Members of Parliament (MPs)-elect started their orientation for the 2025-2030 cohort with calls from stakeholders to defy party lines and unite in confronting deep-rooted vices that have long choked Malawi’s development.
Delivering a keynote address at the opening of the week-long orientation in Lilongwe yesterday, United Nations resident coordinator Rebecca Adda-Dontoh dared the lawmakers to be bold and decisive in decision-making.
She said they should appreciate that they are in Parliament on the trust of Malawians.
Adda-Dontoh said Malawians expect the lawmakers to tackle corruption, help fix the bleeding economy and take the country from where it is now towards achieving its development aspirations.
She said: “I am confident that Malawi can do it and I am confident that with this cohort of parliamentarians, using collaborative problem solving, they can help Malawi to achieve its development aspirations.
“It is not only leaders, everybody and every leader in Malawi has to make tough decisions in terms of austerity, in terms of government expenditure and parliamentary expenditure.
“They have to make tough decisions in terms of modelling integrity, in terms of modelling transparency—the values for which Malawians voted them for. It takes tough decisions to be able to take a country out of the development challenges similar to what Malawi is facing currently.”
African Institute for Development Policy (Afidep) executive director Eliya Zulu, taking his turn, said the September 16 2025 General Election demonstrated that Malawians have a clear desire for change in the way development business is conducted.
He said MPs have a critical role to play in shaping the country’s development destiny through their oversight, legislation and representation roles.
Said Zulu: “Persistent food insecurity, stunted economic growth, low creation of quality jobs and livelihoods and dependence on the government for daily needs by millions of Malawians has led some development experts to suggest that the country should be classified as a humanitarian case.
“Yet Malawi has abundant natural resources, including minerals, and a vibrant youthful population that can engineer sustainable socioeconomic transformation if the right investments in education, skill development and economic empowerment are made through the demographic dividend.”
In her remarks, Clerk of Parliament Fiona Kalemba called on the MPs-elect to shift from election to action, and build a Parliament that will not only be a beacon of democracy but also provide robust oversight for the country’s purse.
Her call was in line with the orientation theme ‘From election to action: Empowering parliamentarians for impactful legislation, governance and transformative leadership’.
Kalemba stressed that Parliament is key to good governance as it strengthens accountability.
Meanwhile, Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency executive director Willy Kambwandira has tipped the new cohort to do things differently as the performance of the previous Parliament was largely disappointing.
In an interview, he noted that the outgoing cohort prioritised personal and party interests at the expense of Malawians.
In a separate interview, democracy and governance expert Dr Augustine Magolowondo observed that the newly-elected MPs are coming from diverse backgrounds and the orientation offers them an opportunity to know what Malawians expect of them.
He said the lawmakers are coming at a time when Malawians are facing tough economic pressures and hopes are high that the MPs will help offer solutions to these challenges.
Dowa East MP-elect Richard Chimwendo Banda, who served as Leader of the House in the immediate-past Parliament, said the orientation is going on well, adding that the line-up of sessions i offers more practical examples which he hopes will help the MPs as they serve Malawians.
There are 224 MPs-elect undergoing the orientation workshop as five seats remain vacant due to various electoral-related issues.
The MPs-elect will be sworn-in on Monday and Tuesday next week ahead of the elections of Speakers on October 29 and State Opening of the 52nd Session of Parliament on October 31 by President Peter Mutharika.
