By Isaac Salima:
President Lazarus Chakwera is due to dissolve his Cabinet anytime before the September 16, 2025 Local Government, Parliamentary and Presidential Elections.
The President will, according to the constitution, dissolve his 30-member cabinet and take charge of all the ministerial duties.
Before that eventuality, commentators have rated the Cabinet’s performance.
Governance expert Gift Sambo faulted the Cabinet for failing to be part of the solution, in terms of bailing Malawians out of economic challenges.
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“The triumph of the MCP [Malawi Congress Party]-led Tonse Alliance during the 2020 presidential elections gave voters the impression that Malawi was destined for a brighter future.
“However, in terms of the performance of the economy, analyses regarding the country’s performance suggest that the current administration fell short of meeting most citizens’ expectations. Among other things, high inflation, forex shortages and fuel scarcity have increased the misery of Malawians,” Sambo said.
However, Sambo commended the Cabinet for staying true to the Constitution.
“There were no attempts towards opportunism to suspend democratic institutions despite the party enjoying significant numerical strength in Parliament. This means the Chakwera Cabinet has left all democratic institutions intact.
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“There were no attempts to amend the Constitution in order to suit the appetite of the incumbent president, as was the case with previous administrations. We still live in a country where we are free to disagree as reasonable beings,” he said.
Since ascending to power in 2020, the President has been making subtle changes to the Cabinet.
Chakwera, together with his then-vice, the late Saulos Chilima, appointed a 31-member Cabinet in July 2020.
However, it faced criticism for containing family members and party loyalists.
In 2022, Chakwera reshuffled his Cabinet when he roped in six new faces and replaced some people.
The Malawi leader also vowed to periodically review performances of his ministers.
Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency Executive Director Willy Kambwandira blamed the President for not fulfilling his promise to implement performance-based contracts for his Cabinet.
“In the absence of fair and measurable performance metrics, it is difficult to evaluate the performance of Cabinet Ministers. key performance indicators help Ministers and other public officers to focus on results rather than just political survival.
“But, overall, the performance of many of the Cabinet Ministers has been disappointing and Malawians have deep disappointment largely due to unmet expectations and persistent governance failures,” Kambwandira said.
Another social and governance analyst Benedicto Kondowe said the outgoing Cabinet’s performance has been mixed.
“On one hand, it has steered the country through a difficult economic climate, sustaining key social sectors such as education, health and social protection under tight fiscal space. The Cabinet galvanised numerous law reforms cutting across many sectors. On the other hand, persistent governance concerns, allegations of corruption and limited progress on job creation and economic reforms have left many Malawians disillusioned,” he said.
“In short, while the cabinet registered pockets of progress, it fell short of delivering the transformative change citizens expected. Its legacy will be judged more by unfulfilled promises than by its achievements.” Kondowe said.
In 2023, Chakwera reduced the size of his Cabinet from 30 to 25.
In January this year, the President hired other new faces to bring the figure to 31.
However the Cabinet now consists of 30 members following the death of Deputy Local Government, Unity and Culture Minister Joyce Chitsulo, who died in June this year and is yet to be replaced.
During the five-year period, Chakwera has fired some ministers who were suspected of corruption, a thing Executive Director of Nyika Institute Moses Mkandawire commended.
“Our Cabinet has been relatively weaker compared to other countries, in terms of service delivery.
“However, the President could be commended for dropping some ministers for allegedly being involved in corruption. However, some are yet to be tried,” he said.
However, Mkandawire faulted the President for sticking to some “underperforming” ministers in his Cabinet.
During the five years, some Cabinet ministers have enjoyed the whole term without being dropped.
