When one is drafting or delivering a speech, it is said that the beginning and the ending are very critical apart from lively or powerful delivery of the message.
The end should always be memorable while summing up the message in a lively manner, kind of a happy ending as in fairytale movies or novels.
I would say President Peter Mutharika’s delivery of the State Opening Address to the 52nd Session of Parliament on October 31 2025 ticked some of the boxes that determine a good speech and to me it was mostly the ending. It said it all, made the intent of his administration known to all.
“Mr. Speaker, Sir, if we get the economy right, we get everything else right. It is a growing economy that will create more jobs for the youth and women. But for all this to happen, good governance and rule of law will be very key. I will not tolerate any corruption. My government will empower the Anti-Corruption Bureau to prosecute corruption cases without fear or favour. In the end, we will all have the Malawi we want,” said the President.
The economy is everything and when people entrusted with leadership demonstrate good knowledge of the economy and how they hope to navigate through, it inspires some level of confidence and hope.
In separate engagements, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation Joseph Mwanamvekha and Minister of Trade, Industrialisation, Business and Tourism George Partridge, both economists of repute, have also given hints of what needs to be done to turn around an economy in the doldrums amid prevailing challenges.
Further, presentations at the Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama) 2025 Annual Economic Conference held in Mangochi last week under a thoughtful theme ‘Beyond the crises: Reshaping the economy’ also gave insights into what needs to be done. It may not be the first time Ecama has offered such “free consultancy”, they have always done so but many times the recommendations have fallen on deaf ears or indeed misconstrued as “political”, as it were.
My takeaways from the Ecama conference are that, as a country, we need to pull up our socks if we are to turnaround this economy. Doing so will require a mindset change, boosting production, including for export, growing the revenue base and investing more in productive sectors instead of consumption.
Besides, fiscal discipline, strong governance and oversight institutions as well as genuine fight against corruption are the other parameters to consider in practice, not merely paying lip-service.
Mutharika and team have inherited an economy riddled with rising cost of living, high inflation and interest rates as well as foreign exchange and fuel scarcities.
It is an economy in the doldrums, choked by a public debt stock of over K16.19 trillion or equivalent to 86.4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), with external debt stock recorded at $4.27 billion (about K7.4 trillion) and domestic debt at $5 billion (about K8.79 trillion) based on Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs data. Inflation rate stood at 28.2 percent in August 2025 from 27.30 percent in July of 2025 while interest rates are at 26 percent.
By contrast, when Mutharika and DPP were kicked out of government five years ago, year-on-year headline inflation rate was at 8.5 percent and the policy rate or the benchmark interest rate was 13.50 percent.
In the circumstances, it is clear that the new administration has a daunting task of resuscitating the economy from the death bed.
Breathing life into a dead economy demands strong leadership, having the right people in the right places, not amateurs to learn on the job. In other words, you need a ‘war Cabinet’ comprising people of great depth and proven experience, not efulefus and so far, the President has not disappointed in the choice of his Cabinet which has blended people with a good or solid understanding of economics, politics and diplomacy in key portfolios.
Fiscal discipline should be seen to be done while an export-led recovery and reform of foreign exchange markets to avert a deeper balance-of-payments crisis should be embraced.
I would also urge an end to the “black market” madness where everything has to be sourced through the parallel market whose ‘Monetary Policy Committee’ has been given too much leverage to call the shots to the detriment of the economy.
The economy is everything. Bad economic management has brought down governments both closer home and beyond. “It’s the economy, stupid!”, so said Bill Clinton’s campaign manager James Carville in the successful White House bid in 1992.
Policies that can address foreign exchange shortages both on the supply and demand side, not devaluation, will be critical to address the problem.
Poor or lack of coordination in terms of policy mix has tended to send mixed signals and I would urge the new team to ensure that monetary policy and fiscal policy custodians should read each other to avoid the chaos we see.
Tomorrow, Minister of Finance is set to table the Mid-Year Budget Review Statement in Parliament. This is an important moment as it will provide a reality check and give an indication on the direction the new administration is seeking to take the country to.
Will it be the Promised Land of Canaan again or Singapore? Time will tell.
