In Chitipa Rowland had gone very quiet. I finally got him to reply to a message. I had Rowland and Wachisa on Messenger at the same time and sensed a bit of disharmony. They have agreed to meet next week to discuss the Under 12 initiative that Wachisa has been in charge of since its inception. Rowland tells me the Youth Sports Committee should be more involved but they were inactive during my last trip. He also tells me his office was broken into again during the two recent protests targeting government offices and all his sports kit stolen. He made a direct plea for help with kit. Wachisa told me that people think he is benefitting financially and materially from the initiative. Hopefully some progress will come out of the meeting. Wachisa thinks the committee will try and alter the course of the initiative but I have told everyone concerned what my thoughts are. The next big job is to encourage the five absent clubs from the last Young Coaches training to attend the next course in March which Wachisa will deliver. The clubs that get involved will benefit through the training and materially on my next visit. Jealousy can get in the way of progress for sure.

In February 2020 a constitutional high court annulled the May 2019 election result saying there had been widespread irregularities in the May 21^st election. This is the first election to be legally challenged since Malawi’s independence in 1964. A new vote will take place within 151 days but Mutharika will stay in power until the new vote. In court the lawyers for the opposition candidates Lazarus Chakwera and Saulos Chilima argued that the election was not fair. They said that correction fluid Tippex had been used on some of the tally forms sent in by polling stations. The Malawi Electoral Commission defended its handling of the elections as being in keeping with the law. It said that the Tipex had been used to alter procedural information that was incorrect. The MEC said it had not supplied the Tipex. The court proceedings lasted for more than three months and were keenly followed by the general public. Sessions were broadcast live on four radio stations. Since the disputed results were announced in May, there have been regular anti-government protests. Government offices have been destroyed and looted. The sports office in Chitipa did not escape the anger of the public as I had seen with my own eyes. Mutharika was refusing to abide by the court rulings. He started to tighten his grip on Malawi by naming a new cabinet of his main supporters, sacking the Army Chief and replacing him with his man and appointing new High Court judges. All classic dictator style manoeuvres to stay in power. The date for the new election was set for June 23rd. The two main opposition leaders made an electoral pact and came together to fight the President. They have formed the TONSE alliance which includes 9 parties. The President appealed the court ruling but it was overturned. By April a new date had been set for the election in late June. How would Mutharika react and how might all this affect my September trip?

I had been meaning to register as a charity for a while. In January I had applied online and sent the application. They said it would take a few months to decide. In early March the Charity Commission were in touch and asked me to rewrite the ‘charitable objects’ that they said were unclear. I did this using some ‘example objects’ based around advancement of education, young people and community development. I would have another wait. A few weeks later they were in touch again, this time having rewritten the objects for me and now agreeing that they were charitable. I just had to amend my constitution and send it back. By mid-March I got confirmation that my project was now a Registered Charity Number 1188429. We are called Community Sports Leaders Africa. I had already asked Cath, Dave Arscott and Paul Roberts and they were happy to be my first trustees. I soon had a website and designed a logo. I used this time to put together a 5 year plan for sports development in Chitipa. Rowland and Wachisa both appreciated it. I now just needed to get funding. I needed a funding proposal.

Election fever was in full swing with mass gatherings at rallies all over Malawi. Wachisa was respecting the advice and all our football activities were postponed. On June 3rd there was a DPP rally in Chitipa when Mutharika's running mate Atupele Muluzi, son of Bakili Muluzi the President when I lived in Malawi in 1999/2000 came to visit. There were huge crowds in the boma. Shipping the kit and getting to Chitipa later in the year were both on hold.

In late March the world changed with the Covid-19 global virus pandemic. Cycle for Good postponed their April 1^st container until a later date. The Malawi government called for a nationwide lock down but a Human Rights group took them to court and had the decision overturned as a lock down would severely effect people's ability to live, work and survive. In Malawi the government eventually put restrictions on social and sporting gatherings so Wachisa was unable to deliver the April Young Leaders course he had planned. Everything was on hold. By late May Malawi had recorded 409 cases and only 4 deaths. I wasn’t sure how reliable these figures were. The virus was being used for political gain with Mutharika putting election advertising on hand sanitiser bottles. My old friend Julius Mithi from Mzuzu is a DPP Mutharika supporter and posts a lot of political stuff. It was good to keep up to date if with a little bias.

