Malawi police arrest two women for banknote cake

Africa

Malawi police arrest two women for banknote cake

By BBC

Published

1 min read

Malawi's Central Bank says printing new bank notes to replace old and damaged ones is costly

Malawi police have arrested two women in their mid-20s after they used kwacha bank notes as decorations for a cake they had baked and posted it on social media.

A police spokesman said the pair had posted the image of the cake festooned with 70 500-kwacha notes - worth $35 (£28) on social media as they advertised their cake-making business.

The accused have not commented on their arrest but police say they will be charged with an offence of “damaging and unlawful use of currency”.

In the past, Malawi’s central bank has said it incurs huge costs printing new bank notes to replace worn out ones and blamed improper use of bank notes as one of reasons the notes have to be regularly replaced.

The offence of “damaging and unlawful use of currency” carries a large maximum fine.

Akutitu Police in Blantyre are keeping in custody two cake bakers atapanga decorate cake ndima k500 bank notes okwana sate fafu sazande (mwk35,000). My question is, cholinga nkukhala chani ma cake bakers wo????????? pic.twitter.com/rpj9LDq7FG

— Kessie Tha Certified (@Kessie_Dr) January 11, 2023
Dennislaw News

We are the leading source of breaking legal news in Ghana. We provide updated, reliable, and concise daily legal news, court updates, legal articles, and weekly newsletters. Browse through our website for the latest legal stories in business, technology, election petition coverage, and crime. If it is about the law, we report it with accuracy.

Newsletter

Court reports and legal analysis from Ghana, in your inbox.

© 2026 Dennislaw News. All rights reserved.