By Wanangwa Tembo

Kasungu, April 4, Mana: A districting exercise by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), in the run up to the September 16, 2025 general elections, has resulted in the number of constituencies increasing from 193 to 229 and that of wards from 462 to 509.

This increase is expected to heighten the inevitability of having many by-elections after September 16, 2025 to fill the vacancies likely to be created in the post general elections period – translating to more millions of money being spent.

Despite the huge investments being made into the by-elections by government and partners, there are concerning trends regarding voter participation in the polls both at local and constituency levels.

Voter turnout in all recent by-elections has hovered between 17 percent and 40 percent out of 30 recent by-elections between 2015 and 2024.

The turnout was above 50 percent only in six by-elections.

“The problem dates back to the time that we did not seem, as a nation, to value the work of councilors,” says Gray Kalindekafe, Executive Director for National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust, a public body entrusted with the provision of voter and civic education.

“We have moved at an embarrassing speed in embracing the spirit of the local authorities and their appropriate structures, including councilors who are so pivotal to local government operations,” he says.

In the most recent by-elections in Karonga District for example, at least 70 percent of the eligible voters in Kaporo and Chilanga Wards did not turn out to vote while in Rukuru Ward, whose catchment is largely Karonga Town, 76 percent of the eligible voters shunned the polls.

Similarly, in the Mtiya Ward by-elections in Zomba last year, a record 82.8 percent did not vote whereas in Dedza Central Constituency, turnout was at 33.3 percent.

Kalindekafe says while the Local Government Act came into effect in 1998 followed by all the supporting guidelines paving way for the local government elections in 2000, participation in local by-elections has been all worrying.

“It quickly became clear that decentralization faced many challenges, including a lack of state legitimacy and serious financial constraints. Due to poor public awareness on the importance of councilors, the voter turnout in 2000 was a miserable 14 percent. 

“Then there was a gap between 2005 and 2014 which further watered down the importance of councilors,” he observes.

Kalindekafe also attributes voter apathy in by-elections to allegations of handouts, unfulfilled campaign promises by candidates, candidates moving away from rural areas after winning elections and undemocratic intra-party politics.

He adds: “Other reasons could be electoral violence and uninspiring campaigns. The perception that the electoral process is susceptible to violence contributes to voter disengagement.

“But we should be mindful that legitimacy of elected officials depends on active participation of the electorate. Low voter turnout undermines the representative nature of democracy.”

Governance experts agree that low voter turnout weakens the mandate of the elected leaders who then lack the broad-based support needed to make informed decisions on behalf of their constituents.

Mzuzu University governance expert Chrispin Mphande says that despite that people shun by-elections, there is no alternative to holding the polls as they are a constitutional requirement.

“It’s a constitutional requirement that the people must be represented at council level so it’s necessary to have the councilors. That people shun the elections could be that they are frustrated with what is happening on the ground such that they feel there is no benefit in voting.

“Both MEC and political parties should understand the people’s feelings about governance structures on the ground. They should ensure that people are prepared through intensive voter awareness,” said Mphande.

Mphande says political players must also depart from just making promises but must provide evidence based campaign on how they will improve the voters’ wellbeing.

“If we want many voters to participate in an election, those seeking office must be clear enough on how they will change people's lives. The formulas must be clear to get people’s interest. It is not enough just to make a promise of change,” he says.

Political analyst Wonderful Mkhuche says by-elections must be taken seriously because they are the only legitimate means to put people in positions and make public affairs move.

“We do not have any other alternative than having the elections. But it seems politics is no longer answering people’s problems. Some people who are put in the positions abuse power to their gain, leaving the masses helpless.

“In such circumstances, it is hard for people to see any sense in an election as nothing changes in their lives,” he says.

Mkhuche says there must be huge investments made in civic education on the importance of voting and that public servants must make sure they use their positions to uplift people’s lives.

“Our voting procedures also have to change. Sometimes people cannot afford to leave their business or work places to go and vote.

“We need to explore options like online and mobile phone voting to make sure people can vote from the comfort of their places. Through this, we will increase the number of people who participate in an election,” he argues.

Findings of a 2006 study by Centre for Multiparty Democracy established strong links between voter apathy and failure of successful candidates to deliver campaign promises.

However, as MEC Chairperson Justice Chifundo Kachale pointed out in March 2021, there is need for a fresh study to help understand why people shun by-elections.

Said Kachale then: “This [voter apathy] has been common during by-elections but we are of the view that something can be done to stop and reverse this trend.

“At the moment the Commission will not speculate the reasons but we believe a thorough study involving the voters would help to identify interventions that can help to address and reverse this trend.”

