Cut wastefulness, govt told
Cutting on wasteful expenditure and expanding the revenue base emerged as key proposals during the second leg of the 2025/26 National Budget Consultations in Mzuzu yesterday.
During the meeting, stakeholders said leakages of public funds through corruption in procurement, bloated Cabinet, presidential travels and Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP), among others, have worsened the economic situation of the country.

In his contribution, rights activist and Nyika Institute executive director Moses Mkandawire said the country’s macro-economy has, in the past four years, continued to deteriorate because of such leakages.
He said: “The economy is characterised by electricity deficits, unsustainable public debt, fiscal indiscipline and weak service delivery, among others.
“We need to strengthen the public finance management system in terms of budget transparency, public spending control and equitable distribution of resources, if we are to turn around the economy.”
On his part, Church of Central Africa Presbyterian- Synod of Livingstonia Church and Society Progrmme national coordinator the Reverend McBowman Mulagha called for the abolition of AIP.
He said: “The AIP is not sustainable, highly politicised, and bedevilled with corruption. Redirect resources to agricultural extension or transport and public works or education.”
From the academia, Mzuzu University Vice- Chancellor Professor Wales Singini said they were concerned that institutions of higher learning still depend on government subventions to sustain their services.
He suggested a shift in financing models that are linked to research, student enrolment and student graduation rates.
Said Singini : “ Let government support local borrowing for investments like in mega farms , mining, energy generation, tourism.”
Malawi Local Government Association (Malga) raised a concern on the Local Government Act and Decentralisation Policy’s failures. Malga said central government was not remitting allocations to councils, suffocating them in the process.
Malga representative Dennis Chinseu, who is also Blantyre City Council chief executive officer, said ceded revenue include toll fees, vehicle registration fees, fuel levy, gambling fees and industrial registration fees.
“As local authorities, we have not benefitted from the ceded revenue. Absence of guidelines to operationalise sharing of ceded revenue between the central government and local authorities remains the stumbling block to the realisation of this.
“Treasury should take the lead in ensuring that guidelines are in place on sharing of ceded revenue,” he said.
Besides, people who attended the meeting also suggested setting up of toll gates and ensuring that all those who come to import goods change the forex through proper channels.
Responding to the contributions , Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Simplex Chithyola Banda said it was important that stakeholders appreciate what government is doing.
“We need to move from predominantly basing our budget on consumption to investment because it is only when we produce more that we can get more in terms of forex and tax.
“So far, there are several areas of production such as mining, carbon credit markets, labour export and diaspora investment that we will need to explore as potential sources of revenue,” he said.
Pre-budget consultat ions provide a platform for the Ministry of Finance to solicit input from stakeholders for possible consideration in the national budget.
The minister is expected to present the 2025/26 National Budget during the 51st Session of Parliament set to open on February 14 2025.