Is Malawi a functioning country? It is a difficult, perhaps uncomfortable, question. But when the same problems repeatedly confront citizens, it becomes legitimate to ask whether Malawi’s institutions are functioning as they should.
Fuel scarcity has once again become a reality, despite the country experiencing similar difficulties barely a year ago. Motorists spend hours searching for fuel, transport costs rise and businesses struggle to operate.
At the same time, the farming season is approaching, with concerns that fertiliser and other agricultural inputs could become increasingly expensive.
In a country where millions of people depend on agriculture, this is not simply an economic inconvenience; it could have serious consequences for food security and household incomes.
Electricity presents another longstanding challenge. Frequent and prolonged blackouts have become part of everyday life. Businesses lose productive hours, students struggle to study and households are forced to rely on expensive alternatives. How can an economy industrialise, create jobs and attract investment when the electricity needed to drive production remains unreliable?
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The shortage of foreign exchange compounds these difficulties. Businesses struggle to import essential goods and inputs while consumers face shortages and rising prices. Meanwhile, roads in many cities and towns continue to deteriorate. Potholes and poorly maintained roads increase vehicle maintenance costs, slow the movement of goods and people and make economic activity more expensive.
Individually, each of these problems might be explained as an economic challenge. Collectively, however, they point towards a deeper question of State capacity and institutional effectiveness.
Political scientist Francis Fukuyama, in his work on State-building, emphasises the importance of State capacity—the ability of institutions to formulate and implement policies and deliver services effectively. This distinction is important for Malawi. The issue is not merely whether policies exist on paper, but whether institutions have the capacity to translate those policies into reliable services for citizens.
Similarly, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, in Why Nations Fail, place institutions at the centre of explaining why some countries prosper while others struggle. Their argument suggests that the quality and effectiveness of political and economic institutions matter greatly to a nation’s development.
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This should make us look beyond individual crises. Why do fuel shortages repeatedly return? Why do electricity problems persist? Why does access to foreign exchange remain so difficult? Why do roads deteriorate faster than they are rehabilitated? And why do farmers continue to worry about accessing affordable inputs at the beginning of almost every farming season?
Perhaps the greatest danger is not the crisis itself, but the normalisation of crisis.
When citizens become accustomed to fuel queues, blackouts, potholes, rising prices and shortages, there is a risk that dysfunction becomes accepted as normal. Resilience is undoubtedly one of Malawians’ greatest strengths. But resilience should not become a substitute for effective governance. Citizens should not constantly be required to adapt to problems that functioning institutions are expected to solve.
Development scholar Amartya Sen offers another useful perspective. His understanding of development goes beyond economic growth to focus on expanding people’s capabilities and freedoms, the opportunities people have to live the lives they value.
By that measure, development cannot simply be measured by policies announced or projects launched. It must also be measured by whether ordinary citizens can travel, work, farm, study, trade and live with dignity.
Malawi is unquestionably a country. But perhaps that is not the question we should be asking.
The more important question is whether Malawi is functioning as the country it ought to be.
That question should concern government, opposition parties, businesses, civil society, academics and ordinary citizens alike. Malawi cannot continue moving from one crisis to another and citizens call that development.
A functioning country should do more than ask its citizens to survive. It should create conditions in which they can live, work and prosper with dignity.