MEC’s Director of Media and Public Relations, Sangwani Mwafulirwa, says it is the responsibility of all electoral stakeholders to join hands in mobilizing registered voters to go and vote because that is the ultimate goal of registering as a voter.

“Voting is voluntary in Malawi unlike in other countries like Australia where it is compulsory. Therefore, it means more work for the electoral stakeholders to educate and mobilize the registered voters to show up for voting.

“The Commission wants everyone who registered to come for voting. That is why it plans for everyone. If voters do not show up, it means loss of resources and money spent on printing ballot papers that are not used,” he says.

Mwafulirwa says MEC also hires adequate staff commensurate with the number of registered voters, but this too, becomes a ‘waste’ when people shun polls.

He adds: “The Commission does its best to mobilize the public. Meetings are held with various stakeholders and the public with the aim of reaching out to everyone. There are also messages placed on the radio and television stations mobilizing people to turn out in large numbers.

“Political parties need votes and it is their responsibility also to mobilize their members and everyone to vote. It is sometimes a paradox that campaign rallies ahead of a by-election are well patronized but come polling day, few people show up.”

He says as much as parties want to sell their candidates and manifestos, they should also remember that it is the votes that count.

“Therefore they should not just be gratified that people showed up at their campaign rallies. They should also go a step further too vividly mobilize them to vote.

“The ultimate love a member can have for a political party or a candidate is to vote for their candidate. If people do not show up for voting, political parties should start demanding explanations and accountability from their supporters,” he says.

By George Bulombola

Mzuzu, April 4, Mana: It was February 2023. Malawi was slowly plunging in a health crisis with over 42,427 cases of cholera and 1,400 deaths confirmed nationwide. What started as a single case was growing day by day. The threat of cholera was now more than just a threat. with limited access to safe and clean water as the main cause for the escalating outbreak.

The damning statistics did not only scare Getrude Sichali Ng’oma, chairperson of Communal Water Point 13 at Kamija Village in the area of Traditional Authority Mkumbira in Nkhata Bay District was at that time marked as a Cholera hotspot.

Meanwhile her communal water point was disconnected for a K132,000 bill forcing community members to draw water from unprotected shallow wells some two kilometers away.

 As fellow women passed by her doorstep heading to the well to draw water with a ‘please bail us out’ look stuck on their faces, Sichali felt helpless, and her heart bled.

“With the rising cases of cholera, it was a worrying situation for us because we sadly knew that sooner or later, we may be hit as we were drinking from unprotected sources. Our kiosk had been disconnected for almost a year after we failed to settle an accumulated bill of K132,000,” she recalls.

Then came the announcement on the radio that the Government had ordered the reopening of all kiosks as a way of containing cholera which was rampant in low-income areas.

While the news brought relief to Sichali as the kiosk leader, the news did not resolve the issue of the outstanding bills and that worried her still. The fear of the bill piling up to unmanageable debt.

A few days after the announcement, Sichali and community members received another news that would now offer a big relief. Apart from the reconnection, the Northern Region Water Board (NRWB)would clear their bill, reconnect them with a prepaid meter besides providing them with free water tokens for a period of 6 months from February to August 2023.

“We received water board officials who came to deliver the news, but I was skeptical at first because that looked like a dream. I doubted it was happening,” recollects Sichali.

That dream came to pass a few days later as the team from NRWB came to reconnect the kiosk with a prepaid metre and water started flowing.

 Later, the board’s chairperson, Frank Mwenifumbo accompanied by District Commissioner for Nkhata Bay, Rodgers Newa visited the communal water point with the free water tokens to kickstart the Free Water Token Initiative for all communal water points within the board’s supply area.   

“We got our first two tokens for March and April 2023. It was an unbelievable moment as our debt was also wiped out. All we had to do was go to the board’s office monthly to get our free tokens for the remaining months,” added Sichali.

According to Chief Executive Officer for NRWB, Francis Munthali, the Free Water Token Initiative was inspired by the Presidential initiative ‘Tithetse Cholera Campaign’ as part of the Ministry of Water and Sanitation National Cholera response plan on WASH.

“We collaborated with Government to reduce the impact and spread of the outbreak. To this end, we came up with this initiative utilizing part of the funds saved under the European Investment Bank (EIB) financed Malawi NRWB Water Efficiency Project – about Euro 199,999 approximately K217 million.

“We are glad that the EIB approved this request because it accelerated access to water by vulnerable and low-income communities and consequently reduced and contained the outbreak within our supply areas,” explains Munthali.

From Kamija, to Chibavi Location in Mzuzu and Mwanganda kiosk in Karonga District, 400 kiosks benefitted from the initiative. Each of the kiosks transitioned to a prepaid metering system as a deliberate mechanism to enhance proper management of communities’ water consumption and usage.

