Malawi now ranked poorest in the world: President talks of ‘desperate need’ for aid

1. The problem with our country in nothing, but poor foundation from kamuzi. He Didn’t establish proper financial foundation. just tell me how many manufacturing industries do we have. So when do you think that this Industries will be Institute. So no industries,,no progress for our country. We can not depend on foreign Aide. May the good Lord help our beloved country

   1. Don’t blame Kamuzu but blame your leaders from 1994

2. I have searched in vain for any support for these figures on the World Bank site or other info source. Can the Nyasa Times confirm their exact source please.

3. Tribalism, regionalism, nepotism and corrupt government officials are doing this country in. They claim to do things in the interest of the state but in real fact it is in the interest of their pockets.

4. we cant blame kamuzu he did his best, tribalism is the cause of all the problems in Malawi. Look all the people involved in cashgate should be taken to court but look what DPP led government is doing?all those in DPP are being left out of the list and azungu akuona zonsezi.APM solve this problem before its too late.The poorest its very bad indeed

5. Misplaced priorities by successive STUPID leaders. Tribalism, nepotism and hate have taken upper hand in our country. PATHETIC.

6. Malawians are good at nothing. Just wasting time KUKUMBANA mitundu instead of concentrating on development. DPP WOYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

7. All this is because of the crook and big thief Bakili Muluzi. He taught these fellow crooked stupid politicians that running a Govt is stealing tax payer’ money at the expense of development. Very stupid and blind leaders who are being openly fooled by foreign crooks to dwindle this country’s economy further.

8. The figure of per capita income at USD 226 HAS EXISTED SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL. So to blame on current generation would seem unfair. We must blame overpopulation for such underdevelopment. Please mark my words. No government has come up with any serious campaign against population explosion. Some regions have serious levels of illiteracy.

   Citizen

   1. Hey, I would like to differ with you on the point of population being the problem. Big populations are big markets for goods. Look at big population countries of China, India, Nigeria, Ethiopia. Look for other reasons but please don’t bring in population. Big populations are an opportunity and not a problem for growth of markets.

9. izi ndi zomwe azungu amafuna kumanva. Tsiku lina tizayimba nyimbo………..

10. Sad and shameful.
    Mr president: 8 trips/month is too much for aisa cabinet minister in company of his executive members.
    Just one long and expensive trip can siphon all the money in the ministry.
    Oh God, where shall we find leadership to change things? After over 50 years of independence,
    we are worst now. It’s shame to the world, suffering to the disadvantaged. And to the rich
    and the powerful ones no feeling of shame and remorse. We need to love our country!!! and
    not our single selves.

11. Cry my beloved country

12. Here are some of the reasons why Malawi has gotten poorer
    1. Lack of visionary and selfless leadership fueled by Tribalism. The Lomwes would vote for a FROG if it were a candidate of their tribe.
    Selective justice and a corrupt judiciary that sympathise with criminals and idiotic theives like Paseli of Ndirande.
    2. Worshiping of Politicians encouraged by politicans manipulating the poor to vote for them.
    3. Reluctance to implement laws and lethargy to enforce existing ones. This has led to natural resources being raped with impunity i.e. Wanton Trees cutting at Dzalanyama when we very well know that will result in Lilongwe having water problems. Mulli raping Chikangawa Forest… Overfishing in Lake Malawi etc.
    4. Breeding like rabbits resulting in over population against meagre resources. But at least Rwanda is doing better eventhough they are just as overpopulated.

    Malawi is now the ‘Land that God gave to Cain’ lets migrate to Zambia and Mozambique! There is no future in this God forsaken lawless country.

    The next step will be further breakdown in law and order then civil war…. Natural Progression.

13. Malawi needs unity. Malawi needs love. Malawi needs visionary leaders not money gluttons. The I am northerner, sourtherner speeches wont take us anywhere. If our line of thought is that we cant do anything because we are from that region or that then let us know that Malawi will take the cup of this league of poorest countries in the world for decades and centuries and millenia. Lets put regionalism and tribalism behind us and lets fight our common enemy: poverty.

    If we think more of ourselves than others then we miss the point. This mindset of “Ndife anzeru kwambiri ndi odziwa zinthu kuposa aliyense” is drowning our economy slowly but surely. You will let your friend make a graviest mistake because of your ego thinking that his suffering is his only, trust you me, thats just being foolish soon or later you will share the consequense.

    Visionary leaders see beyond today. A vision can not be unfolded fully in just six months. Where we are wrong is to judge someone prematurely. Lets see if his vision can bail malawi out of poverty. At the same time, we should not just sit back and wait to see him make a mistake and critisize. Lets be proactive not reactive.

    Finally, Mr President, this is what being a leader means. Its easy to say than to do. Malawians are watching your steps. What legacy would you like to leave behind. A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step but the direction of the journey matters. So the first step is a crucial step given a limited time. Here is a challenge, shall we continue to beg In order for us to sink on this so called world bank rank of poorest countries in the world. Malawi has capable people mr president. People who can change this country but this depends on your leadership.

14. As much as I agree with much of what has been said, there is one area people are not mentioning. You see, for people to cheat us as Malawians, cashgate us, etc, it’s because we are not capable of taking anyone to task. We allow these things to happen. For example, the just happened incident in Monkey-Bay where an Investor is ready to invest in that area, then someone is saying what about me, where will I farm?, what about my ancestral grave? Do you think if people who used to live where Blantyre City stands today had said No, we were going to have the so called City of Blantyre? What about Lilongwe etc. The point is you either chose to develop slowly or you move fast just like the rest of the Wold. Many great Cities of the world have developed on the account of having water/beaches, sunshine and culture. Mangochi has all the three ingredient and capable of taking over Blantyre and Lilongwe, but hey. I think we have no one to blame, but our self.

15. ZIKUKOMA ETI?

    Gentlemen and ladies let me say this; do not put the blame on any government but put the blame on every Malawian. I mean you reading this inclusive. The question is what have you done personally to contribute towards improvement of the Malawi’s GDP? you will note that your contribution perhaps is quite insignificant. then how do you expect Malawi to have a fat economy. Our culture to a greater extent has made us poor. We believe the government can made Malawi a rich country. FORGET IT. Do those people have a clue of what they want to achieve? Presidential hotel idling now for 4 years which is a big loss of revenue. Does this encourage donors? Unfortunately we all behave just as the government is doing. After all those guys are from within us. Do you expect them to behave differently? From the village crier to APM, we all believe in donations. putting our lives, our country on our neighbors budgets. always on our knees crying for help from elsewhere. The economy of the country is an aggregation of individual household economies. If the greater majority of the people in Malawi are below the poverty line, you can not expect Malawi to be above the poverty line? Is it governments responsibility to make every household rich? not at all and it will never happen. The government can only provide a conducive environment by providing better policies most of which already exist and being abused by us. The responsibility is for each household to uplift itself. Stop believing in a salary alone because a salary can never make you rich unless you invest it and multiply it. a salary will only push you to national strikes because it will never be enough. As Malawians let us start businesses. no matter how small the business may be, it will contribute to the household economy and to the national GDP. If you grow your business, you will be growing the national economy as well and we as a nation will be above the waters. Start generating a business idea now and start your business now. writing too much nonsense to show how learned you are will not help if you as an individual can not multiply your money as the biblical guys multiplied their talents. WORK and get your salary every month but also do a BUSINESS. 1,000,000 plus businesses. start now.
    SIZIKUKOMA A PITALA.

16. We are all pointing fingers to the government of the day but what are we doing ourselves as citizens to change the status quo? Surely, this poverty did not start with the ushering in of the new government. This poverty is a cumulative effect of economic mismanagement, wanton thieving by those we entrusted to watch over our resources and the lack of creativity in the population- factors whose effects have accumulated over the years starting from independence to-date. We are all responsible for our poverty in one way or the other. As we point accusing fingers to our leaders, let us also remember to seriously ask ourselves what we have done as citizens that have contributed to this poverty.

17. We are poor so what, i dont eat at your place and who give u authority to consider us as poorest in the world who said we are in competition please leave us alone u can have ur money we dont care and to you APM please stop pleading to this people lets we focus we the little we have

18. The problem is leadership. This is happening during APM’s reign . The guy is very old and clueless . Do not blame a mayi. During her time of take over things were worse but she managed to improve the situation . Look now the Mtchona does not know what to do. He is just blaming cash gate yet he is the leader. Do something. That is why you are our leader or else just quit. You keep on blaming other people till when. Shame shame shame on you.

19. But mr illegal president you told us that we were improving?

20. SOMEONE IS SAYING THE BLAME SHOULD BE ON PAST GOVERNMENTS, DOES THIS ALSO INCLUDE DPP?

21. So bad

22. CONGRATULATIONS MR MUTHARIKA. AT LAST WE HAVE ACHIEVED A NUMBER ONE POSITION DURING YOUR REGIME. NO ONE HAS EVER BEATEN THIS.
    CONGRATS MUTHARIKA, CONGRATS DPP.

