African People’s Commission Tribunal convicts IMF, World for inflicting poverty on developing nations

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The African People’s Commission of Inquiry (tribunal) has faulted World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s colonial economic policies for inflicting poverty on developing nations including Malawi.

The tribunal that sat on June 19 to 20, 2025 in the capital Lilongwe ruled that if IMF and World Bank want to continue operating in Africa must review its economic policies towards meeting the continent’s needs.

The inquiry faulted the two colonial financial institutions’ Structure Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) citing privatisation that meant to sell government companies to private earned-entities arguing that the policy cut jobs to many Africans.

The tribunal observes that IMF and World favour capitalism at the expense of poor nations.

The inquiry therefore agreed that Africa Union (AU) must rise above politic in the formation of the continent’s financial institution replacing World Bank and IMF.

Addressing the news conference after the tribunal made its verdict Advocate Layla Latif said the institutions, established in 1944 when most of Africa remained under colonial rule, cannot adequately serve the continent’s needs.

“They should not exist and we should have them completely replaced by institutions that understand the social, economic, fiscal governance and cultural concerns and the realities of the continent,” Latif said.

She cited Kenya’s House of Fiscal Wisdom as an alternative model, describing it as working toward interest-free credit systems.

Malawi’s civil society activist Mavuto Bamusi said the IMF and World Bank have operated in Malawi for nearly 60 years while poverty persists.

“To a high extent, this has been contributed to the devaluation policies which the IMF has insisted that Malawi should undertake,” Bamusi said.

He noted Malawi’s currency has devalued by more than 75% over three years.

The commission’s judgment found that austerity measures imposed by the institutions “constitute economic violence” and declared the global financial architecture “illegitimate, neo-colonial, irreparably violent.”

The African People’s Commission of Inquiry concluded that the institutions have trapped Africa in economic dependency cycles, undermining development rights and compromising sovereign governance.

African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) in conjunction with the Malawi Economic Justice Network MEJIN) and other partners organised the Tribunal focusing on the consequences of policies propagated by International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

African International People’s Tribunal attracted delegates from various backgrounds, drawn from over l 10 African countries.