Five years after promising a better Malawi for all, affordable farm inputs, an end to corruption and one million jobs annually, President Lazarus Chakwera and his Malawi Congress Party (MCP) have returned to the campaign trail.
This time, the President and his party have hit the road without the glitzy backers that made his Tonse Alliance an outright winner in the court-ordered fresh presidential election of 2020.
However, the MCP leader is armed with a fresh basket of pledges: K500 000 for every newborn, three million jobs, more funds for every constituency and expanded bursaries and social protection schemes for the poor.
Coming in the shadow of stalled clinics, abandoned classrooms, unpaid teachers, stuttering fight against corruption and restless youth now trading CVs for betting tickets, the ruling party’s new manifesto risks being remembered not for its ambition—but its detachment from the harsh realities of governance and delivery.
Launched in Lilongwe last Saturday, the new manifesto pledges to transform lives through the Tsogolo Account, an expanded Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and large-scale social interventions.
These are promises wrapped in hope and flowery rhetoric, but the glitter is wearing thin in the eyes of Malawians bruised by broken promises, including the one-million-jobs and three-meals-a-day ideas.
Once a rallying cry for youth empowerment, the one-million-job pledge was never backed by clear metrics or a credible audit.
“This is a continuation of a bad habit of promising without first accounting for previous failures,” says policy and governance activist Mavuto Bamusi when asked about Chakwera’s new manifesto.
Political analyst George Chaima is more candid about Chakwera’s legacy of broken promises.
“As the MCP government has failed to demonstrate that one million jobs were created, it is just a fallacy to come again and promise over three million jobs,” he says.
Economic governance and policy analyst Dalitso Kubalasa shares the scepticism.
He states: “There’s a significant gap between what’s been promised in the past and what is being offered now.
“Making grand promises without the necessary systems in place could stretch an already fragile public budget too thin.”
Education on the rocks
Meanwhile, education infrastructure—the smelting place for a better future for the country’s predominantly youthful population—paints a sobering picture.
Across the country, many children still learn under tree shades and in collapsing classrooms without toilets, safe water, chalk or desks.
The manifestos promises these young Malawians bursaries and improved access to quality education.
In health, the contrast is even starker. Clinics meant to serve the country’s rural majority, especially women and children, remain unfinished or ill equipped.
As the country goes to the polls in September, Malawians continue to die of treatable conditions due to lack of essential drugs and medical supplies.
For the newborn, Chakwera promises a K500 000 investment account to break the cycle of poverty.
However, the irony is hard to miss.
Malawi’s infant mortality rate stands at 30 deaths per 1 000 live births—higher than the global average of 19. Each year, the country registers about 665 000 births, meaning more than 19 000 babies do not live to see their first birthday.
Critics argue that focusing on survival and nutrition would be a better investment than handing out baby bonds.
If implemented, the Tsogolo Account would cost taxpayers K332.5 billion annually or K27.7 billion monthly—nearly half the country’s healthcare budget and more than double the education spending.
If redirected wisely, that money could beef up healthcare staff, equip clinics, boost under-five nutrition, reduce neonatal deaths and support school feeding programmes.
“This is a consumption-based pledge that cannibalises development expenditure,” warns Bamusi. “At a time when dialysis machines are absent from all district hospitals and malnutrition remains the leading killer of under-fives, giving out cash to infants is not only tone-deaf; it is dangerous.”
Chaima argues the Tsogolo Account “lacks the economic factor for wealth creation”.
He states: “If K500 000 is deposited today, by the time the child turns 18, it will be worth maybe $10 or $15 (about K17 000 and K25 000 at current exchange rate). That’s not empowerment. It is political theatre.”
The analyst warns the promise could backfire socially: “It may encourage high and active sexual activity just to produce more babies. How will the national and global concern over population control be addressed?”
Some commentators ask: Are the MCP’s big promises sustainable at all?
To fund the Tsogolo Account, three million jobs, expanded bursaries and a bigger CDF, government has to raise hundreds of billions of kwacha annually. Yet Malawi’s tax base remains narrow, with domestic revenue stuck at around 14 percent of GDP, well below regional benchmarks.
‘A fiscal mirage’
The manifesto hints at taxing alcohol and tobacco and broadening the tax net, but offers little clarity on how this would offset spending without overburdening struggling households as well as small and medium enterprises.
Kubalasa calls this optimism “a fiscal mirage”.
“The country is grappling with an aid freeze, over K17 trillion in public debt and stagnant domestic revenue. We cannot afford political fantasy disguised as policy.”
Even if donors resumed support, the country’s debt burden consumes a third of all public revenue.
Without serious reforms to plug leaks and prioritise delivery, Chakwera’s flagship pledges risk becoming economically unsustainable.
“CDF, now at K200 million per constituency, is fast becoming a vehicle for political appeasement, not development,” Kubalasa warns. “If left unchecked, it could entrench corruption while starving essential programmes of investment.”
Chaima questions the government’s basic priorities: “Where will they get that kind of money when they are struggling to put medicine in hospitals, when there are no desks in schools, no bridges in rural areas?”
“In my view, the MCP manifesto cannot be implemented within five years.”
Political scientist Dr Nandini Patel agrees the three million jobs promise feels far-fetched, but remains optimistic.
“Many school blocks have indeed been constructed under this administration,” she says. “That infrastructure can absorb more teachers and give thousands of children decent classrooms. We must be careful not to dismiss everything as failure.”
Still, Patel calls the Tsogolo Account and expanded bursaries “sheer campaign tools”, not transformative investments.
However, Chaima favours policy reforms that empower Malawians to build the nation with their own hands instead of entrenching a culture of handouts.
He argues: “Malawi is not a refugee camp. We are a sovereign State and we need to eat food produced by ourselves, not live off handouts.
“You can’t build a nation based on food and cash distribution. This kind of politics brings more oppression because even the distribution process itself lacks transparency.”
And Kubalasa reckons the country’s problem is not dreaming big, but failing to act honestly.
“Malawi has the vision. What it lacks is the ability to execute, the honesty to prioritise and the courage to reject what is unsustainable.
“Let’s build a coalition that includes youth leaders, civil society, faith groups and the private sector—not as bystanders but as drivers of change.”