23. We can’t be that poor we just had a huge Valentine’s gala the other day forget that our brothers and sisters in the lower shire are destitute due to the flooding.

24. Only God can save. If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, I’ll hear and heal there Land.

25. The talk here is not APM nor DPP these gulus are still trying to achieve and they have 4 years to go. The blame here is past govenments. You can not change the country in just 6 months from poverty to riches where people were busy cash-gating. I wish he so called Amayi who run from Malawi would have been in to feel the bad. A serious person could see how the two boys APN and SC are struggling for the change at the same time the floods are in. Let me give a time an d see before I tell lies that they have failed because they have years to go.

    1. Are you aware that APM was the de facto number 2 in Bingu’s disastrous second term? Are you aware that there was more stealing in that period than during JB’s 2 year rule? Do you really believe that Bingu and APM amassed their real estate legitimately? Are you aware that APM acquired a house in Area 10 for less than K4million?

       The question should not really be which President stole and which one did not, because they all stole (and are still continuing to still). Starting with Kamuzu (who didn’t think he was stealing because he believed that everything in Malawi belonged to him…”zonse zimeme za Kamuzu Banda…”) all the way to APM in 2015 – Malawian Presidents have abused their authority. This is the real reason that Malawi finds itself in this position.

       Our Presidents believe in amassing wealth for themselves and their immediate families – this is not going to change in the forseeable future. In fact more poverty works in their favour – poor uneducated voters are very easy to manipulate…

26. Some idiot called dodoma who thinks is smart here. He must point at the northerners who made joyce banda steal. some of you shall be haters for life .. hating on tumbuka’s because we are professionally and academically superior.. mukhalira zomwezo growing old fast because of your orgasimic hate for tumbukas whilst you are broke sad and stupid…..

27. Your Excellency, as you are aware the situation of poverty in a country that you are in charge,so, what are your plans to address this shameful situation? I believe that it was your desired ambition to lead Malawi and God granted you the opportunity you have been desiring, now, tell us how you are going to change the welfare of the people of Malawi? Your Excellency, demonstrate your skills and knowledge that you have acquired over the years a broad, show Malawian citizens that you are really a Professor who have been at one of the best University in the World. Turn the misfortune of the nation around and make it a very envious nation. Malawians are waiting so the world is watching. You have to deliver, you have to make Malawi a country of self reliance and not a country of dependency,

28. Congratulations DPP for your wonderful achievement. I hope the usual follow up adverts and propaganda on mbc will start to promote this number one position to illiterate southernerz

29. We being the poorest country in the world is not surprising. Despite all the human rights violations or abuses of Kamuzu, Malawi had never been the poorest in 30 years of his rule.

    Then came democracy in 1994, thank God we all wanted it but we also brutally abused it by rampant corruption and plunder of national coffers priding in getting rich quick and total deliberate negligence of the rule of law by all governments. That was the start of our decline and being poorest now is just a manifestation of 20 years of open large scale thieving by udf, dpp, pp and dpp again in the name of democracy, the Malawi way!!! How can we develop if development money is being stolen by corrupt and heartless so called leaders of ours?

    The way forward now is to revisit the democratic necessities and the real meaning of democracy. Democracy should be practised within the law and good governance. Stop corruption of all kind especially the stealing of development money for selfish enrichment.

    It is very shameful that this dpp govt is now begging donor money.
    No it is time that we became self-sufficient, self-reliant and learn to use our money wisely so that the whole country develops. Stop the corruption!!! That is the root cause of our country not progressing development- wise. By donors not giving us budgetary support money, is a blessing in disguise because we will steal less and Channel Most of the little money we have to development projects. A country which has seen peace for 50 years is lagging behind war torn and ravaged countries, very shameful. And it is all because our corruption is beyond kuonjedza.

    Being poorest is now a challenge to all of us, the only way is up or stagnation!!!

30. Muthatrika is the worst thing that’s ever happened to Malawi. Bola Mayi.. at least we didnt have water and electricity problems when mayi was in charge.

    1. You mean bola cashgate…. We are at this position because of her and you saying she was better? Shame on your idioncy

31. Zomvetsa Chisoni, Boma Lakuba Silabwino, Tinkadziwa Ife, Pitala Pamodzi Ndi Chipani Cha Dpp Sangalamulire Mokomera A Malawi, Anthuwa Ndi Akuba, Zodziwa A Mbendela Komanso A Zodiak Pothandizira Kuti Abere Chisankho, “Shame On You”

32. Mr President please hear me out. The donors are ready to come back unless certain conditions are met./ For some reason Mr president you seem to be scatterbrained. You are not listening. What are the conditions the donors are asking you may ask? For starters they want you to deal with all the cash gate cases including that of your brother which cost this country way over MK92 billion. Second close all the loop holes in the financial system which I think you have done to some extent. Third be transparent and accountable to our financial resources. On this you seem to think that just because you are the head of state you can raid the treasury at will. No sir that’s not how it works. You have a budget and you account for every penny in that budget. That’s why it is called a budget. You must lead by example. You can not appear to be careless with donor money. Corruption is a very deadly disease and it is killing our country. You must desist from practicing what you are not preaching. Declare your assets. Even though the donors have asked for this trust me they know how shady you are. Do not forget your track record is not that great starting when you were at foreign affairs and education. Hold your ministers accountable for once do the right thing and walk the talk!!

33. Do you believe these statitics yourself?? Lies…. We are rich and happy. Dont plant seeds of discontent

34. This country is finished; it will not be redeemed. The cause of the problem is poor leadership. DPP should never have been voted back to power; it has no track record of successful governance. JB was lifting this country up economically, but she was interrupted because of her embracing the northerners to who she was married. And the people that voted for DPP don’t see any problem with what they did. Given another chance they would vote for DPP again. If today’s DPP was willing and capable of uplifting the economy of Malawi, it would have done very easily. How?
    1.Address donor concerns. Do not pretend we can run a country successfully without outside help; even Greece, Spain, etc asked for help from fellow EU countries to prop up their economies. The world is so interwoven that monies flow between nations, and to exclude yourself from global connections is suicidal. The Germans already gave money to Malawi govt to probe the cashgate between 2005 to 2013; why is the govt not using that money for the intended job? and why are people quiet about this? and why are people still blaming donors for our own failures? Please DPP restore donor confidence by doing what the donors are asking us to do; we’ll then normalize our global connections and boost up our economy.
    2.Help to finance production activities by giving big loans to SMEs so we can boost up production; our consumption should be served by our production. Remove or reduce tax on production so that production grows and is not stifled. Malawi is the most taxed country in the world. Even tomatoes or chickens grown in malawi are more expensive that those from our neighbors because of excessive tax overheads. The result? Malawi is now the poorest country in the world.
    3.Let’s go federalism so that each region or state is competitively engaging its citizens in productive activities that have immediate benefits to them. Federalism would boost up overall economy of this country. Leadership that is closer to people can instill more powerful productive mentality in people than leadership in Lilongwe which only visits its southern population. Lilongwe has failed us.
    4. If federalism fails, let’s break up this country. We’re tired of being the poorest country when some of the regions have capability and desire to move forward economically.

35. So the president is not in tune with what is happening in his own country. Pathetic.

36. Until MCP runs again we shall never develop.

37. sad

38. There are families in Malawi who cannot afford to take care of one child but they have 8 children. Politicians dont even try to bring policies that can stop this over population especially in southern Malawi because they want votes and these poor illiterate souls give them the much needed votes to loot gvt coffers. What a shame.

39. Azunguwa angotibwenzela ma esteti analanda makolo athuwa ku Mulanje, Thyolo even in central and north. We will start afresh with economic recovery. For sure we are not the poorest. Poor stats just to get us on our knees begging for help from the cursed world. We shall never do that and forget. Malawi on her own will pull a surprise. Osapemphanso apa iyayi. Their colonialism should come to an end now for real.

40. Considering Malawi’s poverty I believe Malawians are to be commended for having managed to keep their society quite peaceful and stable as compared to some of the richer but far more violent countries.

41. Federalism basi! If we don’t, will go poor like never before!!!!!!!!!

42. Your excellency Mr. State President, the donors have made their position clear – they don’t want to give us any free money. The best we can do now is to focus our eyes within the house, engage overdrive in our thinking and planning and see what we can do with what we have. The more time we spend pleading with the donors, the more we get frustrated, and the more we fail to think of looking for our own home-grown solutions. Let us all, as a nation, accept that we are the poorest in this whole God-created world and then decide that we are going to get ourselves out of this mess. Where is the courage you were displaying during your campaign rallies? Why did you not tell us that you were going to rely on donations of well-wishers to put food on our table? Think, Mr. President, think! We are looking up to you to lead us in looking for solutions, and now is the time to start!

