Malawi’s new president, Bingu wa Mutharika, sworn in on May 24, has promised wide-ranging economic reforms that, he says, will turn the country around.
The list includes strict budgetary control, strengthening the national Audit Office, Accountant General and Anti-Corruption Bureau, and trimming the Cabinet from his predecessor’s 46 members to a “small but effective one”.
“I shall ensure strict investigation of politicians and public officers at all levels … who are found in corruption, theft, mismanagement and abuse of power in all its forms,” said the 71-year-old development economist.
Mutharika, who was hand-picked by his predecessor, Bakili Muluzi, to be presidential candidate of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF), said his immediate priorities would be to implement public sector reforms aimed at instilling confidence in the civil service and to introduce private sector reforms, including reforms in agriculture, as one way of fighting chronic hunger.
He said Malawi was not poor, “but the people are”, and his government would wage war against poverty.
Mutharika’s tough speech was welcomed by many as a departure from the speeches Muluzi made while in office. But analysts believe that Mutharika may not be able to implement all that he has promised Malawians.
“Unless Mutharika rises above party politics, he will not be able to implement any major changes in his five-year-term,” said Nixon Khembo, a political scientist at Chancellor College.
Khembo said Mutharika was considered an outsider by many UDF supporters. He knew that if he prosecuted people like Muluzi for corruption he would be committing a political crime.
“I personally do not see any significant changes in Mutharika’s administration. Maybe the style of leadership might change. Muluzi and Mutharika come from different backgrounds,” said Edge Kanyongole, a constitutional lawyer.
Mutharika is well aware that under Muluzi donor communities and the International Monetary Fund lost confidence in the country because of corruption, government over-expenditure, abuse of human rights and lack of accountability and transparency in the government, and withheld support.
Malawi has several corruption cases pending; some of them unresolved for more than six years, analysts say because they involve politicians and other important people. Corruption is one problem, but there is another that Mutharika will have to solve: poverty. About 65% of the 12-million Malawians live below the poverty line.
The 2002 United Nations Development Programme report shows that Malawians have been made poorer than they were before Muluzi came to power in 1994.
Mutharika has promised Malawians MK500-million as part of the money that his government will be giving as loans to those starting small-scale businesses.
On the other hand, Muluzi also gave out cash to people at political rallies, a move which was heavily criticised by donors and civil society.
As the new president starts his work, he has much to do to make Malawi, one of the poorest nations in the world, sustain itself economically.
But for the moment, Malawians are waiting to see if Mutharika will be different from Muluzi, who failed to implement the promises he made while in office.