President Lazarus Chakwera Friday delivered his fifth State of the Nation Address (Sona) – one that broke with tradition.
Unlike the previous Sonas, by both him and his predecessors, which give a national summary of the state of affairs, this one scaled down to the councils to enumerate the achievements of his government in each of the country’s 28 districts.
At the end of the recount of each district, Chakwera made sure to appeal to registered voters in that district, in some cases giving numbers of people that have registered in the area, to vote for continued development in the September elections.
Starkly, in this highly-expected annual statement, the President avoided the biggest elephant in the room: the wreckage that is Malawi’s economy characterised by rising inflation, chronic shortage of forex and floundering businesses.
The address, titled ‘Taking our development forward to continue the progress we have delivered’, took the President almost three hours to deliver.
Chakwera acknowledged this was a long statement; and he justified this with an equally long concluding sentence.
“I have taken long deliberately because this is a House of records and I want it to be on record that this is what I have delivered for the Malawian people in the four years that I have been President, and I believe that I am at peace with God and I have enough trust in the Malawian people that they are fair minded enough to judge my performance as President by what I have done, not by what other politicians say about me or by the disasters that have befallen us as a nation and subjected us to a season of pain that we must have the strength to endure and overcome, and I believe that overcome we will,” he said.
In his address, Chakwera said he had delivered so much to the people of various districts in their season of sacrificial pain and he expects to deliver even more by 2030.
At the end of each district presentation, Chakwera told the voters to be ready to hear other parties offering to take the districts backward, while he is ready to continue taking the developments forward.
Among others, the address focussed on infrastructure developments in the districts such as roads, irrigation schemes, schools, school blocks, hospitals and health posts as well as other projects.
The address also tackled investments in human development through the National Economic Empowerment Fund (Neef) business and agriculture input loans, in addition to investments in Affordable Input Programme (AIP) and food assistance.
According to Chakwera, even in Thyolo where former presidents the late Bingu wa Mutharika and his brother Peter Mutharika of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) come from, his administration has implemented several development projects.
“I believe it is safe to say that nowhere is the false claim that I have done nothing for Malawians repeated by dishonest politicians than in Thyolo, so today I thank the Lord for the opportunity to set the record straight,” he said.
He then listed down the “dishonest politicians” from the district and highlighted the development his administration has implemented in the district.
The statement has stirred discontent in some quarters for failing to provide hope to Malawians who were looking forward to Chakwera for answers regarding the ailing economy.
They further noted that Chakwera has failed to give hope on the hunger crisis rocking the nation.
Neither has he addressed the possible aid cut by the United States government.
Leader of Opposition George Chaponda described it as a mere campaign speech and not a Sona.
According to Chaponda, the address fell short of outlining what plans the President has for Malawi moving forward in the wake of deteriorating economic environment.
Economics Association of Malawi president Bertha Chikadza said her organisation also expected to hear a lot on the strategies the government has to turnaround the flailing economy.
“So at this point we just need those opinions, those words to tell us that things are going to turn around, the economy is going to be on track and so on and so forth. So we wanted that to come out strongly,” Chikadza said.
On the other hand, outgoing National Planning Commission Director General Thomas Munthali said what the President wanted to present was that there is a lot of development taking place at the district level.
“You remember that he was mentioning all the members of Parliament in a particular district meaning that the developments that have taken place is not just because of the government of the day but also the efforts of other political parties that are playing a role, including the non-state actors that are working there,” he said.
Munthali said, however, that he had hoped Chakwera would highlight how the government intends to sustain those developments.
Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) Chief Executive Officer Daisy Kambalame said the breaking down of developments in the districts highlighted the opportunities available at district level.
“I think the key thing is to now have a conversation on what we do now. How do we build on that foundation to look at creating opportunities for real partnerships so that the infrastructure developments he was talking about starts bearing fruits?” Kambalame said.
With the Sona delivered, the next big statement is the 2025-26 national budget which Minister of Finance Simplex Chithyola Banda will deliver in the coming days.
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