43. While I do not want to appear as supporting poverty, I would like to restore pride in my fellow citizens. This is a global measurement that might not mean Malawians are going to bed hungry more than any other people in the world. Malawians are mainly subsistence farmers whose contributions might not be captured by such global tools. Oil producing countries might have a high GDP but who would love to live in their countries where millions of people are displaced and they die everyday from conflict and depend on humanitarian aid for basics. The world should expand the tool for this kind of ranking to capture all that makes life worth living. A high GDP which benefits a few is also useless. Malawians come on let us not feel bad about ourselves.

44. today pple are against kupempha.mwazindikirano kuti BINGU amanena zowona kuti tisamadalire azungu.tiyenazoni….

45. Why has Malawi sunk so low?
    Poor leadership is to blame. It all started with Bakili who hyptonised the uneducated masses that stealing was ok and we could cut all the trees as we wished so that no one bothered him as he went about sacking the country. Even the revered Professor Bingu Mutharika borrowed a leave from the thievery philosophy and extolled it further by hatching the cash gate and surrounding himself with useless conmen like Nadzikwanje. The clueless Joyce followed and took the thievery to new hieghts. The clueless and hapless professor just makes our stituation worse. Kamuzu must be turning in his grave. How can Burundi be above us and what a gulf that is there ! Cry my beloved Malawi.

46. Umphawi ukubwera chifukwa chochulukana. Ngati pa banja anthu alipo 4 ndalama iripo K2000 akhoza kudya patsiku bwino bwino. Koma ndalama yomweyo kuti akhale anthu 8 zivutirapo. Komanso nthawi ya Kamuzu anthu analipo around 6 million koma lero tiripo angati? we should not blame Kamuzu but blame UDF its multiparty. tinali ndi ma rice scheme lero ari kuti? Kamuzu was encouraging hard work kubwera UDF akuti youth week ndi thangata. Pali zambiri zimene zinawonongeka munthawi ya UDF zimene kuzibwezeretsa kwake kufunika ma billion andalama.

47. JB anali patali awa zawavuta. The poorest country in the world zamanyazi agalu enawa nkumayima pachulu kumati zinthu zikuyenda bwino

    1. @Mbowe Mlambia ukunenadi zoona JB analidi patali chifukwa anali wakuba n0 1. Ndi amene anatisausira dziko lathu. Foseki JB.

48. Something wrong with calculations. Does world Bank want to embarrass us or is it because we don’t receive direct aid anymore. Government please clarify.

    1. Amalawi tulo kwambiri just legalise chamba basi kunamizila for medical resources, azanthu ku America ma state ambirimbiri anapanga legalise ife mulungu anatidalitsa ndi best weed in world koma tulo too much

       1. Ayie Phwisi ukunenadi zoona bwanji tikisauka koma tili ndi chamba chambiri boma lingololeza kuti banja lina lililonse lizilima matumba oposela 10 a 50kg ndiye kuti aliyense akhonza kukhala opeza bwino

49. We have slave mentality in Malawi. God did not create Malawi poor but Malawians made Malawi poor. Go overseas Malawians dont even wanna go back to their country, pure slave mentality

50. aid will not solve our problems. Mutharika is pleading for aid so that he could loot. What we need to to change our way of doing things. Why do we continue to have 99 PSs? Why do we continue to buy ministers and PS’s and civil servants motor vehicles? How have we invested our pension funds? Why do we subsidise rich people’s children to go to school instead of poor children? Why do we fail to bring cashgaters to book, when evidence is abundant? Why don’t we make use of our lake for tourism and irrigation? Why don’t we build roads to all tourist sites in order to bring in forex? Why donwevwastebtax payers money paying salaries for Chiefs? Why does the president travel in a long convoy instead of a short one like Kagame or David Cameron? Why don’t we get back the K62 billion that Joyce Banda and Paul Mphwiyo stole and use it profitably? Why don’t we revamp Chikangawa Forest, build factories and export paper and pulp? Why don’t we revive Mulanje Fruit Canning factory? Why don’t we import electricity knowing fully well that lack of energy is constraining development? Why did we elect Bakili Muluzi when records were there kuti munthuyi ndiwakuba?

51. Being ruled by tribalistically elected presidents has not served Malawi. See where we are now after 50 years of independence! How can someone with just 35% of the vote become president (when 65% reject him)? Time for Federalism basi

52. Malawi, the laughing stoke of all ages, even poorer thant ebora stricken liberia and wart torn Burundi? Kikwete and the Tanzanians should take the lake, they can put it go good use and develop their welfare than us. Mozambique should close the border, better we all die, they world will be better off without us. The whole president and his minister of finance all they know to to beg for donor aid. Please donors, do not give us a cent, its putting your valuable resources to waste.

53. The President of Malawi lives like an oil prince, yet has the audacity to ask for foreign aid. Malawi’s poverty is not primarily due to lack of capital but rather lack of ideas. Each year we pour billions of Kwacha literally down the drain in the form of unsustainable farm input subsidies. We also have more official state residencies (8?) than the richest country on earth (2) – each year we spend millions of Kwacha on residencies that the president visits for a total of less than 2 weeks per year. Our Vice President’s convoy can have more Landcruisers than that of Shinzo Abe of Japan – where these landrcruisers are made. One can go on and on about Malawi’s absurd inconsistencies, a dirt poor nation whose ruling class live like the country has bottomless coffers.

    The only way Malawi will lift itself out of this position is when the leaders wake up and realise that they have to prudently use the meagre resources to create growth. My heart bleeds when our President takes pride in opening a shopping mall that will be selling imported goods. Rather the President should take pride in opening factories that will be producing for export – even if they are of modest size.

    The leadership of this country needs a paradigm shift in terms of development economics. Luckily enough we do not have to go far for lessons – the 3 countries that surround us are among the top 10 fastest growing economies in Africa…

54. I told you so!! With the state of the Malawi economy things will get worse. The world bank and IMF are about to declare Kwacha worthless and when that happens inflation will hit over 1000% Look out we are heading the Zimbabwe way. Munthalika does not listen. He is surrounding himself with incompetent people that continue to lie to him. Borrowing money from Mota Engil to prop up the kwacha is very temporary and cosmetic. What he needs to do is deal with cash gate and corrupt DPP syndicate that is the only hope we have as a country. Mark my words. The donors are not coming and I am one of those who is pleading with the donors not to come back until cash gate is thoroughly dealt with. Until Bingu’s stolen loot is returned to the treasury from foreign bank accounts. Nothing short will not bring the donors back.

55. 14 million plus people including the Professor President can be empty vessels there may be a way out.

56. 1. The author is has added comments from the President as if he was speaking in response to this world bank ranking when he was not. This is manipulated reporting

    2. The author has made his/her conclusion based on Per Capital GDP and has totally ignored factors such as the actual GDP or GDP growth rate. For example, during the period under review Malawi’s GDP growth rate was 5%. Now if you rank that Malawi could be in the top 10 world’s fastest developing country.

    3. In conclusion, several factors need to be weighted to give the ranking for World’s poorest country. Per capita GDP is just one of the 10 or 30 factors

57. Moti the whole prof. APM akuyendetsa the poorest country on earth? Bad news. Bwanji dzikoli tingobwereranso under direct British rule bcoz self rule is not being well managed. Float a referendum on this one.

58. poor malawi…tinafatsa kwambiri guys

59. pOOR? SAYS WHO?
    MALAWI CAN AFFORD TO GIVE EACH mp A LOAN OF mk24,million? poor? nay? It can afford to by a Prado for each Minister and CEO! Poor? nay?
    Malawi can afford to give each minister 10000

60. Umphawi umenewu anabweretsa kamuzu Banda anali galu wachabechabe.

    Nkhanza ndiye zomwe amadziwa, kumapanga kumanga kapita ngati njira modutsa mbewe.

    1. Bwana,

       Malawi was not the poorest country under Kamuzu. It was better than most neighbouring countries. Infact most development u r seing today were done by Kamuzu.

       The question you shud ask yourself is what has been done 20+ years after Kamuzu. I guess you are part of the answer and the mess created in the past 20 years.

       It is only MCP that can develop this country, ena onse ndi ziomba zokhazokha.

61. The entire president thinks Malawi’s poverty can be resolved by donor funding. Why plead for resumption of donor funding; so that your team can steal the money? Mr president its time your government finds self reliance policies for the Malawi’s economy and stop bothering donors. The country cant develop by being donor dependent!! Stoppage of donor funding should be taken as an opportunity for innovation and shedding off the begging tendency that has characterised the country for more than 50 years.

    1. Why always depend on hand outs when our ministers and president can afford to drive the latest and most expensive vehicles?? Why do we have an embassy in countries that don’t even contribute to Malawi??? Why do ministers have travel eight times a month?

62. Our country, Malawi is not almost bankrupt. You do not need to base your impression that our country is bankrupt based on per capital figures. The capital figures are not perfect. A lot of the subsistence sector, own food grown by most people in Malawi, value of own housing social work for which no remuneration is received, etc. does not find its way in GDP figures.

