* The theme; Resilience: Unpacking Malawi’s Path to Recovery in the Aftermath of Ravaging Exogenous Shocks’, was aptly crafted
* Malawi, like many nations, has faced unrelenting exogenous shocks — simply put these are shocks from the outside
By Duncan Mlanjira
In his keynote address at the Association of Business Journalists (ABJ) elective annual general meeting (AGM), deputy managing director of FD Communications Ltd, Frank Phiri, who is also ABJ technical advisor, said despite the tough economic times being faced as a nation, Malawians are an optimistic people.
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The elective AGM was held in Mangochi under the theme; Resilience: Unpacking Malawi’s Path to Recovery in the Aftermath of Ravaging Exogenous Shocks’, Phiri said this was aptly crafted and commended “the bravery by those who came up with it”.
“Today, we convene to dissect Malawi’s resilience in the face of unprecedented economic challenges,” he said. “Just as a disclaimer, I am here wearing two hats — the first is my role as technical advisor to the ABJ secretariat.
“As one of the pioneers of ABJ, I have always set aside time to provide counsel to upcoming business journalists drawing from my experiences at Blantyre Newspapers Ltd, The Nation, Inter Press Service (IPS) and financial news agency Reuters.
“My experience on the business desk inspired me to acquire my second responsibility, as a member of the private sector through my role in media consultancy at FD Communications Ltd.
“So I will speak from both respects — let me start with the latter; This year’s AGM has been aptly themed and I commend the bravery by those who came up with it.
“They recognise that despite the tough economic times we face as a nation, Malawians are an optimistic people. No matter the adversity, we are always open to finding solutions to our problems.
“On the other hand, the theme recognises Malawians as resilient people. Malawi, like many nations, has faced unrelenting exogenous shocks — simply put these are shocks from the outside.
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“They include the CoVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and the domino effects of global economic recession. These crises have exposed vulnerabilities, tested resilience, and necessitated innovative responses from Malawians.”
On Malawi’s economic landscape, heavily reliant on agriculture, Phiri highlighted that it has weathered through:
1. Declining commodity prices — amidst low productivity;
2. Climate change related effects — drought and floods; and
3. Pandemic-induced disruptions.
“While borrowing is needed to balance the budget, it has serious consequences on the economy by making capital expensive for the private sector.
“Yet, as a nation, we’ve made strides in three notable areas. These are diversification efforts from tobacco; infrastructure development (rail and roads); reforms to improve business environment and government’s fiscal discipline
On diversification efforts from tobacco, Phiri maintains that the government has initiated the agriculture, tourism mining and manufacturing (ATMM) strategy, “which could see new mines like the rare earth (Monazite) opening in Balaka before end of 2025, among other mining developments”.
On infrastructure development of rail and roads, he observed that “new inter-city and country roads are emerging, Connecting land-locked Malawi to the sea through rail is also gradually coming to fruition as was recently witnessed in Marka where cargo trains from the Mozambican port of Beira have started arriving.
“However, the overall state of roads in our key economic growth zones — agriculture, tourism, mining locations — leaves a lot to be desired. As for our aviation infrastructure, that too needs urgent attention.”
On reforms to improve business environment and government’s fiscal discipline, Phiri said “more efforts are needed in this area, including political will to stick to transformative processes.”
To propel Malawi forward the strategies for recovery that Phiri suggest to propel Malawi forward is to diversify and increase value-added export to help Malawi achieve import substitution, and boost foreign currency reserves.
Invest in human capital through education and skills training as majority of people in Malawi are the youth, who make up over 50% of the total population.
“Let’s invest in them through formal education and vocational training. More specialised labour-market linked tertiary education institutions are needed to build on existing capacity by technical colleges, universities and TEVET.
He also suggests on fostering entrepreneurship and innovation, saying: “Entrepreneurship unlocks growth by creating jobs as it] goes together with innovation by solving complex problems.”
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On the role of ABJ, Phiri said they have an important role to play to help in economic recovery efforts and how to do that is through its reporting and advocacy and that it can help shape public discourse and policy by scrutinising government budgets, fiscal policies, and trade agreements; amplifying private sector success stories and investigating corruption and inefficiencies.
He also highlighted in provision of balanced, data-driven analysis; paying attention to issues of competition, cartels, monopolies and fair-trading practices and venturing into specialised business reporting to enable sector-specific reporting in areas such as agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, mining, financial services, telecoms and ICT.
“If you are looking for inspiration, you are encouraged to look within. The ABJ through the Think Tank (advisory council) has a pool of experienced business journalists who are a valuable resource in training and mentorship.
“They can help you navigate through some of the pitfalls you come across as a business-oriented journalist. We have Thomas Chafunya here who has recently been working with the Reserve Bank of Malawi to train ABJ members.
Chafunya (right) with business journalist guru Aubrey Mchulu
“Thomas has been one brave business journalist. His work helped Malawi’s case for debt relief to be heard in the early 2000s. Thomas was the only local journalist to recognize U-2’s Bono, an influencer debt relief campaigner when he came to Malawi in 2002.
“Bono had arrived in Blantyre as part of a SADC Summit. Incredibly, only Thomas recognised Bono, and this led to an exclusive interview for The Daily Times which went viral globally.
“The resulting publicity helped Malawi achieve total debt cancellation by 2006, clearly underscoring the role of business journalists as shapers of national development agendas.
“If you’re looking for knowledge in objectivity and bravery, we have Ayam Maeresa, a veteran business journalist who recently retired from MBC. I am also available to share expertise on company and financial reporting, investment, mobile telecoms, and stock markets, among other skills.”
In conclusion, Phiri challenged ABJ with the famous words of Joseph Pulitzer, the founder of the Columbia University School of Graduate Journalism who once said:
‘Our Republic and its press will rise or fall together. An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery. A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself. The power to mould the future of the Republic will be in the hands of the journalists of future generations’.
“Today, I say to you that the power to bring back Malawi’s economic recovery lies within this room under the banner of the ABJ. As we move forward, let’s build on the legacy of ABJ to make business journalism a driver and catalyst of a prosperous Malawi.
Meanwhile, Arthur Chokotho of Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) was elected as the new ABJ president, whose deputy is Alex Banda of Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) with treasurer as Wezi Nyirongo Chamaza of Capital Radio.
The secretary general is Chikondi Kachere (Parliament TV); Edith Kayira Gondwe as deputy; national Coordinator Arthur Chokhotho with Alex Bandaas deputy National Coordinator.
Executive members are Davie Taulo, George Banda, Simeon Shumba and Timothy Kachedwa.
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