Financially-squeezed Malawi Government will need to fork out an extra K139 million per year if it proceeds with plans to put “all chiefs” on the Medical Aid Society of Malawi (Masm) health insurance scheme.
Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Ben Phiri is on record as having said the programme would start with paramount chiefs and senior chiefs in the new financial year starting April 1 2026.
In an interview yesterday, the ministry’s spokesperson Chimwemwe Njoloma confirmed the plans to “put all chiefs on Masm” to cut on expenses incurred when they are either taken ill or die.
on seniority. | Nation
Malawi currently has seven paramount chiefs and 177 senior chiefs, bringing the total to 184, according to the ministry’s records.
If the chiefs will be put on VIP, which will be at K63 000 per person per month, the taxpayers will pay an extra K11.5 million on the wage bill per month and K139 104 000 per year, according to The Nation calculations.
The amount would automatically increase if Masm adjusts upwards its monthly contributions or if other chiefs such as traditional authorities who are 158 in total are added to the beneficiaries list.
If the 184 chiefs are put on executive Masm scheme pegged at K30 000 per month from January next year, the taxpayers will foot a K66.2 million bill annually.
Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency executive director Willy Kambwandira said in an interview yesterday that while access to quality healthcare is important for everyone, expanding State-funded benefits to a privileged group without a clear cost plan risks widening inequities and deepening mistrust.
Earlier this week, Minister of Information and Communications Technology Shadric Namalomba said the wage bill has surged from K479.6 billion in the 2021-22 financial year to a projected K1.6 trillion by 2025-26, consuming 25 percent of recurrent expenditure and 38 percent of all domestic tax revenue.