    Just look at the poshy cars Malawians are driving. The imported goods that cross our borders everyday and the gifts at our weddings! Does that indicate a very poor country. No it does not. World Bank figures are not absolutely correct.

    1. Don’t be in denial my friend.bwhat you’re saying is not unique to Malawi. Zambia can say the same. TZ,Mozambique, South Africa etc can say the same…so why are they not classified as the poorest? In fact NSO has a method of imputing the so called black economy that you’re talking about. And you come here yayi yavi saying Malawians drive posh cars. Out of 15 million Malawians, how many even own a bicycle let alone a car? How many have access to electricity? How many have access to quality health care? How many even live within 1km of a tarred road? How many eat a balanced diet 3 times a day? How many can afford to go on holiday with their own money? How many live in a permanent house with a proper roof (osati yamaudzu)? This is a serious article ndiye mukakhuta ndalama za cashgate muziti Malawi is ok? Mxiii!!

63. Lets all Malawians seek the face of God bcoz pali chomulaka umphawi umatha

64. Paja munabvotela kuti chifukwa ndi ‘Professor’ and a brother to Bingu….hahaha sumunati kulira

65. Mudakana Chakwera mululilanji lero?

66. I agree with 101, but if we can try MCP povery level may improve greatly.

    1. We tried MCP for 30 years, and we were still poor! Some countries, within 30 years, they developed but MCP let us down. Chakwera ndi uyo mukumuonayo. He is clueless and has. I idea about development. He thinks development falls like manna from heaven. No amount of prayers will make Malawi rich. Mark my words. We must embrace hardwork, determination, innovation and good governance.

67. tili pavuto la phwe! bola iwo amene adatapako mthumba lijali lidabooka ku capital hill lija!

68. Nothing for us without us!!!!!

69. Where did we go wrong – the first leader (Kamuzu Banda) and the subsequent leaders share most of the blame. While the first leaders of other countries like Tanzania revolutionized people’s mindset, did away with colonial economic policies, instilled entrepreneurial skills, smashed all forms of tribalism, regionalism and nepotism. Here in Malawi the leader(s) was busy with caging up people, suppressing critical and independent thinking, accumulating his own wealth at the expense of the people, brooding colonial market economics such as settlement schemes arrangements, instilling fear instead of love and free association. Exiling the intelligentsia etc etc.

    Unfortunately his successors; Bakili, Mutharikas, Joyce Banda, have not taken a ‘revolutionistic’ approach to the evils that have kept us poor for so long. They have either used them for political patronage or entrenched them for economic gains.

    Malawi will remain the same unless we change our mindset, the way we do our politics and economy. We are a cursed society and the evidence is all over to see and hear; ‘bola wakuba’, ‘wakwatu, wakwithu, mtumbuka sangalamule, asiyeni nawo anjoye (kuba). malawi ndi dziko lowopa mulungu (but grat sinners), ino ndi nthawi yoti Alomwe nawo adwerere (nepotism/tribalism’ You hear all this nonsense everyday and the media is a culprit in propagating these without questioning.

    Malawi the Warm Heart of Africa Woye!!!!!!!!!!!!.

70. Poverty =is THE absence of workable economy buit on creadible social political and legal institutions…its imposible to fix it with billions of aid money ….THE president shud knw better??

71. Haa!why malawi?

72. He!he!he!he,mpaka AFORD, sidzina la Galimoto ili?chimenechi ndi chipaninso? chipani chanji chongokhala ndi anthu okula mitima okha okha, mkona anthu a kumakuthawani mkumakalowa zipani zina .mmayesa mwathetsa chipani kufuna Fedalism,

73. Ukunama iwe atumbuka simudzalamula anthu oipa inu. Mukakhala pamalo mumafuna maudindo adzikhalapo akwanu basi. Oipitsitsa ngati kuthako.

    1. This Tumbuka bashing is unnecessary. Didn’t Bingu and Peter engage in tribalism? So why blame just one tribe? You’re just exposing your own tribalism. Open your eyes. Northerners (of which some of them are not Tumbukas)! comprise only 11% of the population? Surely if the rest of us, the 89% were good and productive Malawi would be developed. It would not be languishing at the bottom. The fact that we are at the bottom speaks volumes about all of us as a nation. I wish we could put the tribal tirades aside and focus on effective ways to develop the country. Ultimately,nthena the country develops, there will be enough for every hardworking person and these tribalistic tendencies will be minimised. Poverty and scarcity is forcing us to be tribalistic…to use divide and rule. Some politicians take advantage of this. Malawians should wake up and smell the coffee. Let’s tackle the problem at source. Don’t treat symptoms

74. kwali mwekha muonenge umo muchitilenge muli wanangwa

75. Eh eeeh you mean under this mulopwana Malawi is now tops on on the poorest list? eish

76. At 91, you are being emotional for nothing. These figures are valid. They are based on economic data. How much do people get in Malawi? The majority of Malawians get very little to sustain themselves. Secondly, understand that there is very little that people can do. They need the assistance of government. That is why people vote to elect officials so that they can improve their welfare.
    Socio-economic rights cannot be substituted. People need both freedom and good life. Democracy is meaningless if the people are hungry. The example of where would prefer between South Sudan and Malawi or between Somalia and Malawi does not hold water because there are civil wars in these countries. It is understandable if there is no development because people are fighting. Malawi has always been peaceful. But there is no development. LET ME TELL YOU FROM TODAY THAT THAT THIS COUNTRY HAS HAD VERY POOR AND CORRUPT LEADERS. THEY HAVE NO AGENDA FOR THE COUNTRY OTHER THAN STEALING AND GIVING THEIR RELATIVES JOBS.

77. The report is a woke up call to our leaders who are fond of lieng about our situation. The leaders have enriched themselves while the majority of Malawians live below poverty.

78. Surely Malawi needs a trophy for being at position 1.

79. Nothing surprising here.

    All hard working people are not liked in this country, and are persecuted to the extent they go outside the country and are very welcome there.

    You will find that lecturers who feel they are being academically stifled are lecturing in SA, USA,UK, etc the ones that are left all they know is to ask for more money and strike.

    Malawians have invented patentable products that have been patented in UK, USA, etc

    And for some reason Malawians think that one needs to be a politician to make a difference, why? Politicians are there to encourage, not to do the job themselves, this is why people find themselves in parliament just because they were seen filling in a potholl, how sad.

80. Malawi needs serious minded un unselfish leaders. Failing which we Malawi shall remain poor despite her abundant natural resources. What a shame, God save us

81. My name is Kadakwiza, and I agree that Malawi is the poorest country in the world. We Malawians is to blame. We keep electing the same politicians who make us poor to parliament. We keep electing the same parties, like MCP, UDF, DPP, PP to parliament. I think its time now to try another political party like AFORD. These other parties had let us down. For 50 good years Malawi is still poor. Shame on you previous leaders, dead or alive. Malawi have never been in a civil war, yet it is still the poorest. All this because of anthu akumwera, amene akhala ali mu boma pa zaka 51 tsopano. Boma ngati adayendetsapo ndi mtumbuka Malawi bwezi pano ndiyolemera.

82. When we fail lets accept and look for strategies. Politicians r the ones killing Malawi. They come into power to steal not to develop. They request donor funding & later use it to enrich themselves. Shame. I wish we went for federism.

83. I have nothing to say…Jesuse said; Odala iwo ali amphawi coz uli wao ufumu wakumwamba….amatithandizad azunguwo koma kod chuma chawo mchau mzim?we are poor bcoz w fear God vist other countrys u ll c what makes dem rich.

84. I knew that this man would really put us back. Basi just like the floods declare the country a financial disaster then appeal for assistance.

85. Apa tingopangapo za federalism, kunyozeka chifukwa cha mbuzi zina iisssaaaaaa!

86. Countries in South America nearly fight for small rivers like lilongwe river. Why should we waste water like headless chickens. Asa.

87. This article is a wakeup call on the part we need to play to develop our beloved motherland. This data from World Bank seems to be credible but it is heavily tainted in neo liberalism colors. However, Mr/Mrs/Ms Green Muheya (the author) should have cited that this data is for year 2013 and not 2015. Additionally, the author need to mention that Malawi and Burundi have been trading places 1 and 2 for years 2012 and 2013. At the same time, how does one rank Malawi lowly when infact the following countries have no data on GDP per capita for the last 4 years: American Samoa, Andorra, Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curacao, Faeroe Islands, French Polynesia, Greenland, Guam, Isle of Man, Korea Dem Rep, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Myanmar, New Caledonia, San Marino, Saint Maarten (Dutch part), Somalia, St. Martin (French part), Syrian Arab Republic, Turks and Caicos Islands and Virgin Islands (U.S.)?

