Talk:Malawi/Archive 1

British Central Africa
British Central Africa needs linking into the history article somehow - 22/03/2005


 * Got it. El_C 06:47, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

&#373; ?
What's the basis for the "ŵ" in "Malaŵi"? As a letter of the Chichewa language, it's not an English letter, and in general we use English names of countries, not native names (thus Italy and not "Italia"). I note that the scholarly Historical Dictionary of Malawi, one of whose authors is a native Malawian, does not use "Malaŵi". I also note that the Chichewa site at does not itself use "Malaŵi" for the name of the country. ("Malaŵi" would be appropriate for the Chichewa Wikipedia of course.) Stan 05:43, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The accent mark shows the correct pronunciation but is often not included in informal writing.

Name
is it Dziko la Malawi or Mfuko la Malawi? Ybgursey 01:42, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
 * the latter is vandalism. I removed it Lycaon 06:31, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Area of water
I notice the sidebox gives 20.6% as the portion of the area that consists of water. The leading says a third of the territory is Lake Malawi. What could be the explanation behind this seeming contradiction? A-giau 16:32, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)

There is an ongoing arguement between Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania about who actually has rights to Lake Malawi (also called Lake Nyasa). If Malawi owns the entire lake, 1/3 of the country is taken up by water.. If Malawi does not own the entire lake, 20.6% is taken up by water.

Origin of "Malawi"
"The origins for the name Malawi remains unclear; it is held to be either derived from that of southern tribes, or noting the 'glitter of the sun rising across the lake' (as seen in its flag)." But: "Malawi derives its name from the Maravi, a Bantu people who came from the southern Congo." Could somebody make this internally consistent? --Spudtater 00:00, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Just noticed the same thing. Anyone able to resolve this contradiction? Jamierc 06:52, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

The latter statement ("derives its name from the Maravi") can be sourced to a US Dept of State website, while the former does not have any sort of citation. Perhaps "it is held to be derived from that of southern tribes" is consistent with "Malawi derives its name from the Maravi, a Bantu people who came from the southern Congo."? However, I'm not sure what the linguistic connection between "Malawi" and "glittering sun" is; if there is one, it should be clarified. Also, it would be nice to specify which lake the sun rises over (I assume Lake Malawi) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.41.153.203 (talk) 08:06, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

International Orgs
Should the "Malawi is a member of the following international..." be better done as categories?

--BozMo&#91;&#91;user talk:BozMo&#124;&#124;talk]] 11:14, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Cigarette Consumption
"as an alternative to the country's principal crop, tobacco, as cigarette consumption in the West continues to decline"

-should there be a footnote for this? I heard somewhere that the rates have actually increased, as the companies are pushing 'safer' cigarettes, thus giving more incentive to smoke.

merge history?
Definitely not. The Malawi page is already above the recommened article size and although there does as first glance seem to be duplication between this page and the History of Malawi page it would be far better to rewrite Malawi with a concise version of this history and keep all of the detail on the history page. This is the precedent set by all other country pages. Do not merge. Iancaddy 19:24, 6 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I made the suggestion because there seemed to be a lot of overlap in the material. Your suggestion to keep the "History" page and shrink the history section on the "Malawi" page makes just as much sense. --Iggle 08:50, 7 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Neglected countries such as this one tend to have excessive overlap between main article and subarticles, nobody having pruned the main article or expanded the subarticle. I had a good reference for Malawi out of the library a while back, but alas didn't get to this before it had to be returned. Stan 13:01, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

Strong oppose - per Iancaddy. --Ezeu 08:56, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

Culture/First person
Given Wikipedia doesn't allow original research, I think this section needs to be deleted and re-done. --Cuomo111 09:05, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I think this section needs information about foods, religion, etc., but unfortunately I know nothing about it. --Tyb525 00:26, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Missionaries and Aid Programs
What about making a consistent section for the different outreaches attempting to address the country's poverty and life expectancy? I believe this can be done with neutrality - without implying that the basic facts about this country would be in any way "negative."

