Kondwani Nyondo

Trading tales: dollar,maize tumble after elections By Kondwani Nyondo  Just days after Peter Mutharika was announced Malawi’s new president, black-market rates for the U.S. dollar and South African rand, as well as maize prices, have plummeted, leaving traders and consumers adjusting quickly. Our team visited most of Lilongwe’s major dollar trading centers, including Gamestore and Devil Street. Traders there confirmed that the U.S. dollar, which had been trading at K5,000 per dollar a week before the elections, is now selling at around K3,000. South African rand has also fallen from K275 to K230. We also visited maize markets at Mitundu and Zankutu in Lilongwe. In Mitundu, a 50kg bag of maize has reduced from K76,000 to K70,000, while some traders sell it at K69,000. At Zankutu, traders told us the drop reflects expectations of government intervention. “We have heard that the new administration plans to distribute maize for free,” said one Zankutu trader, requesting anonymity. ...

Lecture Notes: Ecosystems (Nature’s Neighborhood) 1. What is an Ecosystem? An ecosystem is like a neighborhood in nature. In this neighborhood: Living things (plants, animals, microbes) are the “residents.” Non-living things (air, water, soil, sunlight) are the “resources.” Everyone and everything depends on one another to survive. 2. Who Lives in Nature’s Neighborhood? 1. Plants (Producers): They are like the cooks → they make food for everyone using sunlight. 2. Animals (Consumers): Herbivores (plant-eaters) are like vegetarians. Carnivores (meat-eaters) are like hunters. Omnivores (both plants + meat) are flexible eaters. 3. Decomposers (Cleaners): Microbes like fungi and bacteria are the “garbage collectors” → they recycle waste and return nutrients to the soil. 3. Resources in the Neighborhood (Abiotic Factors) Sunlight = electricity of the neighborhood. Water = drinking supply. Soil = the supermarket shelf with nutrients. Air = the fresh atmosphere for br...

Nthalire’s golden mirage In Nthalire, Chitipa, the promise of gold has turned into both a dream and a curse. Every morning, men, women, and children troop to riverbanks and shallow pits, armed with hoes, picks, and plastic buckets. They call it kusaka chuma — searching for wealth — but more often than not, the only wealth they find is fatigue and injuries. At first glance, the hills shimmer with opportunity. Yet, behind the glitter is a network of exploitation. Local miners sell a gram of gold for as little as K30 000 to middlemen who, in turn, sell it at more than double across the border in Tanzania. By the time the gold reaches the markets in Dar es Salaam or Nairobi, its value multiplies, leaving Nthalire villagers with nothing but scarred land and polluted streams. Chiefs here whisper about trucks that sneak out at night, ferrying raw gold to foreign buyers. The deals are lubricated with bribes, sometimes disguised as “gifts” to local authorities, ensuring silence. “The gover...

  Mining industrial site                                            By Kondwani Nyondo                                                        ......... According to Todaro and Smith,(2015) reforms   can be defined as   deliberate changes to laws, institutions, or economic structures aimed at improving efficiency, equity, and governance. Policy responses are the measures governments adopt to address economic and social challenges through fiscal, monetary, or regulatory actions Dye(2017). The OECD (2002) further observes that reforms strengthen governance frameworks to enhance social and economic outcomes.     Against this theoretical background, the Annual Economic Report 2024 provides a useful case for examining ...

By Kondwani Nyondo  The Tobacco Commission officially closed the 2025 tobacco marketing season on Friday after granting an extension.  However, hundreds of contracted farmers in Mchinji are still stranded with unsold leaf, raising fears of heavy losses in the country’s main foreign exchange earner. Our investigations have established that farmers under Associated Central African Limited, Hell and Cotton, Premium Tama, and Alliance are among those still holding onto unsold tobacco. At Waliranji, one farmer who spoke on condition of anonymity showed us heaps of unsold bales lying idle.  He explained that bottlenecks in the booking process, a requirement for accessing the market, prevented many farmers from selling during the extension period. According to farmers’ clubs and cooperatives, about 500 bales remain unsold in Mchinji alone a development that could translate into millions of dollars in lost foreign exchange. “Just this morning, we reached to the  Senior...