Elections

Tuesday, May 19 are general elections in Malawi. We are hoping for a calm and peaceful week. Here are a few things I've learned about politics here:

• There are two main parties - United Democratic Front (UDF), Democratic People's Party (DPP)
• Presidents are in office for 5 years and can serve two terms
• The current president - Bingu - is the DPP party and favored to win
• The country is represented by MPs and they are all re-elected every 5 years as well
• The House of Parliment is disolved in March of the year of elections and there are no representations in the capital for those three months until new MPs are elected
• Almost everything halts until after the elections - especially government funded projects
• Everyone has to register to vote and on voting day they go to their location early in the morning and stand in line - sometimes all day to vote.
• Candidates get votes by giving gifts - soap, food, fertalizer, seeds, etc.
  

We are closing the outpatient part of the hospital (except for emergencies) on that day. Most employees will be gone voting anyway. I'm planning to just stay home mostly this week! The US Embassy recommends to stay away from urban areas and any public gatherings.

It will be interesting to see how it goes. We are guessing that the exchange rate with Dollars and GBP will change dramatically after elections. Even now there is almost no foreign currency available in the country which limits importing and is raising the price of supplies and food. Right now the bank rate is 140:1 USD but at the exchange houses it is 180:1 and we expect it to go over 200 with the bank rate going up as well. This just means that the Malawi Kwacha is losing value and that the cost of EVERYTHING will go up. Salaries cannot keep up with this inflation.

So if you were wondering - yes, the global economy crisis is effecting Malawi albeit slower than the western world. It is also effecting aid to the country which is what is propping up the economy. We are seeing our donors tightening their expenditures and being more cautious about how money is used. I expect it will effect the medicines and medical supplies eventually as well.

I guess we just wait and see ---