I know that the reputable organization Feed The Children has a mission center for children/people with special needs. I also remember hearing that Scotland donated a large sum to relief in Malawi. It seems that this kind of information matters - but I have not done adequate research to make changes. Anyone interested?? --Spesek 15:01, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Congo
A link for "Congo basin" but labeled "Congo" has no actual entry. Perhaps this will change in the future. However, I wonder if the link can be changed to Congo basin or Congo River basin to achieve a similar meaning while using existing entries. Any thoughts? For now, I will use my first suggestion. --SidP 22:00, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Massive Editing
I am going to start a massive editing of this page to make it A level. I have lived in Malawi for many years on and off, mostly in Blantyre and the South. If anyone objects please say so, if not, that's that. I will not go against any of the popular opinions, just shortening the history, making it presentable, adding to the sub-Malawi pages etc. M.manary 22:41, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

If you do please add that Blantyre used to be the countries capital city before Lilongwe was rebuild (new outside the original village of lilongwe). I did not find any reference to Blantyre being the old capital on any of the Malawi pages. User:Vdiest14:38, 23 october 2006 Blantyre used to have all the embasies and consulates, one would associate with a Capital of acountry??!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vdiest (talk • contribs) 10:12, 17 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Zomba was the capital in colonial times, and Parliament sat there until the mid-90s. I don't think Blantyre was ever the capital. roundhouse 11:05, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

I think Zomba is part of Blantyre (like a suburb).Is is not?
 * Zomba is about 40 miles from Blantyre. You're probably thinking of Limbe, which is more like a twin town to Blantyre, with centres a few miles apart. Blantyre/Limbe is much bigger than Zomba, by a factor of 20 or so (edit - Zomba says its popl is now 100,000 so my factor of 20 is way out). In fact the Lilongwe article (which I hadn't looked at) settles the question. roundhouse 15:49, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Orphans
It would seem important to this disinterested reader to amplify the section Malawi and orphans. Given the catastrophic social consequences of AIDS deaths to the nation's future, the treatment herein seems a gloss. This article makes it seem like Malawi is a utopia of respect for elders and old ways, when a million orphaned children to AIDS speaks volumes about promiscuity and the decline of familial values. Wuapinmon 17:51, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Such a high mortality rate due to AIDS is NOT all about promiscuity and the decline of "familial values"! AIDS spreads rapidly when there is misinformation, lack of contraception and people so hungry they cannot spend time worrying about other things. Please don't press YOUR cultural values on the Malawi people, as they suffer from a horrible governmental rule and hunger. It is easy to judge others on a full Westerner's stomach. People with AIDS can have better values than you! 69.178.9.95 18:33, 18 October 2007 (UTC)- Arkerickson October 18

I wasn't talking about my values, if you'd get out of your fit, and go look at the article on the date that I wrote my comment, you'd see how much it has changed since then. The article then made it seem like Malawi was this paradise on earth where everyone was monogamous and lived in perfect harmony with each other and the environment. I wasn't pressing my cultural values on anyone, rather I was commenting on the apparent discrepancy between what the article was saying about Malawian values and the reality of their current situation. Wuapinmon (talk) 19:16, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

But you said "promiscuity and decline of family values". I just want to know if you have lived there for over 50 years to support this claim? Or is it an easy blanket statement that gives what seems like a probable explanation to the spread of AIDS? Or is it a prejudicial statement coming from the pedestal of a person who chooses to ignore the complexities of the problem? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.111.200.155 (talk) 11:41, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * For Wuapinmon to deny that pinning the blame for AIDS on "promiscuity and the decline of familial values" is "pressing cultural values on anyone" is rather like denying that he speaks with an accent, with the main difference being that there is no "scientifically correct" accent. It is impossible to blame AIDS on anything without "pressing" your beliefs on (or at least contradicting) those who lay the blame for AIDS elsewhere.  If Wuapinmon disputes Arkerickson's claim that misinformation and lack of readily available contraception facilitate the spread of AIDS I would conjecture that Wuapinmon's values are more a reflection of typical Malawian cultural values than of any perspective with even half a chance of limiting the spread of AIDS in Malawi.  Abstinence and family values have little credibility today in the scientific community, not because they don't work when implemented but because they have proved so resistant to implementation.  The recent jailing of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga for a planned wedding that in San Francisco would be an occasion for joy and celebration, but which in a Malawi court was described as "gross indecency," gives some idea of the variability of cultural values from one country to the next.  Judging by the article's complete lack of any mention of Malawian attitudes towards sexual orientations, one difference would seem to be that Malawi is as keen to hide its attitudes from the West as San Francisco is to wear the pride of its gay community on its collective sleeve.  This is grossly unfair to homosexual tourists, who if they were to visit Malawi could end up as unwitting victims of this secrecy about Malawian attitudes to homosexuality. --Vaughan Pratt (talk) 01:26, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Anti-Witchcraft issues in Malawi
I found an article here: http://www.nationmalawi.com/articles.asp?articleID=19137

