President Arthur Peter Mutharika campaigned on a ‘Return to Proven Leadership’.
With 100 days into his presidency, has the man who won State House with 57 percent of the eligible votes cast on September 16 2025, lived up to his mantra?
The majority of The Nation’s 10-member panel of leading experts in public administration, public finance, political science, law, governance and human rights who also regularly comment on public policy and national leadership in our news brands—generally agreed when asked to rate out of 10 “whether Mutharika has performed as a strong and decisive leader”.
On average, the panel awarded the President a 64.5 percent rating, signalling broad appeal for his brand of leadership, but still with significant negative sentiments that may reflect dissatisfaction with how Mutharika handled certain decisions during the period under review.
We also asked the panelists to explain their ratings with examples wherever possible on issues covering what were considered voters’ most pressing issues during the campaign.
These issues included economic management, agriculture and food security, corruption, climate change, energy, education, health, governance and rule of law—people’s concerns around which the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) built its winning manifesto.
Of the 10 panellists, three gave the President a rating of eight; one scored him seven, three gave Mutharika a six, one handed him 5.5 and two rated the Malawian leader five out of 10.
Signs that the economy is stabilising such as falling inflation driven by softening staple grain maize prices, a marked improvement in the availability of fuel buoyed by the President’s quick wins on manifesto implementation, are helping Mutharika sustain people’s confidence in him.
“We have seen actions in what was promised during the campaign. For example, free secondary school education, moving of some government offices back to Blantyre from Lilongwe, stabilisation of [key economic fundamentals], prices [of maize] dropping and availability of fuel,” said Wonderful Mkhutche, a political scientist with expertise in governance and public administration.
Educationist Limbani Nsapato noted that the President’s rapid implementation of free secondary education, his moves to scrap fees and other barriers in primary education to make it truly free and prioritising construction of Mombera University with Second Vice-President Enock Chihana as implementation lead, are not just straight out of the DPP manifesto, but also show the strategic ingenuity of Mutharika’s leadership style.
But Nsapato said the President should have better handled redeployments of public officers, including chief executives of statutory bodies and senior technocrats, especially those sent to teach in public education institutions when they do not have requisite qualifications and experience to serve as academics.
Cabinet, other appointments
For others, though, delays in making crucial appointments, hiring of people answering criminal charges, weak implementation of austerity measures, including how First Vice President Jane Ansah’s private trip to the United Kingdom was handled, are troubling.
Boniface Dulani, Associate Professor of political science at the University of Malawi (Unima), said Mutharika’s delays in appointing a full Cabinet and parastatal boards did not support the promise he made that he would hit the ground running once elected.
“Appointments of individuals answering various criminal charges into Cabinet and senior government positions suggests a leader who is placing loyalty and partisanship above the interests of the country,” he said.
“The one area where the President has been decisive, although not necessarily for good, is the manner with which his administration has moved individuals from key positions in the civil service and parastatal sector,” Dulani said.
Human rights activist Gift Trapence agreed, saying there have also been firing and appointment of some public officers, especially chief executive officers (CEOs), without following the law.
“The issue of compensating those who are political party sympathizers and favouring certain groups of tribes ignoring equal opportunities to all well qualified Malawians who are not linked to political parties, has resurfaced,” he argued.
On his part, National Advocacy Platform chairperson Benedicto Kondowe said the President showed strong and decisive leadership by appointing a largely competent and experienced Cabinet, undertaking a civil service headcount to confront the long-standing problem of ghost workers, presided over the stabilization of fuel supply after a period of uncertainty and acted quickly and forcefully to secure maize from Zambia to support Malawians facing food insecurity.
“These are concrete and reassuring steps. However, concerns remain around pace, follow-through and credibility, particularly where some Cabinet members are answering criminal charges,” he said.
On his part, Michael Kaiyatsa of Human Rights Defenders Coalition said the President’s decision to reshuffle Cabinet within his first 100 days in office, apparently in response to weak performance and misconduct among some Cabinet members, was a plus.
“Such an early reshuffle indicates a willingness to make difficult decisions and correct course where expectations are not being met,” said Kaiyatsa.
Austerity measures queried
But Civil Society Accountability and Transparency executive director Willy Kambwandira argued that the expansion of the Cabinet from 24 to 28 members despite a harsh fiscal environment contradicts the rhetoric on austerity and weakens the image of firm leadership.
“It suggests accommodation of political interests over tough economic choices. Again, while the President has spoken strongly about transparency, accountability and fiscal discipline, there has been limited follow through in terms of visible enforcement actions, institutional reforms or consequences for under-performance and abuse of public resources,” he stated.
For governance, public policy and human rights advocate Undule Mwakasungula,Mutharika’s handling of First Vice-President Jane Ansah’s private trip to the United Kingdom was problematic because information that she would use personal resources came late and contradicted the Ministry of Information’s statement that government had approved to finance five people.
While Mwakasungula hailed the President for insisting that Ansah would use personal resources, saying such disclosure showed transparency and bold leadership, others disagreed.
Chrispin Mphande, an expert in development politics from Mzuzu University, said the President should have managed Ansah’s trip before it spilled over to the public, not after.
“The only part, which in my view may not necessarily be his [Mutharika’s] fault, is managing the narrative of the VP’s private visit. The information desk didn’t do a good homework,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mutharika won near unanimous praise from our panellists for rejecting the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Constitutional Amendment Bill, with governance analyst George Chaima describing it as a sign of strong and decisive leadership that does not want to satisfy political egos of legislators.
