President Lazarus Chakwera’s running mate Vitumbiko Mumba says it is unfortunate that the governing Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is under fire for unfulfilled campaign pledges mooted by its former alliance partner UTM Party.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Karonga on Saturday, he said UTM Party, which partnered MCP and others in the now disintegrated Tonse Alliance in the court-sanctioned June 2020 fresh presidential election, misled the MCP with pledges of low-cost fertiliser and creating one million jobs.
Mumba alleged that UTM “was not serious” when it promised fertiliser at K4 950 per 50 kilogramme (kg) bag and the creation of one million jobs.
He said the party failed to explain how the commitments could be delivered once in power, leaving Chakwera and MCP to shoulder the blame for promises that have since proven unrealistic.
“They [UTM] said it was just politics when we asked them how we can implement those promises,” Mumba told the crowd.
He said the state of the civil service, with around 276 600 employees, made it clear that the government could not directly absorb vast numbers of new recruits, adding that job creation was best achieved by enabling private sector growth.
Ironically, in its 2025 manifesto MCP is pledging three million jobs while UTM has maintained its pledge of one million jobs and a fertiliser price cap of K50 000.
While Mumba told the rally that one million jobs were unachievable, in February 2022 President Chakwera told Parliament in his State of the Nation Address that in the 2021/22 fiscal year, his administration had created 997 423 jobs in both the private and public sectors.
Former minister of Labour Vera Kamtukule further clarified that government is guided by International Labour Organisation definition of a job which covers employees, the self-employed and family workers, among many.
UTM Party spokesperson Felix Njawala did not respond to calls for comment yesterday on several attempts.
However, during an opposition Democratic Progressive Party campaign rally in Mzuzu yesterday addressed by former president Peter Mutharika, Alliance for Democracy (Aford) president Enock Chihana said Mumba was ill-informed on the 2020 fresh presidential election campaign promises.
Claiming to have been one of the Tonse Alliance signatories, he said there were guidelines on how the strategies would be implemented.
Chihana said Chakwera is also on record to have declared that “fertiliser muzagula pa K4 000 n’kanthu [you will buy fertiliser at K4 000 and a small amount]”.
He added that during the Tonse Alliance’s first year “when Chilima was working as Vice-President” beneficiaries of Affordable Inputs Programme redeemed fertiliser at K4 950 per 50kg bag, thus it was unfair to push the blame to a deceased person who cannot defend himself.
During a recent whistle-stop tour in Neno, Njawala is also on record to have defended his party’s record, insisting that the fertiliser price pledge was achieved in 2020 when Chilima briefly served as Minister of Economic Planning.
In separate interviews yesterday, political analysts were also quick to criticise MCP’s attempt to shift responsibility.
Political analyst Chrispin Mphande argued that the party cannot distance itself from promises made jointly under the Tonse Alliance banner.
“They campaigned together on those commitments, and those promises helped them get into government. Politicians must learn to make realistic pledges, otherwise, as we are seeing now, it backfires,” he said.
Mphande said MCP’s recent attempt to redefine the “one million jobs” as encompassing motorcycle taxi operators had already fuelled scepticism among voters.
Another analyst George Chaima accused MCP of taking Malawians for granted, saying: “President Chakwera himself repeatedly made these promises in 2020. It is not just the fertiliser and jobs that remain unfulfilled, there are many others. MCP cannot run away from accountability.”
He said that distancing itself from the Tonse Alliance record undermines MCP’s credibility.
The Tonse Alliance was formed ahead of the court-sanctioned 2020 fresh presidential election in a deal that saw Chakwera, who was the second petitioner in the 2019 presidential election case that led to nullification of results over irregularities, and Chilima as the first petitioner, teaming up as presidential candidate and running mate, respectively.
In its 2019 election manifesto, Chilima and UTM promised one million jobs, food security with fertiliser at K4 950 per bag against prevailing prices of around K20 000 and mega farms, among others. Between 2020 and now, fertiliser prices have escalated to around K150 000 per bag.
