MCP says Malawi government has run out of ideas

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) spokesperson Dr Jessie Kabwila has delivered a scathing verdict on the government’s handling of the economy, accusing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration of making things worse in its first year in office.

Kabwila cited fuel and medicine shortages, forex scarcity, rising living costs, and failures in infrastructure, farming and social services.

“The DPP government must accept that they have run out of ideas. They got into this as an accidental government. They have got no clue,” she said.

The government has given a different account.

Information Minister Shadric Namalomba said Malawians may have to endure the crisis for at least two more years.

He said the fuel shortages, forex scarcity and other economic problems were structural, had been inherited from the MCP administration voted out in September 2025, and could not be fixed overnight.

Namalomba made the remarks in an interview, responding to a Facebook statement by UTM president Dalitso Kabambe on Wednesday.

Kabambe had accused the government of taking Malawians for granted, saying families were going hungry and struggling with unreliable fuel, erratic water supply and shortages of essential medicines.

He urged President Peter Mutharika to address the nation and set out concrete measures and timelines for relief.

Namalomba rejected that call.

“This is a process. It is not like when today he [Kabambe] complains about the problems, then tomorrow the problems will be sorted out. These problems are structural and they require time,” he said.

He asked critics to give the government room to act, and noted that Mutharika had already indicated that stabilising the economy could take at least two years.

He also said the forex and fuel problems predated the DPP government, which took office in 2025.

Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation executive director Michael Kaiyatsa said the government was not treating the crisis with the seriousness it required, and should accept responsibility.