Which speaks about ongoing controversy regarding Witchcraft (which may or may not be seen as the Practice of Wiccans), and involves a death penalty.

I haven't edited a Wikipedia article before, so I thought it best to just post this and ask that someone find a way to include the information.

Thanks!

205.250.238.42 09:56, 20 October 2006 (UTC) Apple Ament (ladyament@gmail.com)

Travel Brochure
The 9.5 section reads like it's taken from some travel brochure. Malawi is not heaven on earth. 1 of every 16 citizens is an orphan; in 2003, 14 out of every 100 people were HIV positive. This entire page needs reworking to achieve an NPOV

Unreferenced
What in particular is unreferenced? roundhouse 15:18, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Easy way to find citations: Check out the external links, press F3, type in citation-needed pharse. Find it, add the website it was on's in place of the "citation-needed" symbols. Note: may just work on Windows XP's version of Internet Explorer(that's what I use). 75.38.109.107 05:20, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

Scotland
Malawi's links with the UK are mentioned, but it particularly has increasingly strong relationship with Scotland (birthplace of David Livingstone), and the Scottish executive are continuing to give financial and practical help to Malawi. Should this be mentioned here? raining_girl 13:53, 9 November 2006 (UTC)


 * This Scottish support may be waning, see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7078913.ece . It's a tough call: on the one hand you want to help Malawians who are in urgent need of medical assistance, on the other if you prop up an illegal and uninformed government that treats safe sex as a dangerous western value in the same category as pornography are you making Malawi's AIDS problem better or worse?  If worse then you make yourself party to the death by AIDS of over 10% of the Malawi population.  As I said, a tough call.  --Vaughan Pratt (talk) 23:40, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Excision
I did a little research re the recent excision (which I reverted). The material removed was inserted en bloc on or around 2 Aug 2006 (see history) by User:HQCentral, a sockpuppet of the notorious User:Primetime. Primetime's raison d'etre appears to be the insertion verbatim of material found elsewhere. (I suppose anyone who has contributed since 2 Aug to sections of the deleted material is welcome to reinstate such sections.)

Anyway, given this background I have reverted my revert. roundhouse 12:08, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Proposed WikiProject
In my ongoing efforts to try to include every country on the planet included in the scope of a WikiProject, I have proposed a new project on Eastern Africa at WikiProject Council/Proposals whose scope would include Malawi. Any interested parties are more than welcome to add their names there, so we can see if there is enough interest to start such a project. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 16:25, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Some person edited this page in the history section of this entry, inserting parts of the 'Star Wars' mythology as part of the Malawi history. For example, the history portions begins 'The earliest inhabitants of the area were jedi. They were largely replaced by sith lords during the Republican uprising. The first significant Western contact was the arrival of Luke Skywalker along the north shore of th Death Star in -2089, and subsequently Tattooine inhabitants establishing cantinas. In 1883, a consul of the British', which then launches into verifiable history. The Jedi version needs to be removed and the accurate information inserted. I am by no means a savant of Malawi history, and I would fix it myself if I knew. 09/01/2007 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Goingwiddershins (talk • contribs).

Is there something missing?
The first line of the history seems to be a bit of a non-sequiter. Has something been removed?


