Malawi sitting on time bomb -Analysts
Just a few days after Malawi’s leading donors of direct budget support – European Union (EU), Britain, Norway and Germany – have ruled out any hopes of budget support in the 2016/17 fiscal year, Malawi’s renowned development expert and University of Malawi Chancellor College Professor in Development Studies Dr. Blessings Chinsinga has warned that Malawi is sitting on a time bomb a scenario that is aggravated by lack of decisive and bold leadership.
According to published reports, a secret EU assessment report released last month and the paper’s interviews with donors the Peter Mutharika’s administration has failed to meet agreed targets.
The donors who contribute 40% of the national budgetary support have mainly cited lack of seriousness on the part of government to implement public finance management reforms, hence the donor’s decision to withhold their aid even tightier.
Writing in his Sunday Times fortnight column Talking Political Economy of January 17, 2016 under the title “Sitting on time bomb”, Chinsinga said the country’s economic woes are unlikely to disappear soon since the backbone of the economy is under serious attack.
“The country’s economic woes are unlikely to disappear soon since the backbone of the economy under serious attack. Add to this, the Kwacha continues to slump sharply against the major trading currencies, a situation worsened by the absence of donors inflows that greatly act as a buffer to the Kwacha.
“ Very soon the dollar will be trading at k1000 yet our hope to arrest the downward spiral of the kwacha lies in the ‘green gold’, which unfortunately is battling the serious negative impacts of El nino” argues Chinsinga, a professor in the department of Political and Administrative Studies at Chancellor College.
Adds Chinsinga:“We are officially into the third month of the rainy season but the harvest prognosis for the 2015/16 growing season is quite scary. The crop outlook in most parts of the country is rather depressing, attributed, of course, to the adverse effects of El nino. Some projections indicate that the harvest could be even lower than last year when a good number of fields were washed away by unprecedented floods in the country’s recent history”.
The development studies professor recommends that the Malawi farming system has to be subjected to a shock therapy as a matter of urgency and that this would require total reorganization
“FISP has failed the litmus test as a magic bullet to our predicament…Land in this country is too fragmented to allow for meaningful farming. It is time to start thinking about land reforms in terms of land consolidation with the aim of creating a versatile class of farmers who can cultivate enough to feed all of us at affordable prices. Surely, we cannot thrive as a nation of subsistence farmers”, observes Chinsinga
Chinsinga however observes that all is not lost for Malawi as the country has the potential to turn things around and that this heavily lies in the decisive and bold leadership.
“We have the potential to turn around our fortunes as a country but we require a set of leaders that are willing to take bold decisions and choices. We cannot experience the transformation that we are talking about by simply tinkering with issues on the margins. We have done this for too long; it is now time to change. Let us make 2016 a turning point in the country’s development history” adds Chinsinga.
Concurring with Chinsinga’s observations on the need for a decisive and bold leadership, Nation On Sunday columnist Emily Mkamanga observes that the main problem with Mutharika’s regime is undecisiveness, which in turn makes governance to be unstable.
“It is time that government must prove that 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. With all due respect, Mutharika government seems not to know what the national priorities are.” Argues Mkamanga.
Mkamanga further observes that 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 the locally generated resources but when the going started getting tougher government retracted its earlier stance.
“Most people might have thought that the government had found a formula to prove that the 40% donor budgetary support was not really necessary. Then it came as a real surprise when it was reported that 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 decisions. 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” observes Mkamanga.
Earlier this year, University of Malawi Constitutional Law Associate professor Fidelis Edge Kanyongolo also faulted Mutharika’s regime for lack of decisiveness on matters of public concern with a clear reference to the moratorium on homosexuality which left the citizen in suspense on what was the specific position of government on homosexuality.
“Malawi cannot rely on moratorium, a written commitment by the government that it would not arrest and prosecute anyone engaged in homosexuality. If we want the law, let us enforce it, if we don’t want it, remove it, we should move on. The government should be decisive on the matter. Its lack of decisiveness which is confusing Malawians” said Kanyongolo.