    Source of info: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD accessed on 17.02.2015

    Can we really say Malawi is not going good when countries like Zimbabwe etc who are highly ranked and yet people are dying of hunger? Wake up Nyasas!! and start reading between the lines. This analysis portrays very poor and mediocrity educational stamina and lack of love for motherland..

88. Even Bakili destroyed the economy. It’s him who sold most companies in Malawi. Look at Cold storage exchanged for beef in his time. No leader has been half perfect since his time. The trick has been that leadership was passed to the most crooked thief in the party so that they continue to chew the fruits. No credible handover has occurred apart from passing the buck to another stooge. Solution is let’s ignore politics and politicians and start utilizing the shire river like nobodies business in farming. We turn around this country in two years. Those of us who can afford should bang heads together and move forward. Peasant farmers should not just cling to land along the shire river. Sell and move out.

89. Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and mozambique are our nebas koma palibe pa list. shame!

90. mupiteso kuphwando mukawauze anthu kuti ndife amphawi oyamba dzikolonse lapansi.zopusa basi ine ine ndapanga ujeni ine ine.kk.one president and one party at atime.kkk

91. Zoona zake ndi zakuti figures cannot always be trusted. Yes, GDP per capita is poor, but quality of life in general, I strongly believe, Malawi is not the poorest. When talking of development, remember to go beyond figures and look @ other aspects of it, freedom of…, etc. Inu amene mukudandaula kwambirinu, in all honesty, where would you prefer to stay (live), South sudan or Malawi, Somalia or Malawi, Lybia or Malawi, Syria or Malawi. Here is the truth, Income disperities are more pronounced in Malawi, the rich are very rich, infact they are the ones who are mostly ashamed to be Malawians because of this rank. They even forget that they have ammased these riches at the expense of the poor. Corruption is everywhere in the world, and the reasons for this poverty is well beyond the failure of our leaders, YOU are also the problem. Yes YOU the reader. Your lazy thinking, your lack of entreprenuership kumangodikira easy money mma office (you know what I mean). NDIYE Malawi atukuka bwanji???????

92. What ever happened to the infamous “zero aid budget” this would be a perfect time to implement those stupid ideas..

93. A gvt as young as this is must not be pointed a finger at but lets scrutinise frm where is it coming and in what state was it? The issues of corruption must be dealt forthwith. The current financial status is as a result principally of CASHGATE (politics aside) Thus inorder to prevent the recurrent of the same the all the thieves have to be hit hard so that we can win back the donor confidence and the the gvt will map the way out.

94. Love it or hate it. Only the mighty MCP will turn this economy around. It is unfortunate that as a country we entrusted thieves to run govt affairs. UDF, DPP, PP and DPP again are nothing but a club of lotters of public funds who have taken advantage of the low literacy rate to ascend to power by cheating. Tatopa nanu bwererani mukaphunzitse za malamulo omwe mukulephere kuwasungawa. I can’t reconcile why a man who failed to run ministries could be entrusted to run a nation. Mpaka tidya nazo matopetu izi.

95. Nde imagine to be the poorest in the world and yet cashgaters are getting only 8 years IHL. Is that fair? mxii

96. Had it been that i was the president of the republic of Malawi i would have resigned to pave the way to the wise leader to reactivate the economy of our beloved country as it were in the days of DR Hestings Kamuzu Banda whereby farmers had stable markets where to sell their farm produce and companies were every where to process them eg Lever Brothers, B.A.T, David white head and sons, etc.We were exporting the finished products and forex were readly available like breast milk whereby only pound was stronger currency against kwacha before matchonawa.

97. Ukaziputa limba

98. Kodi mesa amati tiri bho pano as a nation economically. Vuto la boma lakuba ndi ku kupanga ndale ndi miyoyo ya anthu always ndilimene li. Muwululika. Ssikuchedwa kucha ukanama. Nsete zanu

99. i salute u big man for telling the nation the truth.umazitsata heavy.peter and his gvt are trying their very best to fix the economy back like that of 2007 but we r blaming them.kaya ndi a mcp/udf/pp/ dpp tonse ndi a malawi lets help our president.talking talking and talking wont help chivutochi bwanawa achipeza.kabwira,jb,mwakasungula,chinsinga etc r indeed bad citizenz of this country coz they created this mess.criticisms r good but if r done misleadingly u achieve upsets.i love kapito hu criticize mwanzeru.ha! My malawi!

100. A country like Malawi needs strong emphasis on the establishment of Government enrterprises with sound strategic management. Proper allocation&utilisation of government resources. Put much focus on the primary level of the economy – farming, in order to drive economic growth. Put farmers’ incetives to growers who grow cash crops, farmer’ training etc. Gov will attempt to increase international market demand for her products through differentiation which entails making its products unique and attractive @ the world stage. Despite severe world competion MW will succeed in creating demand for her products

101. ASAAAAA…PLEASE DONT TALK ABOUT BINGU. HE WAS NOTHING BUT A TYRANT. THE CSOs FOUGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS….AND GOD FINISHED HIM OFF. I NEVER SHED A TEAR FOR HIM. MALAWI IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD BECAUSE OF A FEW GREEDY PEOPLE ,SOME OF WHOM ARE NOW IN JAIL AND OTHERS WHO ARE STILL ENJOYING FRUITS OF THE PLUNDER.

102. Nde pa umphawi umakhala chitsilu kumangovomeleza chilichomse. Tigwile nthito ndi kupemphela molimba

103. Some foreigners do export agricultural commodity they are making fool

104. Corruption when export from Malawi goods officers not chaking afficers dont know a bout the goods value y govt not follow up to recover export money

105. You, #13, bigman or whatever you call yourself, you are misplacing facts here. You are painting a wrong picture that Malawi is the poorest nation in the world because of amai. That is wrong analysis but I understand you because being a DPP die-hard that is the only way you could analyze the situation.

106. Malawians like many in diaspora have slave mentality, alot of them coming back home would help to develop the country. Compared to other nationalities who go abroad but return back to their respective countries but not Malawians. Even Nigerians in Malawi, they make profits, buy dollars and go to Nigeria to invest.

107. I love the way colonialism is alwaya brought into it. in wait…. Singapore, Australia, Malaria, india, Brazil, south Africa to mention a few were all ex colonies. peopla are what makes the difference not resource, geographic location or anything else. Its down to people and leadership.

108. Only God can restore Malawi from greed and corruption

109. Big Man, we know that by whatever persuasion, you are a blind follower of a certain movement. Looking at the construction of your comment in the Queens language, you seem well learned. Sadly, your Achilles Heel lies in your superficial grasp of economic fundamentals, thus you miss the thrust in the discussion here. Even in the convoluted machinations of economics, the bare reality is that the country has never really been on a sound economic footing, not least since the early 90’s. Without a formal, solid and competitive production base, be it in industry or service, the WB stats and country ranking should not startle anyone with the slightest knowledge of economic theory. Unfortunately, yours is a classic example of the proverbial ‘blind leading the blind’.

110. Ladies and Gentlemen, if we are not careful we will make Malawi fall but if we are wise and promote love amongst ourselves, we will build Malawi to its highest. This habit of following empty headed people like Sembereka who was even chased away from Anglican Church when he was Pastor will not help us. There are a lot of people who are empty but are good at making noise such as Kabwiras, Kwataine and Mtambo. These people are happy to criticize the government of the day and are always happy to see the government fail. They would cling to things like good governance, lack of medicines in hospitals, Nac etc etc, just to put government of the day suffer. When they see that the government supports them as was the case with the previous government, they are quiet. Malawians, I urge you to watch these big mouthed crooks. Don’t follow them any direction they take. Because by doing so, you will contribute to the fall of this country. Let us all build our country. We are blessed because our country is reach in resources

111. Big Man has missed the point. In fact it is him who is a brainless citizen here by banking all hopes on aid and donor support to develop the country. The fact of the matter is that no country can develop if it does not create wealth for its citizens, if it cannot produce anything for export, if its citizens are touted to be hard working when in fact they are stinking lazy spending most of the time on booze dens and bawo. So to answer you Big Man, we are indeed a brainless citizenry not because we did not agree with the arrogant Bingu but because we cannot plan for tomorrow, we behave like strangers in our own country, we treat foreign investors as land grabbers, we spend K60 Billion on the ill fated subsidy programme when it would be cheaper just to buy food for the beneficiaries, we spend millions on feasting and fire cracking after launching a reform proposal which has not even tested implementation, we steal public funds with impunity, etc. LONG LIVE MISGUIDED DEMOCRACY!

112. this is a lie….the world bank website has nothing of this type…..kodi muona ngati ife tilibe internet?

113. Aid will come but the problem is the big guys they will redo this cashgate.They only care of themselves not the nation.

114. Limiting Ministers to only 6 foreign trips a year and 8 domestic trips a month is cost saving? Please go much much further than this. There’s so much spending on things that produce no return on investment. Ministers should be in their offices working or in a round Lilongwe meeting with their senior staff. You could cut the foreign trips to 2 per year and 4 domestic trips a month and tell the President and the ministers to get busy to fix the financial management systems in the ministries so money cannot be stolen or wasted.