 * Yes - seems to have been missed - well-spotted. roundhouse 13:55, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Section on humanitarian problems
I find the section POV because of its unsourced statements that the government and climate change are partially responsible for humanitarian problems. I'm sure that such statements, if found in an article on the USA, would be considered POV, and POV is independent of geographical location. Of course, the addition of sources would be sufficient to correct this. Nyttend 16:44, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

Also, the article is inconsistent again: the Humanitarian Problems section says "(the mean per capita income in Malawi is less than $1 per day)", but the Economy section says "Malawi has a GDP per capita of 596 US dollars." $596 / 365 days > $1/day. The CIA World factbooks says GDP is $600 (2006 est.), so I'm inclined to believe the Humanitarian Problems section if factually inaccurate. It could be that the median per capita is less than $1 per day, due to an uneven distribution of wealth, but unless someone can verify this that point needs to go. I'll change it Tuesday unless someone responds first. 152.23.101.108 17:56, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Here's another one: From Humanitarian Problems, "Life expectancy in Malawi is now as low as 36.5 years", but in Health it says "Their life expectancy is 41.75 for men and 41.2 for women.", with both tagged as Citation needed. The CIA World Factbook lists life expectancy at birth as 42.98 years for the total population: 43.35 years for males, and 42.61 years for females: (2007 est.) I guess I'll remove the low estimate and add a cite for the high estimate on Tuesday as well unless someone responds first, but it would be better if someone more knowledgeable about Malawi could hit this. 152.23.101.108 18:16, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Scouting in Malawi
Can someone render "Be Prepared", the Scout Motto, into Chichewa? Thanks! Chris 03:43, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Zulus
"...The Chewas constitute 90% of the population of the central region; the Nyanja tribe predominates in the south and the Tumbuka in the north. In addition, significant numbers of the Tongas live in the north; Ngonis—an offshoot of the Zulus who came from South Africa in the early 1800s—live in the lower northern and lower central regions;..." Isn't it rather the other way around? That the Zulus descended from people that migrated from the great lakes region. Nguni is the upper name for Zulus, Ndebeles, Swazis and Xhosas in Southa Africa. There is also cattle that is called Ngunis. You may confuse that with the Matabeles who break away from the Zulus to Zimbabwe... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.242.207.217 (talk) 15:07, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

pronunciation
(mə-lä'wē) SaltyBoatr (talk) 15:46, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

The Role of the IMF and other Donor Banks
Hello All,

I am new to the Wiki community, but I noticed a pretty startling disconnect between the description of poverty and the food crisis in Malawi as it stands here, and the NYT article from last year, which explained how Malawi was constricted by the donor banks from growing their own food.

I think that should have a stronger mention.

Original article is here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/world/africa/02malawi.html?scp=5&sq=ignoring+the+experts&st=nyt

Should I just edit the page myself? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaida22 (talk • contribs) 17:49, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Yep, go ahead and edit (WP:SOFIXIT, WP:BOLD) - but you'll probably want to go through the WP:WELCOME tutorial first, so you know how to write appropriately for the article, how to cite sources and what conventions to use. —Vanderdecken∴ ∫ξφ 18:49, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Comments

 * It would be good have the currency listed for $1.24 billion dollars $1.24 billion dollars as well as for £10,000
 * I'm not really sure what you mean by this. Dana boomer (talk) 15:03, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Take out the wikipedia links Calling code 	+265[4] from the infobox
 * This is a template thing. I don't actually have it wikilinked in the infobox, and so it's the template that's putting the brackets in, which I don't know how to fix. Dana boomer (talk) 15:03, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Even though GDP is wikilinked, it would be good to state the meaning of the acronym as was done with Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) etc
 * Done. Dana boomer (talk) 15:03, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
 * As there are main articles comprising Transport in Malawi; Military of Malawi; Communications in Malawi; Education in Malawi, it would be good to have them in sections in the article...like  :*Infrastructure
 * Transport
 * Communications and technology

OR
 * Economy
 * Components
 * Tourism
 * Energy
 * Science and technology
 * Transportation
 * Demographics
 * Education and health
 * Language


 * Regions could use some prose to add to the table such as in the GA articles Brazil or United States

