Malawi government has said it will delay to pay salaries to its public workers following “incomplete and inaccurate data arising from processing errors.” In a statement dated November 27 2014 signed by secretary to the Treasury Ronald Mangani, said the civil servants will be paid late. “The Government of Malawi highly values the role that […]
“Sometimes I lie awake at night, and ask, ‘Where have I gone wrong?’ Then a voice says to me, ‘This is going to take more than one night.’” – Charles M. Schulz There are millions of people in the warm heart of Africa hearing this voice as they ponder where they went wrong. You can […]
As the year draw to a close, Malawi will be remembered for being ranked among the 10 poorest countries in Africa this year. The list by the online publication, richestlifestyle.com reflects the GDP per capita in each country , a the gross domestic product, or total market value of goods and services produced by the national economy […]
“Extremis malis, extrema remedia” – Latin version of “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” Judiciary staff to maintain strike action. Judges threaten to withhold labour. Parliamentary staff seeks salary adjustment. Teachers unpaid for close to six months. Civil servants arrears not paid. Primary school teachers down tools. Primarily school children demonstrate against non-payment of teacher […]
President Peter Mutharika has again pleaded for donor-aid countries to come to the country’s rescue as it passes through economic “tough” times. Mutharika made the call on Tuesday during an interface meeting with journalists which he hosted at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre. Mutharika admitted that the country was passing through a critical phase and called for donor […]
Malawi is getting gloomier about the economic future again as London based Legatum Institute has told Nyasa Times that the country dropped 12 places in the 2014 Legatum Prosperity Index, which measures the human and economic prosperity of nations around the world, due to a decrease in a number of objective and subjective variables. Malawi is […]
Court proceedings on a cashgate case involving businessperson Oswald Lutepo failed to resume at the High Court in Zomba following the Judiciary support staff strike currently taking place in the country. Lutepo is being accused of theft and laundering K2.1 billion believed to have been obtained in the plunder of government funds popularly referred to […]
Carlsberg Malawi Limited has increased prices of its alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages by 14 percent and 23 percent respectively with effect from Monday November 17. According to the new price structure, the raise means that a 300 millilitre (ml) bottle of any soft drink will be selling at a retail price of K160, up from […]
Members of Parliament from various committees who were scheduled to meet and discuss various issues of national importance, have expressed concern over the way the acting clerk of parliament (ACOP) has handled himself in cancellation of the committee meetings. Various members of Parliament who spoke to Nyasa Times said they are not happy with the […]
“If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it” – original Murphy’s Law “If anything can possibly go wrong, it will go wrong. And usually at the worst time.” – variation of Murphy’s Law The last breath of hope […]
Malawi prominent rights groups have vowed to stage mass street protests against the administration of President Peter Mutharika if they fail to provide convincing answers for the economic turmoil facing the country. The Kwacha currency continues to be weakening as it is trading at about 520 to the dollar, down from 410 in September. Prices […]
Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe has said the Peter Mutharika administration is not contemplating reverting to a managed exchange rate regime as a way of containing the continued depreciation of Malawi’s national currency. The kwacha is trading at about 520 to the dollar, down from 410 in September. There have been widespread speculation that it is […]
The ongoing depreciation of the kwacha, Malawi’s national currency, to the U.S. dollar has sent the prices of some consumer goods and services in the country skyrocketing. “The clothes I import are now double the price I used to sell them for,” Fanny Lunda, who imports men’s and women’s clothing from China, told Anadolu Agency. […]
When Malawi government al raised passports by about 320 percent it also adjusted upwards the fees for permits and citizenship by an average 366.57 percent effective November 1 2014, according to Immigration spokesperson Martha Gonondo. The current fees show that Temporary Employment Permit for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is at $500 (K250 000 at K500 per […]
As the economic woes continues biting Malawians, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which froze its Extended Credit Facility (ECF) to Malawi due to cashgate scandal says it will consider to submit the country’s request to complete the fifth and sixth reviews under the ECF-supported program during its board meeting early 2015, dashing hopes of possible […]
As anxiety over depreciation of the Malawi Kwacha persists, so does the blame game. Some blame the previous Joyce Banda and PP government for floating the exchange rate regime, while others believe that Peter Mutharika and DPP government of five months have failed to stabilize the Kwacha. And there are those that blame the tobacco […]
We are surely a nation in distress. As a good neighbor, we join our good brothers and sisters in Zambia in mourning their departed head of state, Michael Chilufya Sata. I, for one, will miss Sata for his informality, openness and courage. In 2013 during the African Union Summit President Sata stayed in the same […]
“We must be careful with Peter’s seeming quietude,” so irreverently wrote my young colleague Mada Musa last Friday on his no-holds-all-barred Tales of Times column in The Daily Times, “because we might be thinking the old man has locked himself somewhere thinking about the nation yet he is asleep and snoring heavily.” The kwacha is […]