The BBC reported on April 29th that Malawi was one of the last countries in the world to announce its first case of Covid-19. But ever since, it has been embroiled in a constitutional row about a lock down the government wants to impose to tackle the pandemic. The High Court took the unprecedented step of blocking the government's plans to impose a lock down until more had been done to help those worst affected. Now, President Peter Mutharika has announced an emergency cash transfer programme for the poorest people in what is one of the world's poorest countries. The government will target 172,000 households, who will receive a monthly payment equivalent to almost $50 (£40) through mobile money transfer from Friday. A $37m funding package was approved by the World Bank last week to help Malawi fight the coronavirus. That would cover payments of about $50 to 172,000 households for roughly four months.

However, campaigning ahead of the election re-run due on 23 June has been banned. All gatherings of more than 100 people were outlawed under measures taken prior to the lock down announcement. When the Malawi Election Commission (MEC) Chairperson, Justice Jane Ansah, officially launched the campaign period for the June 23 fresh presidential poll on May 2, her message was clear. Under normal circumstances, the official campaign period is a time when all contesting candidates and political parties are free to sell themselves to the electorate. But the circumstances under which Malawi is going to hold election is not normal, given that the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country is growing by day. "Being a very critical period of our electoral calendar, I have some words to all candidates, registered voters and all stakeholders considering that campaign will be done at a time we have the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi and globally. With respect to the global pandemic on the coronavirus and various public health guidelines and restrictions in place, candidates will have to find other innovative ways of reaching out to the electorate," said the MEC chairperson. The crowds that the political leaders are pulling in their political campaigns are in thousands, with no adherence to one of the key COVID-19 measures of social distancing.

Global Health Specialist and Malawi's Director of Quality Management Department in the ministry of health, Andrew Likaka, has also emphasized on social distancing as paramount measure against the spread of COVID-19. Likaka warned in his presentation to local broadcasters Monday that "if nothing serious is done to stop the spread of the pandemic, at least 1.5 million people will contract coronavirus with 30,000 people needing critical care by the end of the year."

The fresh election campaign trail is expected to run up to June 23. Therefore, Malawians are caught between two critical wars: the global pandemic and the presidential poll. The President tried to change the members of the constitutional court but failed. The electoral commissioner was sacked and a new one put in place. Huge election rallies were being held all over Malawi. Politics clearly won the day over the populations health and safety. Atupele Muluzi came to Chitipa. He is the son of Bakili Muluzi who was the president back when I was there in 1999/2000. He has sided with the DPP and Mutharika in a hope to get power.

The election was held on June 23rd and a few days later Dr Lazarus Chakwera was announced the winner with 58% of the vote. Mutharika said it was the worst election in Malawian history and says he will challenge the result. Muluzi claimed that DPP poll observers were taken away and murdered in opposition strongholds so were unable to verify the vote. What has happened in Malawi over the past year or so is historic in African elections. To have an election result annulled by the courts and then the opposition to go on and win a re-run has never before happened. It has happened with relatively little violence. Malawi has been a great example to Africa. Let's hope Mutharika goes quietly and the new leaders use their new found power to better the lives of ordinary Malawians.

The new government tightened up on Covid-19 measures. Schools were still closed and sports gatherings and events prohibited. Wachisa still met his coaches, did a little training and held a few games. He was sending me lots of messages and pictures. On the other hand Rowland had gone very quiet again. I was getting very frustrated and finally knew I had to make a decision and get a clear plan of action. I had kit in the garage and money in my newly opened charity bank account. Finally I made the decision that I would not visit Chitipa as part of this part of the project. I would ship the equipment on the next Cycle of Good container that was due to leave by the end of 2021. There would be certain requirements that the schools and football clubs would have to fulfill before and after receiving the kit but I felt Wachisa and Rowland could manage it. It also meant that we had a lot more money to spend. Based on the success of the project through the rest of 2020 and 2021, I would make future year on year plans to support. I now had to get the message across to everyone in Chitipa and hope all would work together to make it a success.