115. Once a Mighty MALAWI but now what????.Lets read AND THE WORD OF GOD.

116. The poorest country on earth? Yes. Almost everything worth mentioning in Malawi such as schools, colleges, roads, bridges, hospitals, houses (MHC) and other structures were built by Kamuzu. Kamuzu did more in 20 years of his rule than what the 4 presidents combined have done in 20 years since 1994. From 1994 we planted a seed in this country that changed people into believing that hard work is no longer important for success but cheating, i.e. you just have to be clever and be connected to the “right” people.

     So many people have cheated and are cheating their way to “success”. They cheat in exams in schools and colleges and they cheat their way into employment. It is extremely unlikely that a person who cheated his way through his/her academic life can become more productive and a good performer at work. The result is what you see: cashgate, corruption, hatred, nepotism, regionalism, patronage and cronyism leading to laziness and mediocrity that is everywhere in our country now. To us what matters now is not what capabilities a person has but where he comes from and which party he/she belongs to, and perhaps how his surname sounds like. Typical primitive thinking, even at the highest levels.

     Just imagine what has happened at ESCOM. A very capable and intelligent person, Morgan Tembo, was removed from the chairmanship of the board in favour of a not-so-educated person and a known crook to run one of the most economically strategic organizations in Malawi. What do you expect to be the result? We will remain at the bottom of the poorest for a long time unless we believe in hard work and getting the right people in every job. The late Bingu tried to do that in his first term before his mind was adulterated by his advisers and we all saw the results.

117. mulambandolo kasungu , shame malawi 50 years indipendence without war to be poorest zamanyazi dzuka malawi dzuka.tigona mpaka liti mukutibela misonkho anthu akumudzi

118. stop the blame game guys. Let us work hard in farming and business to avoid another cashgate. Together we can.

119. Alomwe ife mukangotisiyira bomali, muzatola sanza patsogolopa. Dziko litha ili, ndikukuuzani.

120. When we are ruled by bad leaders who feel that they are intelligent that what happens it all start with Abrazi mwayi infa. Then come amayi things started to be back to normal. Zapanozi nde nyanyu zangobweretsa chisokonezo. Awa zachumazi sikwenikweni koma kukhetsa mwazi. Atsile nsembe basi shoot to kill and kill mwangozi. Let’s open our eyes and see the reality behind all these.

121. Now the government has improved on forex cover. the onus is on the private sector to utilise this opportunity to go into production for exports. BUT what do we see in Malawi. We are busy importing more than ever before. So what should the government do?

122. Why ma beloved country

123. Bigman is a desperate bootlicker of Matanyula Pitala, whether JB stole or not is not the matter, what has Matanyula done to improve from his stealing habits. Yes we celebrate for donors to withdraw their funds becoz they are used by Pitala and alhomwes only. These are well known fraudsters worldwide and should never be allowed access to any donor funds. We would rather back the CSOs and everyone who is against this gvt than to support brainless people Like Matanyula and his gang of thieves.

     VIVA CSOs and viva all those that do not support DPP and its cadets. Fotseki, Zombies.

124. Malawi is not poor. Bingu said so and he was right. The problem is that we have a section of people in Malawi who have poverty mentality. Ironically, most of these come from one region. From the same region, most form CSOs and make two much noise. What they know is to organise one industrial strike after another, one demo after another. By the same mentality, they assisted Joyce Banda loot Malawi. When joyce was skirt over her head, they cry foul. Celebrating at every mishap the other two regions face. Somebody was too myopic to celebrate when floods hit Southern Malawi. People so lazy. When the president talks about reforms, the same people cry foul.

     A good section of our society know that Malawi is not poor. People are able to fend for themselves. I for one will never accept that I am poor though I belong to a crop of pessimistic people who wait to be told that they are poor. Poverty is a state of mind. Think that you are poor and be happy about it, you will remain poor. Deny that poverty mentality, you remain progressive ad God blesses you! Once again, I for one vehemently deny that I am poor though I am told that my country is poor. No need for shedding tears alarmingly here. life goes on. Whose report do you believe, that by a fellow human being who eats mgaiwa and discharge it into the toilet or God’s report? between the two, I choose to take God’s report because He has the final say over my life. Jeremiah 11:29 anthuni muziwerenga Baibulo please.

     1. Mr. Okay, it’s a shame that you’re even quoting the bible. How can you blame Malawis poverty on a small section of people who comprise just 11% of the population. These people have never been at the helm in 50 years of independence. What have the good 89% done?

125. We should be ashamed of ourselves, we are beaten by Countries in Africa which are at war and we claim to be peaceful. Let the party loving DPP President call for a press conference and say somthing on this. We elect leaders like Patricia Kaliati and gang who have no foggiest clue to develop a country but just good at appplying bleach on their faces, we have a people who think tribalism will develop Malawi, we have a party that think all development projects should be done in the south and think Malawi will develop. All this is just a reverse gear to the bottom. Let Malawi go Federal might be the only solution.

126. WHICH SOURCE DID YOU GET THIS INFORMATION. THIS INFORMATION LOOKS BIZARRE

127. May God help us as a country.Being poor is a sad thing.Don’t point fingers at each other,You ,mbavas, be patriotic. Let’s join hands.

128. 5 years ago Malawi was a model economy and it had taken a right direction by the formers President Bingu Wa Mutharika, he was a Darling to many western countries that he was invited to G developed countries meeting with ZUMA OR MBEKI as the only African presidents
     there. Unfortunately things did no go well with the Bingu Administration due to our internal squables and we had the PP in Power, the only noticeable thing which this Party did was to Siphon Billions out of the Government into their personal Accounts. This has made Malawi poor and it may take time for us to recover and the current President must work hard to reverse this situation, lets not depend on external forces like oil slip. One of the things this Government must seriously look into is to reduce the cost of imports and exports, this will Make our export very cheap and attractive as we used to be. This to happen we need to make efforts to improve our relations with the Mocambiquean Government, that we should be allowed to use our traditional route of Sena and use the Port of Beira as our main PORT, WE HAVE TO REHABILITATE OUR Rail from Limbe to Marka
     Nsanje which can be done using local materials and Labour and renovate and extend the Chiromo Bridge and Jointly with the Moca Govt to also rehabilitate the SENA BRIDGE on the Zambezi. Kamuzu reign was first successful because of this and any President who will do this will be successful in improving the GNP of Malawians within a few years, lets not wait for NSANJE PORT but lets first use the thing that is already there but was just ignored by the previous Governments. Those of us who can remember our History countries developed fast because of good Railway system like the MOSCOW TO VLADIVOSTOCK RAIL
     and the Great American Railway.

129. I am no fan of APM, but come on people, Development (or lack of it) takes generations, decades at best.

     Our leaders since independence have let the country down and put it on the path that has led to the current situation.

     I’m talking about Kamuzu Banda, Bakili muluzi, and Bingu Wamutharika who have ruled a combined 48 years of the last 51.

130. Tianthu taku WORLD BANK ntabodza bwanji!! how can the warm heart of Africa be ranked the poorest nation on earth? what about Haiti. Bodza basi nditimareport tanu. whatever the case, im proud of bein a malawian.

131. Zovutatu izi

132. Indeed this DPP government is useless, okay mr. President talks of desperate need` for aid, Really really” so where is 92Billion you did steal, Please Mr. APM leave the donors alone, because what you know is stealing from poor malawian, but your bucket is still liking, this country not suppose be the poorest in world, this called peter muthalika” is here to rob from poor not to develop the country, shame on you Mr. President and donors are watching you every step.

133. Mala malawi

134. Zero torrerance Budget has now started Bitting, anzanu ampita mkukapepesa kanthandizo mkubwela inu munkakana kupepesa mukuti Malawi ayendetsa yekha dziko ali ndindalama pano bwa? Mukuliranji mudakana Kamuzu anyani inu! Eh? Tifodya timadalirato tanvutanso, madzi abwela mkudzaphakonso anthu osalakwa taonani tsopano, yakwiya ndi Mizimu,!! MW sangayend payekha alibe chilichonse takapepesani a Peter wakuba samusiyiila kulima, aba zina azisiya tidzakolora sangabe zonse zomwe mwalima ayi, or mboma lanuli abwini mbanva zili tho! Koma musadazigwile chabe, Dr Kamuzu Banda, Dr Bakili Muluzi, Dr Bingu wa Munthalika, Dr Joyce amayi abwino Banda and Iweyo Prof. Peter Munthalika nonse ophuzila kwambili but anthu anu and your Country Poorest in Africa sungaganize zoona APM? Mbuzi zina ndizija zidabwelako kunja kukanika u ambasada kuzolowela kusolora basi, even ma advisor akowo ndiakuba koma can u resign just bcoz of those people u’re working with? Jack up man zina musamafunse anthu tamapangani nokha man!! Kapepeseni kwa anzungu akuthandizeni dziko libwelere pa Chikale osati mmene mwaligwetselamu, ndiye amayi aja akupambananitu inu pomatha 2 years sitiyenda matako pa Mtunda?

