By Deogratias Mmana:
President Lazarus Chakwera’s administration is walking into the New Year with the excess baggage which it has to fix if the quality of life of Malawians is to improve, commentators say.
In an interview, National Coordinator for Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) Lewis Msiyadungu said in the year ending, the government failed to tame political violence perpetrators and presided over various forms of crises.
“The perpetrators of political violence are not taken to book, especially if they are politically-connected.
“We have also experienced a lot of political statements that are inciting tribal boundaries and no-go zone areas with selective justice on the perpetrators of such acts,” he said.
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He added: “The year 2024 was characterised by a lot of our own made crises….Food crisis, AIP crisis, fuel crisis and forex crisis. These could have been averted if the government had a listening ear.”
He highlighted that governance institutions like Malawi Human Rights Commission, Ombudsman, district councils and government ministries are suffering from inadequate and intermittent funding which is hampering their operations.
“In short, service delivery was completely inefficient in 2024,” Msiyadungu said.
He was also critical of Parliament for failing to live up to people’s expectations.
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Meetings were marred by absenteeism of legislators and government side often suppressed alternative voices in the august House.
He further said allegations of corruption have tarnished the image of the Judiciary.
“Malawians have lost trust in the justice delivery system of the country,” he said.
Director for Centre for Research and Consultancy Milward Tobias said the economy tanked in 2024 with all relevant variables of a healthy economy in disarray.
“While blame has been put on external factors, the truth remains that the principal shock to the economy is weak, incompetent and corrupt political leadership,” said Tobias, a presidential aspirant himself.
He said foreign exchange reserves have remained critically low, resulting in erratic supply of fuel, shortage of drugs in health facilities and collapse of businesses.
“This has increased unemployment, claimed lives from diseases that otherwise would have been treated if drugs were available, and slowed economic productivity as people spent time queuing for fuel instead of working,” he said.
According to Tobias, Malawians have suffered under “the watch of indifferent and insensitive political leadership that prioritises external and domestic travels at the expense of funding service delivery.”
According to him, the solution to these economic hardships is in changing political leadership.
“It does not matter what solutions are proposed for as long as the political leadership has no clue about managing an economy, we are doomed,” said.
In his reaction, government spokesperson Moses Kunkuyu defended government’s record thus far.
On violence, he said politicians should be the first to denounce violence and preach peace to their followers.
On corruption, Kunkuyu said the Chakwera administration is the only one since 1994 that has seriously tackled corruption and put in place initiatives to ensure that the fight against corruption is effective enough.
He cited initiatives such as giving more funding to the ACB, putting in place the Financial Crimes Court, the Disclosure of Beneficial Ownership Regulations and electronic procurement system.
