunthu Banda, on Saturday took humanitarian support from Germans, through the Malawi-Hilfe Schwindegg organization, to assist flood survivors at Chauma Island and Kachere Beach in the area of Senior Chief Kanyenda in the district.
Speaking at Chauma Primary School on the Island, Chimunthu Banda assured people that he will continue supporting them with necessary aid.
He said government will pump in more support and address other challenges that people are facing in the areas.
Chimunthu Banda
He said President Dr Lazarus Chakwera is aware of most of the challenges faced and is hopeful they will be addressed.
Chimunthu Banda, who spent over an hour on Lake Malawi to reach out to the affected people said, hundreds of people were affected but some are still in disaster-prone areas which prompted him to carry out the distribution exercise.
“After realising that some flood survivors are still on the island, I started contacting well-wishers and various organisations to source food and non-food items to assist them,” said Banda.
County Director and Project Manager for Malawi-Hilfe Schwindegg, Deosi Kumcheza, assured the flood survivors in the area of the organisation’s commitment to ensure that all people affected by the recent flash floods receive the required assistance from the organisation, government and other partners.
Village Headman Semion Kanyenda, described the support as timely, calling on well-wishers as well as the government to pump in more support for the survivors.
With support from people from Germany through Malawi-Hilf Schwindegg, Chimunthu Banda distributed food and non-food items including maize flour, soya pieces, salt, soap, cooking oil, and peanut butter to the flood survivors.
