COUNSEL SILVESTER AYUBA JAMES | Soaring Prices: Let’s Be Honest, This Is Not Just Malawi’s Problem

August 26, 2025 Our reporter 3 Comments

When I ask critics to show me a single country where the cost of living has not skyrocketed since COVID-19, they go silent. Yet, when it comes to Malawi, many are quick to tear the MCP government apart as though we live in isolation from the global economy.

Ayuba

Let’s be clear: yes, prices have risen here. And no, MCP has not done everything perfectly. But let us also be fair: this government has faced a string of crises unmatched in our history. COVID shut down tourism, cyclones battered our food production systems, and disasters forced emergency spending that overstretched already-thin resources. Any government under such strain would struggle.

And still, Malawi has managed to keep fuel the cheapest in the region — cheaper than in Zambia and Mozambique, where motorists now cross into Malawi to fill up in bulk. Roads of world-class standard are being built across districts and regions, proving that development has not been abandoned despite economic shocks.

Globally, the story is the same. In Europe, households are squeezed. The cost of living has even humbled America’s Democrats and their Conservative rivals across the Atlantic. Zambia and Kenya are singing the same painful tune. Mozambique? Even worse. And these are countries blessed with vast natural resources. Malawi, by contrast, is a small, landlocked economy whose backbone is tobacco — a crop under relentless attack from global anti-smoking campaigns.

So what exactly do we expect? For government to magically erase global inflation? For Malawi, a tobacco-driven economy, to withstand what wealthier nations cannot? Let’s be serious.

The truth is, this government has tried. But many critics refuse to look beyond their Ka bundle internet outrage. People who have never crossed a border or followed global economic trends are quick to blame government for every price hike. If they were in China or America, they would still be poor — waiting for freebies, shouting at leaders, never lifting themselves up on merit.

So yes, boma layesetsa. And that’s why we say, Boma ndi Lomweli.

 

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3 replies on “COUNSEL SILVESTER AYUBA JAMES | Soaring Prices: Let’s Be Honest, This Is Not Just Malawi’s Problem”

  2. Ululatiions, when a government as Malawi, has all the donors, now the funds are curtailed, who suffer?, populations day by day augments, majority of Malawi and and are poor compared to the likes of so called James who are rich but few in number, there is high illiteracy in Malawi more than any other country, speaking of people who has suffered under the name of MCP are a lot, price hiking, is one of the things that needed to be observed, I totally disagree with Mr James, very, he is a political man, yes, but he also needs to see the needs of the poor, how can they accommodate themselves in a country, whose political agenda is concerned with eating money and building politicians and leaving out the Malawians who are suffering.

  3. First admit that mwalephera like u did sometimes ago kuti MCP ikupanga za chinam balala. Where did u see fertilizer from 18k to 160k? Where did u see egg from 50 to 500? Forex from 6 month import cover to 0 days cover. What does it mean to u idiot.i travel every month from south africa to Botswana Zimbabwe and Mozambique since 2020 but I don’t experience the madness isee in malawi

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