Malawi experiencing unstable government

President Peter Mutharika’s government has been in power for 20 months and yet it still appears to have not found its feet. The economy is in tatters and life for the majority of Malawians is unbearable. If the government is yet to find its feet, then it goes without saying that it is an uphill battle for it to find solutions to problems that Malawians are facing.

President Peter Mutharika with foreign minister George Chaponda
President Peter Mutharika with foreign minister George Chaponda

Imagine, the government assures people that it has enough maize in Admarc markets and yet people have to go through a lot of difficulties to access it. The best way to describe this maize is that it is available in the unavailable form. Malawians have to endure and be whipped into line for as long as four days before buying 10 kilogrammes of the maize.

The main problem of the DPP-led government is undecisiveness, which in turn makes governance to be unstable. It is time that government must prove that it knows what it is doing and should stand by its decisions. It is unfortunate now that government decisions cannot be taken wholesale because they are bound to change any moment and put everyone out of step.

At the moment, there is a lot of talk about government reforms which are expected to improve the economic situation of the country. Among other measures, reforms are there to tighten government expenditure.

Surprisingly, the same government which is trying to control expenditure is reported in the media to have dubiously contracted some UK-based agency to carry out a PR project to sale Malawi abroad at a cost of K295 million. If the country has to spend such an enormous amount to sell its image, then what are Malawi’s foreign missions for? Are such decisions to spend extravagantly made at Cabinet or personal level?

In fact, Malawi is not a new State that no one knows about. For it to attract tourists and investors, it must improve its facilities, which include roads and hotels in that way the country will sell itself. This is not space science that the government can fail to understand.

With all due respect, the Mutharika government seems not to know what the national priorities are. It does not make much sense in painting a picture that the country is ready for investors when the situation on the ground is far from it. Some investors might be promised land which is a scarce resource and a sensitive issue in Malawi. If government will grab land for the sake of investors, it can be rest assured of endless conflicts with the locals.

When the President came into power there was a lot of tough-talking within his government that even without donor budgetary support, the government can manage with resources within the country. Most people might have thought that the government had found a formula to prove that the 40 percent donor budgetary support was not really necessary.

Then it came as a real surprise when it was reported in the media that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Chaponda, was pleading with donor representatives in the country to release budgetary support.

Honestly, this portrays a weakness in the government of Malawi because it fails to stick to its decision. After all, the tough-talking was not necessary since before long the government has crawled back to its dishonourable position and start pleading for help. It is such unstable mindset which can force even the most trusted government supporters to say that though they like how the DPP-led government leads, but they do not know where it is leading Malawians to.

If President Mutharika and his government continue to be undecisive on important national issues, it might even lose out on important investment deals. This is not the time for striking deals first and looking at the formalities later.

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Winston Msowoya
Winston Msowoya
8 years ago

As an Indian,What are you doing in our country leaving India some 15000KM away? You are not only found in Malawi,but in the whole of the planet.You are bearing children like rats that your population is almost on par with China 1.7billion human beings.So if you know how to rule why do you come to Africa.Iddi Amin Dada of Uganda expelled you from the country because of your corruption and theft.Let me tell you that I have been inyour country,the outskirts of Mombai is a hell on earth your children are bathing in contaminated water full of maladies and Iam… Read more »

S786
S786
8 years ago

Best advice surrender ur country to ur neighbouring countries. Malawians don’t know how to run a country. As a indian I say Malawians are not capable enough to run any country.

Winston
Winston
8 years ago

Malawi experiencing unstable government,the head of State Peter Muthalika says so.Malawians,take this statement vehemently.He accepts openly that he has failed to run the government.so what next? What Malawians could do now,is to boot him out forthwith and appoint an interim government with a caretaker President to run the affairs of the State for let’s say two years and call for national general elections under strict supervision of international personnel or observers.Leaving him into power until 2019,we are exposing our State to a tumultuous political breakdown with unprecedented ramifications never seen before.The rogue has failed what else you want to hear… Read more »

Patriots
Patriots
8 years ago

Dpp led government rose into power without tenacity and game plan. Zero deficit budget only works in developed economies with vibrant industries where job creation echoes progress. The gap between the rich and poor is so gigantic, there’s no room to create a middle class to stimulate the struggling economy. 20 months in government with nothing to show due executive arrogance where the economy continues deteriorate with no direction. I implore the Dpp leadership to have authentic humility with a listen ear yeiding to the of voice of truth that signifies destiny of all Malawians who are in need of… Read more »

Bentby
8 years ago

Peter muthalika is a toy, yes a mere joke, he doesn’t know nothing about governmenting, he better just resign or face cardiac arrest

HPB
HPB
8 years ago

It takes time for an economy to turn round after disastrous events like second term of Late Muntharika’s administration, Cashgate during Mai Banda’s Government. But such a turnaround needs a clear plan, well explained, with specied goal posts along the way and the means for getting from pint A to point B Surely, Government has such a Plan. But it is not articulated or coherently constructed. The State of Nation Address by the President and the Budget Presentation by the Minister of Finance are opportunities for clearly explaining to the citizens what Government intends to do to solve each major… Read more »

paul
8 years ago

Our economy team Of Goodall and Chuka have to be comended, they have finsihed the kwacha , it took Mugabe 5 years to abandon the Zim Dollar, Chuka has finsihed the kwacha in 3 years from the date he has become governor we have moved from 167 to 720. The suprising thing is that he is still there, JB and APM are not finding any faults in the way he has devalued the kwacha. JB we understand that it was cashgate which went unnoticed at RBM so he survived, but APM what qualities do you see in Chuka, please let… Read more »

mbani
8 years ago

they cant do anything imagine 577

Timvenawo
Timvenawo
8 years ago

It is to comment on things that we do don’t even understand.

sam
sam
8 years ago

We are on Auto Pilot, economy is nosediving, Kwacha is soon to be replaced with Rand/Dollar as it is the new ZIm Dollar of Africa, Inflation is skyrocketing, World fuel prices have halved but here we keep paying same prices. Salaries for civil servnats are the same.Malawi economy s like a car driving down a mountain without a driver we are heading for disaster

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