Education, Traditional Authority, minority economic advantage and urban wealth, and how social networks convert one into another. Abstract Entry into the Malawian elite is conventionally mapped onto four pathways: formal education, traditional authority, the economic advantage of a commercial minority, and the accumulation of urban wealth. This paper argues that in Malawi, these are not…

Education, Traditional Authority, minority economic advantage and urban wealth, and how social networks convert one into another. Abstract Entry into the Malawian elite is conventionally mapped onto four pathways: formal education, traditional authority, the economic advantage of a commercial minority, and the accumulation of urban wealth. This paper argues that in Malawi, these are not…

At BICC, the ritual is always the same. Somewhere between the cake and the send-off, the master of ceremonies calls out the wedding committees by name, and the envelopes come forward, clan by clan, workmate table by workmate table, church group by church group, each contribution counted, sometimes announced aloud, sometimes tallied on a chart…

At BICC, the ritual is always the same. Somewhere between the cake and the send-off, the master of ceremonies calls out the wedding committees by name, and the envelopes come forward, clan by clan, workmate table by workmate table, church group by church group, each contribution counted, sometimes announced aloud, sometimes tallied on a chart…

My first engagement as an audit trainee with KPMG (now Grant Thornton) was a bank reconciliation. Not a system, not a policy-a reconciliation. My supervisor sat with me until every tambala tied out, and when one didn’t, we did not move on. We stayed with it until we knew whether it was a timing difference,…

My first engagement as an audit trainee with KPMG (now Grant Thornton) was a bank reconciliation. Not a system, not a policy-a reconciliation. My supervisor sat with me until every tambala tied out, and when one didn’t, we did not move on. We stayed with it until we knew whether it was a timing difference,…

On 15 July 2026, Parliament’s Committee on Natural Resources, sitting jointly with the Agriculture and Trade and Investment Committees, heard testimony from Dr Napoleon Dzombe, founder and Managing Director of Mtalimanja Holdings, on why his Mulalo Granular Fertiliser Production Factory in Dowa was still not operating (Nyasa Times, 2026a; Malawi Voice, 2026). Dzombe told MPs…

On 15 July 2026, Parliament’s Committee on Natural Resources, sitting jointly with the Agriculture and Trade and Investment Committees, heard testimony from Dr Napoleon Dzombe, founder and Managing Director of Mtalimanja Holdings, on why his Mulalo Granular Fertiliser Production Factory in Dowa was still not operating (Nyasa Times, 2026a; Malawi Voice, 2026). Dzombe told MPs…

An incident that answers a policy question. On 12 July 2026, a Tanzanian-flagged vessel carrying coal docked at Monkey Bay jetty without the two days’ advance notice required of arriving vessels (Malawi Voice, 2026). Malawi Lake Services was not informed; the marine officer on duty denied it permission to proceed further and ordered the captain…

An incident that answers a policy question. On 12 July 2026, a Tanzanian-flagged vessel carrying coal docked at Monkey Bay jetty without the two days’ advance notice required of arriving vessels (Malawi Voice, 2026). Malawi Lake Services was not informed; the marine officer on duty denied it permission to proceed further and ordered the captain…

Introduction Between 1979 and 1980, China moved from a set of loose exhortations on family size to a nationally enforced rule limiting most couples to a single child. The policy remained in force, with regional variation and periodic relaxation, until it was formally ended in 2016. It is frequently cited, correctly, as one of the…

Introduction Between 1979 and 1980, China moved from a set of loose exhortations on family size to a nationally enforced rule limiting most couples to a single child. The policy remained in force, with regional variation and periodic relaxation, until it was formally ended in 2016. It is frequently cited, correctly, as one of the…

1. Introduction: From lament to lobby I have used this space in recent weeks to argue that Malawi’s youth unemployment crisis is structural rather than accidental, and to lament how tuition fees, VAT, transaction levies, road traffic penalties and toll gate fees are milking an economy without growing it. Those pieces described symptoms. This one…

1. Introduction: From lament to lobby I have used this space in recent weeks to argue that Malawi’s youth unemployment crisis is structural rather than accidental, and to lament how tuition fees, VAT, transaction levies, road traffic penalties and toll gate fees are milking an economy without growing it. Those pieces described symptoms. This one…

I. The first milking: A calf becomes a cow Every village keeps a cow it is proud of. It is fed on the commons, watered at the river everyone shares, and in return it gives milk to the household, enough for the children’s porridge, a little for the market, and a cup left over for…

I. The first milking: A calf becomes a cow Every village keeps a cow it is proud of. It is fed on the commons, watered at the river everyone shares, and in return it gives milk to the household, enough for the children’s porridge, a little for the market, and a cup left over for…

There is a question Malawians rarely allow themselves to ask out loud, because it sounds cynical, almost treasonous, in a country that prays publicly for development: what if poverty is not simply a policy failure we keep failing to fix, but an arrangement that works rather well for the people who keep failing to fix…

There is a question Malawians rarely allow themselves to ask out loud, because it sounds cynical, almost treasonous, in a country that prays publicly for development: what if poverty is not simply a policy failure we keep failing to fix, but an arrangement that works rather well for the people who keep failing to fix…

Introduction Consider two numbers that, set side by side, describe a country. By September 2024, Malawi had 604 non-governmental organisations operating with valid licences, a figure that had grown by more than a quarter in a single year (NGORA, 2024). In that same economy, manufacturing contributed about 9.5% of gross domestic product (World Bank, 2024),…

Introduction Consider two numbers that, set side by side, describe a country. By September 2024, Malawi had 604 non-governmental organisations operating with valid licences, a figure that had grown by more than a quarter in a single year (NGORA, 2024). In that same economy, manufacturing contributed about 9.5% of gross domestic product (World Bank, 2024),…