It did not end there. Over 90 public secondary and primary schools that were disconnected or struggling to settle their bills also benefited from the intervention.

According to Deputy Director of Health for Mzuzu City Council, Mavuto Lupwayi, the initiative was a game changer in the city’s drive to stop the spread of the disease besides promoting general hygiene practices.

“In the city, we have some communities who lacked access to potable water. So, this was a key intervention that helped us contain cholera in the city such that we did not have high cases,” Lupwayi states.

Apart from the free tokens and clearing of debt, the initiative trained members of communal water points on sustainability of the water supply after the expiry of the initiative’s period. Six months after the initiative, almost all kiosks remain connected with members able to buy water tokens on their own.

“You can see that beneficiary communities of the initiative have now proceeded to buy water tokens beyond the six months. We engaged and trained them to use this period when they have access to free water to rebuild themselves and plan for payments after,” added Munthali.

At Kamija, the community is now relieved as its communal water point is still operational.

“I am happy. The free water supply period gave us time to plan for life after the initiative and now we have put in place mechanisms to ensure that we don’t get disconnected again. I am happy that through this initiative our area was spared of the outbreak,” concludes Sichali with a smile.

By Tikondane Vega

Blantyre, April 3, Mana: Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change, Michael Usi has called on African countries to decisively priorities biodiversity conservation in the national budget and demonstrate commitments in preserving rich biodiversity for sustainable economic development of their respective countries.

The minister said this in Blantyre on Wednesday during the opening of the 10^th African Regional Dialogue on Biodiversity Finance which has attracted 18 African countries including Botswana, Comoros, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Usi said while considering the importance of biodiversity to social and economic development, it is sad to note that biodiversity expenditure is the smallest of the total national budget in most countries yet financial needs assessments reveal that millions of dollars are needed to manage biodiversity-specific goals effectively.

He, therefore, said increasing budget expenditure for biodiversity conservation was not only a moral imperative but also an investment in collective future.

“At the last conference of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, biodiversity finance plans featured highly on the agenda and the expectation is that countries will not just develop biodiversity finance plans but should also implement them and generate tangible financing for biodiversity.

“The success of this initiative will, therefore, be based on how much financial resources we make available for biodiversity. I, therefore, expect this meeting to reflect on biodiversity conservation and explore innovative ways in which it can be funded,” he said.

Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Simplex Chithyola Banda, said Malawi was making strides in financing ecosystem conservation as evidenced by allocation of resources in the 2024/2025 annual budget.

Banda observed knowledge gap on issues of biodiversity and expressed hope the meeting will address the knowledge gap so that Malawi will make informed decision when awarding contract and distribution of resources generated from the area.

“As you know biodiversity touches several economic sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries hence recognizing its importance, Malawi completed the task of tagging biodiversity in the national budget since previously biodiversity did not have codes in the government’s charts of account.

“Now we have developed biodiversity budgeting codes for Ministry of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs Department, Department of Water Resources and Department of Tourism. Development of biodiversity codes will enable allocation of funds for biodiversity conservation within the public finance system. Further the codes will enable expenditure tracking of biodiversity within the public finance system,” said Banda.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative for Malawi, Fenella Frost, said Malawi has gone a significant mile in hosting esteemed delegates from 18 countries alongside distinguished team from the Global Office.

She said: “This underscores our collective commitment towards biodiversity conservation. This dialogue is an invaluable platform for experts in biodiversity finance across Africa and the UNDP- Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) Global Office to convene, share experiences, and gather insights into innovative resource mobilization strategies. Together, we aim to chart a sustainable course for biodiversity conservation.

“We are here to facilitate experience sharing and technical discussions among BIOFIN countries, leveraging our collective expertise to drive meaningful progress in biodiversity conservation. We also seek to share experiences and lessons learned on the effective implementation of finance solutions, drawing insights from global initiatives and emerging frameworks such as disclosure frameworks, subsidy repurposing, insurance mechanisms, and risk management strategies.

Malawi joined BIOFIN in 2019. The project is being managed through UNDP and is led by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change and the Ministry of Finance.

In the first phase of implementation from 2019 to 2022, the project developed a biodiversity finance plan which has 11 priority innovative solutions for funding biodiversity conservation, some of the solutions include: payment for ecosystems services; carbon marketing for biodiversity conservation; tagging biodiversity in the national budget; and recapitalization of statutory funds in the natural resources sector.

Meanwhile, Malawi is in the process of recruiting a consultant to undertake the feasibility study for the Payment for Ecosystems Services Scheme.

Malawi’s goal is to ensure that BIOFIN solutions shift from heavy reliance on funding from Government and Oversees Development Assistance to self-funded initiatives in executing conservation work.