SriMesh | talk  03:04, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
 * The lead paragraphs before the sections begin is too long for this size of article. Make sure the lead summarizes all portions of the article without new content being introduced in the lead itself.
 * There is no new information being introduced in the lead, everything is a summary of the body. However, I agree that it may be too long, and I will work on cutting it back. Dana boomer (talk) 15:03, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Not a word...semimanufacturers, diease (in... servants who die of the )
 * Fixed. Dana boomer (talk) 15:03, 6 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the comments, SriMesh. Are you planning on doing the GA review of the article?  In any case, I've fixed some of the easier comments above (or replied to you as to why I didn't fix them).  I will work on trimming the lead and adding the info you requested later today.  Thanks again. Dana boomer (talk) 15:03, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I've cut a bit from the lead, so it's down to four paragraphs, which is fine for an article of this length. I've added sections on infrastructure (including communications and transportation) and education.  I haven't found anything yet to add to the regions section, but I will continue looking.  Let me know if you find anything else! Dana boomer (talk) 17:22, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Hello there. I noticed the above points, but would need to call on a second reviewer to do a formal GA review as I do not know...Broad in coverage of the topic without unnecessary digressions.# It is broad in its coverage...nor do I know...    Fair representation without bias.  So tried to do what I could.  Kind Regards SriMesh |  talk  23:58, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Ok, thanks for your comments anyways. If you happen to see anything else let me know.  Otherwise, I'll just wait for another reviewer to come along :) Dana boomer (talk) 00:18, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

Is it really possible that Malawi was not settled until the 10th century, being that it is in the region where human being evolved? Chickpeana (talk) 16:50, 31 December 2008 (UTC)
 * It may have been inhabited by hunter/gatherers before this point, but people didn't actually settle down in villages, raising crops and living in one spot, until the 10th century, according to my sources. If you have sources that say otherwise, please feel free to list them here. Dana boomer (talk) 17:20, 31 December 2008 (UTC)
 * No, I don't. I'm sure you are right. I just found this sentence in the article confusing. Chickpeana (talk) 14:02, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

The article claims that Malawi is one of the most densely populated country in the world. However, the fact sheet at the right says that it is the 92nd in this ranking.
 * Weird, but I guess it's because the list of population densities includes other areas besides just countries. Chipmunkdavis (talk) 06:13, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Madonna
Should Madonna's charity reall be mentioned in the history of Malawi? admirable/attention-grabbing as it may be, I doubt it really counts as an integral part of the country's history. ---burntorange72 —Preceding undated comment added 19:12, 10 April 2009 (UTC).


 * I thought from the edit line you had just added it, and I was going to revert you. Yeah, I'm not sure about notability. kwami (talk) 20:57, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

Human Rights
This wiki needs a section on Human Rights. Homosexuality is illegal there! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.250.167.103 (talk) 10:02, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

Moving from article
Moving from article mainspace until more detailed source can be provided: Dana boomer (talk) 02:05, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Homosexuality is illegal in Malawi and as recently as March, 2010, two gay men who publicly professed their engagement were arrested and subjected to forced medical examinations by the Malawi authorities. These backward and oppressive criminal codes are preventing a national dialogue regarding HIV/AIDS due to their chilling effect. (cnn.com - March 24, 2010)

Old flag?
Todays featured article frontpage on Wikipedia here has a picture of the new flag; as the article does, but what was the old flag? (in-fact, running rosters of all previous national flags of any given nation should be archived for viewing somewhere in the sidebar, etc.) 24.20.185.166 (talk) 08:11, 3 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Flag of Malawi --Mika1h (talk) 20:42, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

