Malawi not for sale , Chithyola wraps up Mutharika’s year of failure

Malawi Exclusive

Leader of Opposition in Parliament Right Honourable Simplex Chithyola Banda has beamoned lack of seriousness by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Government in putting in place serious measures aimed at lessening economic and social challenges Malawians are experiencing in their daily livelihood.

In a strong worded statement released marking Professor Peter Mutharika one year in office , Chithyola said , the fuel crisis has returned and pipes are dry again because Government moved fuel buying from open tender to a secret Government-to-Government arrangement paid for in US dollars while Malawian transporters were left out, Leader of Opposition Simplex Chithyola has said.

He said the record on fuel speaks for itself and that when the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) took over government fuel availability stood at about 40 percent and was raised to 70 percent without hurting the consumer, but today Malawians are spending nights in queues again.

Chithyola said Malawians went to the polls on promises of jobs, food, cheap fertilizer, free secondary education, real development through Constituency Development Fund and a quick end to corruption.

He said the Office of the Leader of Opposition was giving an honest account without malice because the Constitution makes the Opposition the people’s check on the power of the Executive and silence in the face of what Malawians have suffered would be a betrayal of that duty.

He said after one year the only thing the DPP government can point to is low maize prices which it has forced on farmers who bought expensive farm inputs so that it can boast of cheap nsima. He said while government boasts, Malawians have realised something simple, that cheap nsima cannot buy fuel, cheap nsima cannot pay school fees, cheap nsima cannot buy medicine and cheap nsima cannot fix the economy.

Chithyola said maize farmers have been forced to sell at K20,000 per bag which translates into K400 per Kilogram, far below Government’s own minimum price of K500 per Kilogram, and that more than 75 percent of smallholder farmers are forced to sell below cost because they have nowhere to store their crop and need cash urgently.

Chithyola says Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporations (ADMARC) has failed to rescue them and instead all the maize has been bought by vendors and National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) has not been able to help, while Government is preparing to import 200,000 metric tonnes of maize.

He said Tobacco tells the same story and that this has been the worst year ever for tobacco farmers with income from auctions expected to fall by 50 percent.

On foreign exchange he said Malawi is facing its worst shortage in living memory and cited the Foreign Exchange Notice of 2026 issued on 7 September that no person may hold more than US$1,000 in foreign cash without Reserve Bank permission and a traveller may take out no more than US$100. He said a government that has to police a traveller’s US$1000 has lost control of the economy, with importers waiting up to three months to access US$10,000 and hospitals running short of medicines.

He said donor confidence takes years to build and very little time to lose, pointing to Norway’s announcement to close its embassy in Lilongwe by end of July 2027 ending 27 years and about K93 billion in annual support, and Britain’s plan to cut aid by 60 percent next financial year and by 90 percent by 2028/29.

He warned of a looming hunger crisis with national maize production at only 2.9 million metric tonnes against a need of 3.6 million metric tonnes, projecting serious food shortages from October 2026 to January 2027 and up to 7.5 million people without enough food in 2026.

Chithyola then presented a six point rescue plan calling for Parliament to vet all contracts above K1 billion, making Reserve Bank orders binding with personal liability, passing a Whistleblower Protection Act with 10 percent reward, reversing the Amaryllis Hotel deal to recover K90 billion with interest, forensic audits of NOCMA, ADMARC, NFRA and AIP, returning to open tender for fuel, rebuilding the 60 million litre strategic reserve and reserving 70 percent of fuel transport for Malawians, replacing AIP with a transparent e-voucher system, supporting local fertilizer factories, launching One Youth One Hectare, paying K500 per kilogram at ADMARC in cash, rebuilding the grain reserve to 300,000 metric tonnes, funding schools with one textbook per learner and 20,000 new teachers, creating a K100 billion Youth Enterprise Fund at 5 percent interest from recovered funds and dualizing the M1 road between Lilongwe and Blantyre.

He concluded that DPP promised proven leadership but one year on has proven leadership in failure, mismanagement and inflicting misery, but Malawi is not for sale and when Malawians think of a better Malawi, MCP is the answer.