President Lazarus Chakwera has, up to this moment, not dissolved his cabinet.
This is happening at a time when Malawi is already deep in the campaign period for the September 2025 elections.
Ministers and their aides are freely using government vehicles, fuel, and allowances to traverse the country campaigning for the Malawi Congress Party.
This practice not only creates an uneven playing field but also undermines the very idea of competitive democracy.
In functional democracies, caretaker governments or restrictions on the use of state resources are standard once elections draw near.
The purpose is simple — to separate governance from politics and ensure incumbents do not use state power to secure re-election.
By refusing to dissolve his cabinet, Chakwera is allowing state business to merge with partisan activity in a way that offends democratic principles.
Critics call this abuse of office, pointing out that the opposition has no access to the same taxpayer-funded machinery.
Supporters argue that ministers must stay in office to guarantee continuity of government.
But that argument is weak because continuity can still be maintained under a caretaker arrangement that bars ministers from mixing public duties with campaign activities.
The Malawi Electoral Commission has been conspicuously silent on the matter, leaving voters uncertain about whether democratic safeguards are being respected.
That silence is troubling because it suggests either complicity or a failure to enforce fairness in the electoral process.
This episode speaks to Malawi’s long-standing political culture in which incumbents routinely blur the lines between governance and campaigning.
Concluding Analysis
Chakwera’s decision not to dissolve his cabinet, while his ministers use public resources to campaign, may not explicitly break the Constitution, but it violates its democratic spirit.
The Constitution of Malawi, particularly Sections 67 and 92, sets structures for dissolving Parliament and defining cabinet functions — structures meant to protect electoral fairness.
When incumbents stretch these provisions to their political advantage, they erode trust in democracy and cast doubt on the credibility of elections.
If such practices continue unchecked, Malawi risks normalizing an electoral culture where incumbency guarantees unfair advantage, and elections lose their meaning as a contest of ideas.
True democracy demands more than technical legality; it demands fairness, transparency, and respect for the people’s right to choose without manipulation of state power.