Does Malawi really have a new flag? Neither the CIA World Factbook, nor the Embassies of Malawi in DC or Berlin, or the official homepage of the Government of Malawi show the new flag, they all show the old one! Beraldosuperfigo (talk) 17:55, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Wow, that's a high Gini.
Gini can be a maximum of 1. I believe something went wrong down there. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.227.53.176 (talk) 12:58, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Hmm...
As of 2008, there were 236,000 land line telephones in Malawi, and 1.781 "million" cell phones, which is almost 15 cell phones per 100 people —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.227.53.176 (talk) 13:03, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Government's dependence on aid
I'm proposing to delete the sentence: "The Malawian government depends heavily on outside aid to meet development needs, although this need (and the aid offered) has decreased since 2000." Not due to my own opinion, but because it is a statement contradicting to the new understanding of foreign aid. (see: Dambisa Moyo: Dead Aid) I would not like to start a conversation on the negative effects of foreign aid, but I would like to emphasize that governments are not dependent on foreign aid, politicians are. Malawi as a country may need aid, but it should avoid the government and support it through the economy. We are not talking about facts, we are talking about points of views. Unfortunately Wikipedia is supporting an old point of view. My proposal is to avoid this inconvenient topic by moving to a more passive point of view by deleting this sentence. Thank you and sorry for my English. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.66.128.235 (talk) 16:06, 10 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Except that it is a fact that Malawi as a country uses much outside aid to meet development needs, but this dependency has decreased in the 21st century, and as such we need to report this in the article. Wikipedia doesn't avoid inconvenient topics, it explains them. It doesn't really matter if the new view is that foreign aid as a whole should be targeted to the economy rather than the government, in Malawi, the sources say the government is dependent on the aid. If you even have a source that says some outside observers say that foreign aid to Malawi (specifically Malawi, not just in general) should be targeted elsewhere, we can add this in. However, just deleting a sentence because there is a "new understanding of foreign aid" in general is not how things are done on WP. Find a source supporting your argument for Malawi specifically and we can craft a sentence explaining the new view. However, removing all discussion of foreign aid in a country that heavily depends on it compromises the comprehensiveness of the article. Your English is quite good, no need to apologize for it. Dana boomer (talk) 16:19, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Inhumane Practices
There should be a section on this, I can give two solid examples of this too, the ban of the natural process of breaking wind, and the ban of homosexuality. Everyone will be in jail soon. Everyone has to fart eventually. Yes, even girls. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Phillies9513 (talk • contribs) 01:53, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

In Malawi, there is no ban on farting. There never has been a ban, and none has ever even been contemplated. This falsehood was started by Nyasa Times (NT), an anti-government, on-line trashpaper. There was a bill before Parliament to make it unlawful for people to "vitiate the air", meaning (for example) that people should not burn rubbish to the extent that excessive smoke was annoying to others. NT reported that phrase as "polluting the air" and then later in their article switched to "breaking wind" or "farting". The World's other gutter-press picked up NT's initial, false story, spreading it around, and making Malawi an international laughing-stock.

I see in Wikipedia's main article that NT is used twice as a reference, #39 & #51. Myself, I never trust anything which NT reports, unless I can verify it independently elsewhere.

With regard to the ban on homosexuality, it is easy to show that statistically there must be hundreds, if not thousands, of homosexual acts every day throughout Malawi. None of them are prosecuted. The exception was one high profile case in 2010, when two men went out of their way to publicise their affair. The case was handled badly by the authorities, but upon conviction the men were pardoned by the President. To put the dislike by Malawians for homosexuality into context consider:

Homosexuality is not unanimously condoned in those countries considering themselves the Cream of Civilisation, such as UK and US. There is a minority of people who still oppose it.

If throughout the whole world, there was a referendum on homosexuality, with one person-one vote, then I suspect that the majority would vote to ban it.

Anyone wanting to write about the illegality of homosexuality in Malawi should balance their entry with a statement saying that it has been prosecuted only once.