During the same period, some human rights non-governmental organizations echoed Kanyongolo’s observations on Mutharika’s undecisive leadership style in their assessment of Mutharika’s leadership style in 2015. The two rights groups observed that that 2015 was characterised by lack of leadership on critical issues of national concern a scenario that often raised more questions than answers as to whether President Mutharika was in control.
“Under the pretext of practicing servant leadership, Mutharika was silent on critical issues requiring his decisive leadership with the notable ones being the NACGATE, MSB sale, Judicial strike and many others. In the midst of such “silence” there were contradicting messages emanating from the Cabinet and Mutharika’s “village of advisers”, and in some cases contradicting his own position.
Due to such “absence” of leadership in 2015 it can be said beyond reasonable doubt that Malawi was running on auto-pilot”, read CHRR and Cedep joint statement signed by Timothy Mtambo and Gift Trapence.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
If this rascal is not removed we are surely to bury millions in Malawi. It is evident that the falling of him, mot attending Chilembwe day and the feneral of daughter of Malawi shows heart attack ooo! Before he collapses remove him from the chair before many die of hunger.
on food i totally don’t agree with the coming in of Ace as this has slowed the flow of food commodities on the market. you can use Ace on cash crops but not food. our food items are crossing the borders in search for better prices. let Ace not not to be the control of food commodity and you will see the flow of food it Malawi market. you don’t try people’s life on food.it is not the first time Malawi went through this and yet we sailed through. Malawi woke up on this at a serious note.
The times are tough and the people have no hope at the moment, the million dollar question is what are we doing a s patriotic citzens? Why allow a few misguided individuals hold the whole nation at ransom?? Idzingolira mpaka liti??This country needs brave men who can hold the bull by the horns!!
The only remedy is for Peter Mutharika to step down. Babawa zawalaka. There are many people who can steer Malawi to prosperity than this Peter
Chi time MOMB Ndi chi chani?
When things are tough its always when the leaders plead for knowledge, but when things are right its when every1 z of no importance-Malawi
Dr. Brian Lisse and Joshua Tello RN who travel and treat in Malowi from Ayer Massachusetts altered notes for Ayer Ma Police officer Richard Krasinskas(see mass.gov for denial to Worcester Police Department) and allowed my nurse to be Kerry Krasinskas RN who also altered notes for Police department cover up of unseat belted car accident. No food or water allowed. Pinned down to bed by Joshua Tello RN so Kerry Krasinskas could lay on me to obtain 1 lab. Kerry stated that she would get me locked up longer. Judges in Massachusetts don’t have to speak to patients or families… Read more »
Banja sumayendetsa ndi chithandizo cha anthu ena . Chimodzimodzi dziko silingatukuke ndi chithandizo cha anthu ena. Ndi zomvetsa chisoni kuti anthu amene amazitcha ophunzira ngati so called Professor Chimsinga mpaka pano sanatulukire chinsinsi chimenechi. Chofunika ndi choti ife a Malawi tilimbikire kugwira ntchito. Tithandizane ndi boma kuyambitsa zitukuko osakhala kumangotsutsa boma ngati uyu Chimsinga. Kodi development imene Chimsinga amaidziwa ndiyojeda boma, kuthamangitsa ma donor, kumamanamizira kukhala wachitukuko chonsecho ali munthu wongofuna zake zokha ziziyenda. Anthu ngati a Chimsinga ndi anthu osokoneza anthu osathandiza ku dziko anthu osocheretsa. Azungu timawadalirawo ndi anthu oyipa anatenga ma resources athu kupititsa kwao kukalemera ndin… Read more »
Chinsinga is smart enough to understand that economic independence is what each country aspires. What is lacking is the direction from APM and those elected by the people to lead country in a different direction which unlocks the potential for this country to start moving in a direction of predictability and certainty. The people of this country are not lazy but require clear and transformative policies which encourages innovation and makes enterprise work for a good number of people. Peasants have been working hard in their little pieces of land but have they been rewarded? Have their lives been transformed?… Read more »
My hope is on nothing else. Prof hope in noone. Jesus basi.
I decided to lose cofidence in human institutions. Perfect precipice. Absolute gloom.
Malawi is a hopeless country full of evil nasty people..
A real shit hole