Malawi’s information and communications technology (ICT) sector was marked by ambitious digital initiatives undermined by persistent implementation failures, offering crucial lessons for the year ahead.
For the average Malawian, 2025 was defined by the passport saga.
Despite the government awarding a $29.9 million contract to Madras Security Private Printers in January, the transition proved a technical nightmare that exposed the country’s digital infrastructure weaknesses.
The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority introduced an integrated system to track misinformation and disinformation, sparking significant debate among digital rights activists, who cited concerns over mass surveillance and potential curbs on freedom of expression.
During the September 16, 2025 Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections, the Malawi Electoral Commission deployed 6,500 electoral management devices intended to streamline voter verification.
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However, the technology faced public scrutiny due to offline glitches in rural polling stations, raising questions about the readiness of critical digital infrastructure.
More critical was the technical paralysis at the Department of e-Government. The failure to operationalise the Enterprise Service Bus— the digital nervous system intended to allow different ministries to communicate— meant that government services remained trapped in silos, denying Malawians access to online services such as passport registration and driver’s license payments or renewals.
For the private sector, the most crippling challenge was persistent forex shortage. Major players struggled to import specialised hardware needed for 5G expansion and network maintenance.
Even with 5G live in 10 cities and towns, the usage gap remained high because the cost of 5G-enabled devices stayed out of reach for average Malawians, exacerbated by high import duties and a weak Kwacha.
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Despite these setbacks, 2025 presented significant opportunities.
The December launch of the Public Sector Reforms Information Management System marked a turning point, providing the government with a dedicated digital platform to track how ministries, departments and agencies are performing against reform targets.
The Digital Malawi Acceleration Project continued to lay the groundwork for high-speed fiber connectivity to over 500 government buildings.
Despite integration hurdles, there was a breakthrough with the National e-Payment Gateway, a project supported by the Financial Inclusion and Entrepreneurship Scaling Project and World Bank, designed as the single-entry point for all government collections.
The launch of the Malawi National Single Window in May 2025 began integrating trade-related agencies such as the Malawi Revenue Authority and Ministry of Trade to streamline imports and exports.
The outlook for 2026 signals a necessary shift from pilot projects to policy enforcement. For the public sector, focus should be on clearing the 100,000-plus passport backlog and ensuring the Madras system is fully operational and integrated.
The Department of e-Government faces immense pressure to finally onboard all major ministries onto the Enterprise Service Bus for interoperability of government systems.
By mid-2026, the Digitalisation Policy must move from a document on a shelf to lived reality where driver’s licence renewals and national ID applications and payments are fully online.
Operationalisation of the smartphone local assembly plant would help shift from connectivity to content—more applications for government payments and digital agriculture.
If government can lower the barrier to device ownership, demand for high-speed data and sophisticated digital services would skyrocket, creating a more lucrative market for internet service providers and software developers while widening the tax collection base.
To truly move the needle, the government must stop treating ICT as a bonus and start treating it as a key performance indicator of governance.
Performance appraisals for principal secretaries should be strictly tied to the Malawi Digitalisation Policy 2023- 28. Specifically, a principal secretary’s success should be measured by how many of their department’s services are available online, how frequently data is updated, and whether their system is fully interoperable.
To encourage citizens to use these digital tools, the government should partner with telecommunications companies to zero-rate all traffic to official government portals. If it costs zero data to apply for a national ID online, uptake will happen naturally.
The government’s role in 2026 should transition from service provider to market enabler by tackling high entry costs and digitising the citizen’s experience.
Research from 2025 suggests that Malawi’s ICT taxes, including excise duties on data and handsets, remain a major hurdle.
The government should transition from taxing devices to taxing services. Removing VAT and import duties on entry-level smartphones while maintaining modest service taxes can stimulate volume-based growth.
To hit the target of 80 percent device ownership by 2026, the government should finalise incentives for local assembly plants, similar to Nokia and HMD initiatives in neighbouring regions. This reduces forex pressure associated with importing finished electronics.
Research findings show only 6.9 percent of mobile transactions are for merchant payments. The private sector should offer lower transaction fees for micro-merchants such as market vendors to discourage cash usage.
Establishing AI innovation hubs to develop voice-based interfaces in local languages would bypass the literacy barrier, allowing non-readers to access digital services via voice commands.
The year 2025 demonstrated that Malawi possesses the policy frameworks and technical ambition for digital transformation. What remains missing is the political will to enforce accountability and the fiscal discipline to prioritise implementation over announcements.
As the country is in 2026, the question is no longer whether Malawi can digitalise but whether its leaders will finally match their rhetoric with results.
