Malawi: 50 years of standing still

“We are still stuck in smallholder agriculture. You will find that smallholder agriculture takes a big chunk of our budget, which has led us into this poverty situation. This has narrowed the tax base and in the process, limited government’s efforts to mobilise domestic resources for infrastructure development,” he says.

Leadership gap?

Some analysts say a lack of visionary leadership, especially over the last two decades, has been the main contributing factor to the country’s failed economic growth.

Since independence, Malawi has been governed by five political administrations: Presidents Kamuzu Banda, Bakili Muluzi, Bingu wa Mutharika, Joyce Banda and currently, Peter Mutharika. They all introduced various national development initiatives but many of them were discontinued by their predecessors because of “inconsistencies in preceding governments”.

A local business commentator, Henry Kachaje, who is the director for Business Consult Africa, says that during the first 30 years [under the one-party system of the former president, the late Hastings Kamuzu Banda] there was reasonable economic growth with emphasis on infrastructure development, education and health.

“Unfortunately, there has been lack of continuity. Since embracing multiparty democracy, the country has survived on medium-term economic plans and strategies. In the absence of a long-term nationally shared socio-economic development vision, it has been difficult to register sustainable economic growth and development,” he says.

Kachaje says the country must come up with a nationally accepted and embraced socio-economic development vision with a clear strategy to diversify the economy through commercial agriculture, irrigation farming, growth and development of the private sector with a focus on SMEs.

“The leadership must act on corruption and not just talk about corruption. There must be fiscal discipline in government expenditure, as well as strategic investment in infrastructure, that support the growth of the economy,” he says.

In his speech during the celebrations, President Mutharika provided some hope to Malawians for a better future. He said he was counting on the support of Malawians “in taking our country on a development path” as he introduced new policies to revive the country’s ailing economy. “While we know that much remains to be done, I believe our vision is within reach,” he said.

“Fellow Malawians,” he continued, “it is sad to note that after 50 years of independence, a large proportion of our people still live in poverty. It is sad to note that the majority of our youth remain jobless and many of our people do not know where their next meal will come from; and our infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired. Our country will realise meaningful and sustainable development if, and only if, we rededicate ourselves to hard work, peace and unity”.

Manna from heaven

He said his government would help in instilling self-confidence “by creating a conducive environment for hard work, creating more sustainable jobs, redistributing incomes and increasing the supply of quality goods and services for the domestic and international markets. If we do this, we will definitely take our country on a right track to greater prosperity.

“I would, therefore, like to encourage every Malawian to be hard working if we are to truly transform our country from poverty to prosperity.

Democracy does not mean that everything that we want will fall on our heads like manna from heaven. Development will come through hard work and the involvement of everyone. Malawi is slowly becoming a country of high dependency.”

He urged Malawians to abandon the culture of expecting everything from government. “The Former US President Kennedy once said ‘Think not for what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country’. I have no doubt that we will seize this moment to reassert ourselves and act with greater determination and vigour to achieve fundamental transformation of our country.”

Nice, uplifting words but the people are not convinced that, yet again, they are more than hot air. Will the next 50 years be any different, they wonder.