Peter Nkosi (talk) 07:52, 29 August 2011 (UTC)

Flag changed too soon!
Malawi's parliament voted to revert to the old flag, but as far as I can tell it doesn't have the president's signature quite yet, which is required. Evzob (talk) 17:12, 3 June 2012 (UTC)

So is there an expected date for this to happen? I note the to-be-reverted-to flag was the one used in the Olympic opening ceremony. The black-red-green half sun is on the website of the ministry of Finance, bit red-black-green whole sun is on the government's site. Kevin McE (talk) 11:18, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

I've been watching for news, and I'm not sure when the signing is expected to happen either. Or perhaps it already did, but just hasn't been reported. Which flag is it that was used in the Olympics? The half sun or the whole sun? Evzob (talk) 18:46, 12 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Half sun. CMD (talk) 19:09, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

Smallholder Agriculture and Access to Land
The present on Agriculture and industry, as a sub-section of Economy largely ignores the smallholder sector and almost completely ignores the subsistence agriculture. It is very much focused on export crops and I find it very strange that it finds space to mention cannabis but not maize or cassava, which (with potatoes) are the three main food crops. This preoccupation with commercial crops is unfortunately also shown in the agricultural statistics of the Malawi government.

The separate short article on "Agriculture in Malawi" does not redress this, and looks more like an advertisement for Malawi government's fertilizer programme than a thorough description of Malawian Agriculture. I am proposing to add sections on Smallholder Agriculture and on Access to Land in the "Agriculture in Malawi" article, but also to reflect these issues in the sub-section on Agriculture and industry here.

Shscoulsdon (talk) 10:10, 25 November 2012 (UTC)


 * Do you have reliable sources for the information you're planning to add? If so, the information can of course be added, as long as it does not create undue weight on one particular area. Dana boomer (talk) 16:10, 25 November 2012 (UTC)

Map highlights both Malawi and Algeria
The latest map update has started to highlight Algeria in addition to Malawi. It could be quite misleading. Freultwah (talk) 17:28, 11 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Thank you very much for noting this. Fixed, regards, CMD (talk) 17:54, 11 April 2013 (UTC)

Legal section
I have again removed the recently added, and very detailed, legal section. This is an overview article, which means that many topics are briefly touched on, to be dealt with more fully in other articles. While what is currently in the article (which is more than was previously there) may not be quite enough, 8,000 kb of info on the legal system is undue weight for an article about the entire country. The majority of this information belongs in daughter articles...I moved it to the Politics article because that was the most appropriate already-created article I could find. If it belongs in a different daughter article, I have no problem with it being moved. Also, as the other branches of government (executive, legislative) do not have their own second-level heading sections, the legal branch should follow suit. Perhaps third-level heading sections, with small expansions to each of the branches? I have already renamed the second-level heading to include "government", as the section is obviously not just about politics. Please remember bold, revert, discuss: an editor was bold in adding the information, I reverted (and did some further work), and now comes discussion, not further reverts. I have no problem with the quality of the information added - it appears to be well referenced and relatively well written. It is merely the quantity that I am concerned with. Dana boomer (talk) 20:19, 13 August 2013 (UTC)

What hypocrisy and arrogance! Firstly, I don't like your comment about don't edit war - remember you started this. Secondly, as you have appointed yourself prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner, what are your qualifications for so doing? Your profile suggests an equine interest and perhaps you you stick to what you know, because you certainly know little of Malawi. I am restoring the section and will continue to do so.

Shscoulsdon (talk) 07:14, 14 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Dana boomer is right. Edits you make need WP:Consensus, which needs to be gained here. Being confrontational does not help with this. See also WP:BRD. CMD (talk) 12:51, 14 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Shscoulsdon, please stop reverting without discussion. You are now reverting against two editors, which is beginning to be a WP:Consensus against you. Per WP:SUMMARYSTYLE, an 8,000 kb section on the legal history is WP:UNDUE weight on one particular aspect of Malawi. Above, I have tried to give suggestions as to what we could do to compromise on this issue. Please discuss this issue, instead of insulting me and telling me to go away. Wikipedia is a collection of volunteers who work on what interests them, and no volunteer can prevent another volunteer from working in any specific area. Why do you feel that the legal history of Malawi is so important as to go against undue weight? Why shouldn't this information be given the same weight as the other governmental branches, with further information in daughter articles? Again, you need to discuss here, rather than reverting against multiple editors, or you risk being blocked from editing. Dana boomer (talk) 11:50, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Language
I notice that a section on Language is missing. If someone can contribute, I'd be interested in learning about the language situation in the country.--151.21.26.104 (talk) 17:20, 12 October 2015 (UTC)