135. I said use Green Belt Initiative to boost exports. take K30bn earmarked for FISP and invest in GBI now now now now. you realize the gains in 15 months. forget about FISP its not sustainable

136. ..the whole Presidency has suddenly realised that Malawi is the poorest country in the world after the publication of the WB report? Worse still the quickest and easiest thing that the whole Presidency can think of in order to get out of this desparte and miserable situation is appealing for the channeling of western tax payers money? With this way of thinking certainly we would remain the poorest in the world forever.

137. I feel so sorry

138. We certainly were not number 1 poorest in 1994. We need just to examine what we have been doing since that time to realise this problem of being number 1 is self made. Corruption has been the accepted modus operand even at the highest levels of office. Jobs are given because of relationships. Qualifications no longer matter. We politic too much. We are a doomed country . We deserve to be where we are. I am not complaining. Nix

139. Awo ndi maphwando a live pa TV basi. Poor Malawan Leaders!

140. Congratulations Mr. President! You have achieved what no other Malawian leader could manage. But just keep dancing, for you haven’t a clue what you are doing.

141. where is the much touted zero donor magic? Bakili said it centuries ago: running gvt i serious business.

142. Anthu akamati let us introduce federalism kuti aliyense adzidzitukula yekha,anthu amachita makani…everybody will be free to go everywhere as long as you are a Malawian,koma, we still need to dowse each other in poverty.

143. The classic definition of a failed state I suppose.

     Kanthu ako.

144. and that number one poorest country in the world is the only country which is so poor as indicated on the list, which has never been to war, almost all countries on the list have been to war, but malawi the only country that has never been to war, wat a shame, wat malawians are good at is hating other malawian tribes, they would complain of fellow malawian and not foreigners shameeeeeeee

145. Agalu inu achina Okhrara mukati mwakometa cha nzeru ndi kumupanga attack mtumbuka, kodi vuto lanu chani? Mtumbuka sanalamulirepo Dziko ili, Inu kukhala olamulira ndi chani mwapanga cha nzeru choli chosa Dziko muuphawi, akati overpopulation Inuyo agalu inu ndaamene mwaliyika dziko pa mbhwelera chifukwa chodana ndi Tumbuka popanda chifukwa chenicheni, Nsanje bwanji, Zilamulirani muchindanaso kwambiri.

146. legalize marijuana for medical n recreational purposes. This will help increase revenue for government n individuals.

147. Too bad! No political will to develop the country. its fallacious to say the lawyer can not make amends to the economy. PROBLEM:We dont learn from past mistakes from previous regimes! Tough times lie ahead

148. Sizachelendo kwa enafe! This is one fucked up country thats just doesnt know how to act.

149. Malawians wen u elect a govt,support it while in power&let the leaders do their job. After every5yrs u held those pple accountable&not fghtng govt while its in power. Most countries above Malawi citizens there concentrate on their economic empowerment&not act like politicians themselves. In Malawi every1 is a politician farmers,students,musicians,chiefs,CSOz,churches,prophets,vendors
     ,Journalists, u name them. Now there’s confusion. Malawians pride is laughable, there’s nothng there in Malawi to b proud off thus why its poorest country in the world,imagine less than 100kms of double lane tarmac road the whole country,wats that? ITS A SHAME. Let politicians b politicians &citizens b who they R in their fields&hav broad vision..&not b both.

150. shame. so now everywhere i go i’ll be ‘the guy that comes from the poorest country in the world’ yet we’ve never been at war, never had a tsunami, no ebola, no major earthquakes, no real floods….. oooh wait, now i get it, we steal all of the development money instead of fixing our economy.

151. Malawi nation is sick and weary. What then shall we do? Aid comes with conditions and some are very ridiculous. Hey! Cry my beloved country.

152. What a shame to be what we are. Old people have done their part and failed for over 50 years. These are the fruits and indicators of wrong attitudes, Greedy, corruptions, rotten leadership at different level, lack integrity and selfishness. Divided we fall united we stand.

153. Ooooo my poor Nyasaland

154. I am very sad that even DRC where we have our soldiers as peace corps is highway from us. Our neighbouring countries are not even on the list meaning that problem is not geographical position but mindset

155. lelo limeneyi, nkesa munamera mapapindo, pena anthu amangokuuzani bwana kuti mukanene izi eti ? pakamwa ngati bololo ati kuperleka kitsi ngati tonde omemesa ndi mabodza a maphuzilo anuko, colapshoni bwana mpaka kusesa ndalama za boma eti, matama munkacita cikutumbwe nkulu wanu ankasunga matumba a ma dollar uja ali moyo kumagwilitsa helokopta mwaiwala kuti nanuso mmaba???????? eeti maso eti ngati n’gombo, tyeninszo

156. Bigman tthat’s true. Beg gets always fight for banana peels. Malawians are not good critics, lezy and full of evil jealousy. We must change friends lest we all perish.

157. Where is Sierra Leone? Where is Tanzania? Where are those poor countries we know? How about Lesotho? Eish ………………
     If we only left politics of hatred aside and build a better Malawi. If we only stopped used political power to abuse public resources. If we focused on reducing adult literacy. If we established accountability and transparency framework. But then, this poverty has many causes – (1) culture of social pressure. No one wants to remain poor while others are doing well – so that one can respond well to questions like “zikuyenda?” (2) Culture politics. Its a belief that once politics everything will go smoothly. Things become easy to get and so forth. (3) Lack of vision, motto, social strategies. Malawi has no motivated social base. Its people always admire foreign life, products etc. We are happy when our companies fail as we all saw Air Malawi etc. We cannot say we have anything which can last beyond 5yrs (presidential tenure etc). But not all is lost. We can changed and reprioritise.

158. Masankhasankha a u President. We lost our chance to change things for the better in Chakwera. APM is trying his best but unfortunately he has big limits and capabilities as far as developing Malawi is concerned.

159. Bigman your comment z too huge..osangolemba buku bwanj?…we need strong prayers,machimo achuluka mkadziko kakang’ono aka

160. This is good news. I am happy that our president has accepted that this country is poor and needs assistance.

     The next thing is, does he have a clue? Can he create wealth in this country?
     What programs and policies are already in place to enhance wealth creation?

     Iwe uziwapusitsa anthu akumudzi ndi masabusede a simenti, njerwa ndi mtchenga omwewo.

161. NDE malawi wathatu kkkkkkkkkkk… am crying

162. Talk of more exports and not more aid!

163. Of late the president has been talking about improvement in import cover to 3.5 mths, whatever that means to the poor man or flood victim in the village! Kapena forex’yo mwaichitanso cashgate? Changu pa tawuni, 5 yrs ikutha iyi. Economy inakanika economist, kodi lawyer angasove?

164. As of now we are crying for aid and when aid starts you start diverting and missmanagement!

165. Koma abale, mpaka nambala 1 kusauka? Mozambique palibe, Zambia palibe, Tanzania palibe, Zimbabwe palibe, kama Malawi inu nchiani? Ma president athu ndiye vuto loyamba they are vsionalless, kukonda kuba ndalama, kugwilotsa ntchito molakwika makampany aboma, kuviniysa anthu kulikomse komwe akupita, kusintha-sintha anthu pa maudindo ena akatenga boma nkumalowetsamo a bale awo, ncholinga choti aziba ndalama zaboma mosavuta, No 1 the poorest padziko lonse lapansi……..

     1. You cant compare malawi to TZ. Tanzanias economy been stronger than ours for long now.ther shiling trsdes at 160 to dollar kwacha ndi 475 to dollar.

     2. bambo malawi alibe source ya ndalama not vuto la munthu!

        1. Iwe ndiwe kape! What do you mean Malawi has no resources? Don’t we have human resources? Don’t we have land? Don’t we have the Lake? Don’t we have forests? You think resources is just gold or oil? It’s people like you who make Malawi poor.m Does Rwanda have minerals? Does Japan have minerals? Umphawi wa Malawi is all about poverty of the brain. Vision less, clueless tribalistic leaders!

166. very bad for my beloved country

167. We are yet to cry! Malawians made a choice of a leader and here we are! Even if it were not for the floods do we have a vision of making money on our own except grabbing money from the poor people on the boarders in pretex of import charge(tax)? This is no time for praise singing! Let the Gvt take the lead and the people will rally along with it! Dinner dances and state banquets will never help the nation. Shame on us!

168. People do not believe these figures. Malawi is not in a bad shape as indicated by the WB. The problem with Malawi is greed, corruption and a useless education system.

