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Many people around the globe prefer bottled water especially in developing countries, where tap water is not drinkable. This study investigated the quality of bottled drinking water sold in Lilongwe city, Malawi. Compliance with Malawi Standards (MS) 560 (2004) for natural mineral water, MS 699 (2004) for bottled water and the World Health Organisation guidelines for drinking water were examined. Bottled water from different 12 brands was purchased from local stores and analysed for its pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), EC, turbidity, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Fe, NO3−, Cl−, F−, SO42−, hardness, alkalinity, and Escherichia coli. A Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) resulted in two clusters in which most of the brands (92%, n = 12) belonged to one group. The two clusters and significant differences (ANOVA p < 0.05) in chemical compositions among the brands were attributed to the variations in the water source and the treatment processes. The results showed that 10 brands did not comply with the MS 699 (2004) turbidity standard (1 NTU) and the pH of one of the brands was below the minimum MS 699 (2004) standard of 6.50. This research showed that 12 brands had bottle labelling errors and discrepancies in chemical composition. The article highlighted the need for a strict inspection from the responsible governmental ministry to improve water quality and to adjust water bottles’ labels according to water characteristics.

Electricity bills in Kenya have been an issue of concern to electricity consumers in the recent past. Highly volatile oil prices and unprecedented weather fluctuations have acted as significant shocks for electricity generation, influencing electricity pricing. This study sought to investigate the contribution of diversity, spare capacity, and system structure as metrics in determining energy resilience. We contend that electricity prices represent the underlying fleet structure's ability to adjust to change and, therefore, can be used to predict energy resilience. Resilience metrics were determined using electricity generation data, electricity sales, electricity installed capacities, and electricity imports, while electricity prices represented the response variable. A regression model was fitted between the response variable and resilience metrics. Diversity, spare capacity, and import metrics play a significant role in predicting electricity prices. However, the diversity metric's role depends on the portfolio mix and requires further comparative empirical evidence.

Natural hazards such as agricultural droughts impact negatively on crop yields and economic activities. Characterization of agricultural droughts provides precise and accurate information for decision making processes during agricultural drought events. Planning and responding to the hazards by government, and non-governmental organizations in the Sudano-Sahelian belt has been limited in the past due to knowledge gap on the nature and impact of the hazard. This study seeks to characterize historical agricultural droughts, assess their impact on crop yields and people’s susceptibility to undernourishment and through forecasting, unravel what the future holds. Annual effective reconnaissance drought index values are computed using mean monthly potential evapotranspiration and effective precipitation data. To assess the impact of agricultural drought, the index’s values are compared to crop yields and prevalence to undernourishment data. Results show that agricultural drought events of 1983 and 2008 are mild and ephemeral while the 1999 – 2006 event is severe and protracted. While there is 26% chance of materialization of an agricultural drought in Gourma, the chance of being ephemeral and of moderate category is the highest (8%). It has been determined that an ephemeral and moderate agricultural drought would trigger below average yields for maize, sorghum and millet. Mild, moderate and severe events increase prevalence to undernourishment by 2.9 %, 4.3 % and 5.8 % respectively. From 2020 to 2030, a continued materialization of agricultural droughts is expected

This paper is about the taxation of solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies in Malawi. It analyses and expose the reality about the benefits and beneficiaries of customs and excise duty waiver on these technologies. The principal aim for taxation is to raise revenue for the government, local authorities and other similar bodies. Taxes are also used to redistribute wealth whereby higher rates of income tax transfer wealth from the betteroff to the state and the latter uses the resources to provide services to everyone. Sometimes, taxes are used to protect local industries from foreign competition. In such cases, the government levies duty on imported goods, which translates into higher prices. As a result of the high prices of the imports, people are forced to buy locally manufactured goods as substitutes. However, this analysis appears to be biased towards the end users of the technologies and completely ignores the suppliers, without whom there would be no solar PV market at all. This paper is therefore aimed at highlighting the shortcomings of this perspective and redefining the benefits and beneficiaries of such exemption.