‘Not silence, intimidation or political spin’: Kabambe challenges President Mutharika to confront corruption and economic strain

Malawi’s opposition UTM leader, Dalitso Kabambe, has publicly urged President Peter Mutharika to “speak directly to the nation” about what his administration is doing to tackle corruption and the country’s economic difficulties, in an open letter that lands days before the president’s first anniversary in office.

Kabambe, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi, posted the letter on Facebook, saying Malawians needed reassurance that graft would be confronted with resolve.

“Please speak directly to the nation. Acknowledge these challenges, explain what is being done and demonstrate through action that those responsible will be held accountable,” he wrote. He did not point to specific cases.

He said he would have preferred to raise the concerns with the president in person, but that circumstances had made that difficult. He also suggested that a small number of people around Mutharika could be acting in ways that damage his leadership.

“Serious allegations have been raised concerning corruption, money laundering, human trafficking, public procurement, members of the cabinet and the judiciary,” Kabambe wrote.

“These matters demand careful, independent investigation, not silence, intimidation or political spin. When people raise concerns about wrongdoing, they should not automatically be branded enemies of you or your administration.”

He argued that the executive, judiciary and legislature should be protected rather than weakened, whether by allegations of misconduct or by efforts to silence those who speak out.

On the economy, he pointed to fuel and gas shortages linked to low foreign exchange reserves, unreliable electricity and the rising cost of living as problems demanding leadership.

Cathy Maulidi, the presidential spokesperson, said that the president’s team had yet to see the letter.

Political and governance analysts said Kabambe was raising issues that were already in the public domain and needed to be addressed.

A former ally turned critic

Kabambe’s history with Mutharika gives the letter added edge. Mutharika appointed him central bank governor on 21 April 2017, and he served until 2020, when he was replaced after Lazarus Chakwera’s Tonse Alliance took power following the court-sanctioned rerun of the presidential election that June.

That year Kabambe entered frontline politics by declaring his affiliation to Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party, and he later aspired to succeed him as leader. He left the DPP in 2024 and joined the UTM, where he beat his challengers to succeed the late Saulos Chilima, the party’s founder and Malawi’s former vice-president.

In the 16 September 2025 general election, his first appearance on the ballot, Kabambe finished third with about 211,000 votes. Mutharika will mark one year since his inauguration on 4 October.