169. This country was doing well under Bingu, then all of a sudden Malawians decided to folllow the CSO clowns such as Sembereka and Kabwila who went around the world campaigning for the economic destruction of their own country based on baseless assertions such as “lack of academic freedom” and “persecution of gays”. The citizens even celebrated when the hard earned MCA money for fixing the energy sector was withdrawn. And of course they celebrated when Bingu died and was replaced with Amayi, a well known thief of a president who had defrauded every previous office she had held from NABW to Admarc!! Within just 2 years she presided over the emptying of government coffers and withdrawal of all donor aid to government. She is now in self imposed exile hiding from the law. The new administration is trying very hard to restore normalcy, carry out reforms and fix a broken economy, instead the same citizens just offer criticism and stumbling blocks at each and every corner. The same Sembereka and Trapence are at it again making noise and campaigning to donors to withhold funding for HIV AIDS etc….

     So do not pretend like you are surprised by being the poorest country in the world, Frankly you deserve to be where you are because you lack patriotism and are a bunch of half cooked brainless citizens that have loaned out your thinking capacity to CSOs and drunk journalists. We are like crabs in a basket, nobody wants to let anybody out, just pulling each other down basi…… for nothing!

     1. Big man or whatever you call yourself, you are a brainless liar and a piece of shit. Malawi was of course doing well during the first term of Bingu but he destroyed it himself on his 2nd term because of his stubbornness and hand clapping of stupid people like you and those who surrounded him. When he died,he left nothing in government coffers -except those bags of dollars in his bedroom. A few months after JB took over things started to look-up because she humbled herself in many aspects,and now what? The problem is the Munthalikas coz they think they’re more educated than many people out there so they only listen to the voice from their heads. Why can’t he ask Russia,China, or South Africa to bail us out of this mess as he was saying on his inauguration ceremony? What a poor country with a stupid president and foolish people who always wear a face knowledge yet dead woods.

     2. Exactly true Malawi has been let down by its own unpatriotic citizens in the name of CSOs. We are now in mess because of this so called human rights.a.
        Sometimes I wonder why, Tarapence fought Bingu with minority rights in the name of Kugonana amunaokha okha.
        Bingu surrendered and die.
        Malawians laughed and employ Masten only two years do the last nail on the Nation Malawi Coffin satisfying what we needed.
        So don’t be surprised.c.
        The country is cursed. We fight our leaders carelessly.

     3. this is just exactly! and they know it from deep down their heart. they are still working for amai plans.

     4. Well, while you have some quasi valid points e.g. steps being taken by the current administration to stabilise the economy (I don’t care how and where Good Old Goodall is getting forex – bottom line is he has fixed this crucial fundamental which is helping businesses execute their plans in a deterministic manner), you are not objective in other aspects. First, this downward economic spiral began during Bingu’s second term: The widespread commodity shortages then, underinvestment in the energy sector over those years, no real efforts to boost Foreign Direct Investment, deterioration of the rule of law e.t.c. Whilst this was happening, a few elite and well connected individuals benefited from the chaos – the President himself became a multi billionaire in dubious and suspect fashion. Further, those who know the Civil Service well will attest that siphoning of government coffers was so rampant that accounting personnel would make rather ironical switches from the private and NGO sectors to join government! Then came JB. Cashgate went on unchecked if not accelerated until the Mphwiyo saga. Enough on the chronological events that have led to this disgraceful statistic and accolade. How do we move forward? Let this administration put in place sound measures for 1. Maintaining sound macro economic fundamentals, interest rates, e.t.c. 2. Attracting Lots of FDI which will catapult our wealth creation capabilities into overdrive through the multiplier effect 3. Ensure there is rule of law in all sectors and society at large. Don’t award govt contracts to cronies or relatives – let the invisible economic hand do this job: tenderpreneurship kills off innovation, hard work, and true entrepreneurship which is is a critical catalyst for private sector growth! On donors, here is my view. Malawi should always strive to become a self sustaining economic unit. However, we currently do not have the capacity to do away with donors – that degrading statistic in this article expounds this point of view! We cannot even afford individual family tents for flood victims to provide them dignity and privacy so they can have a breather from their predicament by enjoying conjugal rights! Sensible approach: Let us build our economy with the donors playing a part. Gradually, let us move away from dependency on them till we become self sustaining. On rights activists: Those of us who fought for multi party democracy from within this country (well Peter and Brother “fought” from outside Malawi am told) do not want a repetition of the Kamuzu era: Limited academic freedom, intimidation by MYP (the Panga wielding stalwarts parallel!), killing of innocent civilians (July 20 parallel), e.t.c. Get this loud and clear: If such oppression and brutality surfaces in Peters tenure, Malawians who love their country shall rise up and fight for their hard fought democracy! That is what rights activists were doing during Bingu’s last term in office.

     5. Contrary to what your name suggests you are a Small man who is intellectually challenged and NOT a Big man. Nearly each Malawians supported Bingu in his first term when he had a hostile opposition in parliament. People appreciated the works of his hands which spoke for him. However he messed up yekha in his second term. It was not only CSO’s but even Catholic Bishops in their letter “Reading signs of the times” (of Bingu’s tyranny of course). Bingu became untouchable and forgot all who supported him in difficult times. How could the. Church and CSOs remain silent when academic freedom was being suppressed? How could they remain mute when people were spending nights on filling stations? When DPP was burning offices of CSO’s and Zodiak vehicles? When Bingu expelled Fergus Cocrane Dyet the British High Commissioner? When there were no forex reserves? When Muhlakho wa Ahlomwe was being entrenched in all

     6. Contrary to what your name suggests you are a Small man who is intellectually challenged and NOT a Big man. Nearly each Malawians supported Bingu in his first term when he had a hostile opposition in parliament. People appreciated the works of his hands which spoke for him. However he messed up yekha in his second term. It was not only CSO’s but even Catholic Bishops in their letter “Reading signs of the times” (of Bingu’s tyranny of course). Bingu became untouchable and forgot all who supported him in difficult times. How could the. Church and CSOs remain silent when academic freedom was being suppressed? How could they remain mute when people were spending nights on filling stations? When DPP was burning offices of CSO’s and Zodiak vehicles? When Bingu expelled Fergus Cocrane Dyet the British High Commissioner? When there were no forex reserves? When Muhlakho wa Ahlomwe was being entrenched in all govt positions? We failed to remove him but nature did. He was the worst tyrant after Kamuzu. We rejoiced at his death because we knew he would not continue to unleash his evil schemes on us. May he rest in pieces at Ndata’s Mpumulo wa Demoni.

170. Cry my beloved Nyasaland.

171. Let us control the following: overpopulation.cashgates foreign trips, instead encourage the following: commercial farming

172. God bless Malawi

173. Ntchito za manja a Peter Mutharika!

174. God will heal and revive our economy, as a country I believe that its good that we are investing in education, agriculture, mining and health etc. Lets focus on thinking about ways of developing our country rather than wasting our valuable intellect on tribalistic issues, our authorities I beseech you please begin thinking about Malawi prosperity, thats from Nsanje to Chitipa. All the people of Malawi have atleast a quality which if used wisely will help drive the country. As the World Bank has produced the GDP ranked economies, to me it means even if we have people in Malawi who live a high standard of living as country we will not develop if people in other areas still sleep on empty stomachs, development has no limits, in Malawi we limit it as we continually marginalize other tribes, races, regions, religion, behavioural practices etc.

175. Frascis sakala, umamutenga apm ngati wopanda nzeru, do u think angamusiyire ben phiri dziko. Mtumbuka iwe leave my president alone, wakhala ukumva that umphawi waonjeza m’ 2013 coz of cashgate so ukuti chani? Siya kulira m’bale wane, lets focus ahead. A malawife kudalira kumangopatsidwa tiyeni tigwire ntchito tizitukule tokha ngati china, ok

176. All this is because of DPP Government which masterminded Cashgate during Bingu regime now perfecting it under Peter. Just find out how DPP officials in government are swindling money meant for flood victims right now. The money is being shared unaccounted for; no proper paper work. Malawi won’t prosper as long as DPP is in power.

177. You have forgotten to mention that you will also avoid the kind of Nac-gate and spending money anyhow in big hotels like Waldorf Astoria in New York.
     Leaders of Poorest countries don’t waste the least of resources on diner dancing every month.
     Start reforming your BAD leadership.
     This is what those IMF pipo see, read and hear.
     No offense.

178. Mr Sakala, dnt take this issue to politicaly manner, look back howmany pressident dd we have? The problem we hav here in malawians is selfeshness, we dnt looks dvelopment but we looks the porket of somebody……….ndatopanso ndikulemba

179. We need to start controlling our population as well. Just imagine Mozambique is no longer on the list yet it was the poorest. Shame on us . Sitinamenyeko nkhondo koma eeeh umphawi okhawo. Eeeh mavuto kwabasi

180. My Malawi has no vision leader

181. Bingu and Peter have made this country vety poor now. What do you expect from a country that is run by Ben Phiri in true sense? Ben phiri is not educated at all

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