By Jonah Pankuku:
Extreme poverty, corruption, hunger and economic hardships will continue ravaging most poor citizens if Malawians continue voting for the country’s leaders along tribal and regional lines.
That’s according to political and governance commentators, who have called upon voters to exercise caution on how and who to give their 5-year-constitutional mandate to govern them after the September 16 2025 presidential poll.
Currently, incumbent president Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party, former presidents Joyce Banda (People’s Party) and Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have received fresh mandate to lead their parties in the presidential poll.
Alliance for Democracy (Aford) has settled for Enoch Chihana while Kondwani Nankhumwa is People’s Development Party’s torchbearer in the race for the top spot.
Public Affairs Committee (Pac) spokesperson, Bishop Gilford Matonga said it is unfortunate that most Malawians have little regard to how elected leaders perform and instead use the tribal and regional cards.
He added such a tendency remains deep-rooted in the country; resulting in the election of undeserving leaders with no zeal and vision to bail the country out of the prevailing challenges.
“It is saddening that most people still vote based on tribal or regional lines and not performance of candidates and their track records. It is that mentality that has stagnated national progress for many years. We must change mind-set and seriously consider attributes of good leaders,” Bishop Matonga argued.
Matonga said the nation would be moving towards a positive direction once it dumped politics of tribes and regions.
Associate Professor of Political Science in the Department of Politics and Governance at the University of Malawi, Boniface Dulani, said “our leaders are as good as the choices we make”.
“If we vote for individuals who fail us, we cannot turn around and place the entire blame on the leaders alone. We too should accept responsibility for choosing inept individuals and placing them in positions of power,” Dulani said.
He expressed the need for the voters to take their responsibility seriously by exercising wisdom and judgment in whom to choose.
“We need to move away from voting based on region, ethnicity, religion, you name it. Instead, as voters, we need to critically examine the caliber of the candidates and choose those we think have the capacity to deliver.
“Many Malawians will be looking for a leadership and party that can provide solutions to the many economic challenges the country is facing. Everything else is going to be secondary,” he said.
Boniface Chibwana, National Coordinator for Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) said Malawi needs a leader who will do business unusual and create a conducive environment for all people to participate meaningfully in the economy.
“The key determinant in the forthcoming elections is the issue of economy which has been in shambles for many years and then perennial challenges of corruption that each and every past and present regime has failed to root out,” Chibwana said.
He called on potential voters to register and come out in large numbers to make a statement that Malawi needs national and patriotic leaders that have demonstrated high level of servant leadership.
But political scientist Ernest Thindwa said preference among electoral alternatives for most voters should be assumed as given on the basis of observed voting patterns for the last six rounds of our democracy project.
“Such patterns will persist essentially because the social structures around which they are constructed remain largely unaltered and there has been no significant development in the political arena that can mute the effect of such structures as was the case in 2009.
“How the northern region, which largely has exhibited less loyalty to a given party and the neutrals vote, will have a huge say in determining the direction of victory in the presidential race,” Thindwa said.
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