Pronunciation of "Malawi"
Can anyone confirm what the correct pronunciation of Malawi is? Locally, I mean - both in Malawian English as in the national language (Chichewa). The page currently contains a purported phonetic pronunciation that contradicts the Chichewa pronunciation guide and seems to contradict the way I hear Malawians pronouncing their country name in their languages - namely, is the "w" in Malawi pronounced as a semi-vowel (as in English, as in the English words "we", "will", etc) or as a consonant - Malavi, Malafi, etc? Allemnisch (talk) 23:35, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

--151.21.26.104 (talk) 17:20, 12 October 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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Section on religion in Malawi
The sub-section of article on religion in Malawi says that 68% of people in Malawi identify themselves as Christian, 25% as Muslim and 5% as other. However, if 68% of the population identify themselves as Christian and 25% identify themselves as Muslim, would it not leave 7% who identify themselves as other?Vorbee (talk) 19:18, 2 June 2017 (UTC)
 * It's just rounding error. The numbers had all been truncated rather than rounded to nearest. I've changed it, though now they add up to 101% instead of 98%. See the source. Batternut (talk) 20:05, 2 June 2017 (UTC)

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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20081006092319/http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/TDA2001/malawi.htm to http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2001/Malawi.htm
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A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 19:58, 24 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Brachystegia boehmii.jpg

Overpopulation
The third paragraph of the introduction says: "The Malawian government faces challenges in building and expanding the economy, improving education, healthcare, environmental protection, and becoming financially independent amidst widespread overpopulation and unemployment."

However, the population density is lower than many developed and less-developed countries. It is 78th on the list of population density: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density. People from many countries, including developed countries like the United Kingdom, Belgium, Japan, or Germany, would probably think of it as sparsely populated. Because of this, I think it does not make sense to call it overpopulated.

2A00:23C0:6082:3601:50EE:B9BF:32EA:1989 (talk) 14:00, 4 December 2018 (UTC)JD

Scientific budget
Quote: "Malawi devoted 1.06% of GDP to research and development in 2010, according to a survey by the Department of Science and Technology, one of the highest ratios in Africa. This corresponds to $7.8 per researcher (in current purchasing parity dollars)."

I believe it's $7.8 per Malawi citizen, not per researcher? 78.11.219.60 (talk) 23:07, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

Ethanol testing
“In 2008, Malawi began testing cars that ran solely on ethanol, and initial results are promising”

That was 14 years ago. How long does “results are promising” stay up? 20 years? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.17.235.23 (talk) 06:01, 7 September 2020 (UTC)

Ethnic groups
The infobox list of ethnic groups previously has “Chena” listed twice; the referenced census reports one of the two percentages as “Nyanja”, which redirects to Chena, but the “Chena people” article describes Nyanja with language indicating it is a separate group.

While I have updated the list to match the census, it could be further improved if it wasn’t linking to something which redirected to a different ethnic group. I don’t know enough about the topic to know how to solve this, or if the problem is with the redirect page that turns my “surely this has to be correct?” link into an incorrect destination. --80.132.229.36 (talk) 11:49, 21 September 2020 (UTC)

Languages
Since Chichewa and Chinyanja are but two names for the same language, as can be also seen that both links from these names redirect to the same articles, Giving separate numbers for the speakers of them is misleading. It should be correcte, as well as the diagram attached to this section. — Preceding unsigned comment added by NoychoH (talk • contribs) 10:05, 22 December 2020 (UTC)

Lake Malawi area
The article states that Lake Malawi makes up approximately 1/3 of the total area of Malawi. This cannot be true, as Lake Malawi's total surface area is 29,600 km2, which is less than 1/3 of Malawi's total surface area of 118,484 km2. Furthermore, not all of Lake Malawi resides in Malawi, so the surface area of Malawi's portion of Lake Malawi is smaller than 29,600 km2. In addition, this article itself lists Malawi's surface as being merely 20.6% water. Therefore, the statement about Lake Malawi's area within the nation cannot be true. --Minimac93 (talk) 19:01, 3 April 2021 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
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