By Deus Chikalaza
When Malawians go to the market, to the forex bureau, or to the filling station, they are not just experiencing prices — they are experiencing the consequences of five years of economic mismanagement under the previous Malawi Congress Party (MCP) administration – queues and unavailability.
To understand where we are today, we must remember where we started.
What MCP Inherited in 2020
In 2020, the MCP-led Tonse Alliance inherited an economy that, despite its challenges, was fundamentally stable. Forex reserves were at functional levels. The fuel supply chain was in a perfect state. The exchange rate was managed.
What followed was not building, but systematic destruction.
Five Years of Destruction: Forex and Fuel
The hallmark of the MCP’s five-year tenure was the collapse of the two pillars of any import-dependent economy: forex and fuel.
- The Forex Catastrophe:
Through reckless fiscal policy, uncontrolled borrowing, runaway domestic debt, and policy inconsistency, MCP drained the country’s foreign exchange reserves to historic lows. Import cover fell to a national emergency. The kwacha was subjected to a 44% devaluation in 2023 without a credible recovery plan, which only fueled inflation and wiped out savings.
- The Fuel Crisis:
Forex and fuel are inseparable. Because MCP destroyed forex, it destroyed fuel security. The government failed to pay fuel suppliers on time, damaged Letters of Credit, and turned a logistics issue into a full-blown economic crisis. The cost of doing business tripled.
By 2025, the economy MCP left behind was in intensive care: inflation above 30%, chronic forex scarcity, empty fuel pumps, unsustainable public debt at over 80% of GDP, and a demoralized private sector.
What the Current DPP Administration Inherited in 2025
The current DPP administration did not inherit an economy. It inherited a rescue mission.
President Arthur Peter Mutharika’s government took over a state with empty coffers, broken supply chains, damaged international creditworthiness, and a public used to scarcity as normal. Fixing this is not like switching on a light. It is like rebuilding a house whose foundation was washed away.
Restoring forex reserves takes years of disciplined export growth, investor confidence, and fiscal discipline. Restoring a credible fuel procurement system requires renegotiating supplier trust that MCP destroyed, and paying down arrears before new fuel can flow consistently. Stabilizing the kwacha requires production, not opposition social media rants or press statements.
Early signs of stabilization are emerging, but the depth of the damage means recovery will be painful and will take time. There is no quick fix for five years of destruction.
A Call for Patience
This is therefore a call to all Malawians for patience and patriotism.
The queues we see today, the high prices we feel today, are not created today. They are the hangover of the last five years. The current government is undertaking the difficult, unpopular, but necessary surgery to heal the economy — restoring fiscal discipline, sealing leakages, and rebuilding forex generation.
It will take months, not weeks, to fully recover. But unlike in the past, there is now a clear direction: from consumption to production, from borrowing to building, from crisis management to economic stability.
Malawi was destroyed in five years. It cannot be rebuilt in 12 months.
Give recovery a chance!!
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