By Apengie Apengire
When a ruling party starts spending more time manufacturing fake letters than fixing the economy, it tells you everything you need to know about how scared and directionless it has become. That is the position the Democratic Progressive Party finds itself in today. Months after returning to power, the DPP-led government is not being judged on its promises delivered, but on its panicked attempts to distract Malawians from its failures by creating false narratives against the Malawi Congress Party.
The latest episode played out on social media on Thursday this week when a letter purportedly written by MCP National Publicity Secretary Hon. Dr. Jessie Kabwila began circulating online. The document claimed to announce internal MCP disciplinary processes and contained inflammatory language clearly designed to stoke public anger and portray MCP as unstable. Within hours, MCP issued a categorical denial. Dr. Kabwila stated publicly that the party had not authored the letter and that it was a fabrication intended to mislead Malawians.
This publication has been reliably informed that the letter did not originate from MCP offices. According to a source within the DPP, the document was drafted and circulated by members of the DPP communications team. The source said the party’s leadership is “not at peace” and is “scared of the MCP’s resurgence,” and has therefore resolved to suffocate the opposition through any means possible, including the spread of fake news.
That admission confirms what many Malawians have suspected since DPP returned to power: the party is more interested in fighting MCP than governing Malawi. When you cannot deliver on the promises that brought you back to State House, you resort to propaganda, diversion, and fearmongering.
The facts on the ground expose why DPP is in panic mode. During the campaign and in the run-up to the 2025 elections, DPP made the cost of living its central rallying cry. It accused the MCP-led government of presiding over a cost-of-living crisis and promised that once back in power, prices would come down and Malawians would breathe again. The reality since September 2025 has been the exact opposite.
Take sugar. Under the MCP administration, a kilogram of sugar was selling at around K3,500 in most trading centers. Today, the same kilogram is retailing at K6,000 in Lilongwe, Blantyre, and Mzuzu. That is a 71% increase in less than a year. U-Fresh soap, which was at K700 during MCP’s tenure, now costs K1,000. Cooking oil, maize, cement, and basic household goods have followed the same trajectory. The DPP, which built its entire campaign on “lowering prices,” has overseen the sharpest spike in basic commodities in recent memory.
Then there is electricity. Malawians will recall that during the MCP years, load shedding was reduced significantly. While it was not eliminated, the persistent, crippling blackouts that defined the DPP era between 2014 and 2020 had become rare. Businesses could plan, hospitals could operate, and students could study at night. Since DPP returned, load shedding is back with a vengeance. In many areas, power goes off for 8 to 12 hours a day. ESCOM has offered no credible plan, and the Ministry of Energy has been conspicuously silent, choosing instead to issue generic statements blaming “technical faults.”
Instead of addressing these failures, the DPP has chosen to manufacture distractions. The circulation of the fake Kabwila letter is not an isolated incident. It fits into a clear pattern of trying to shift blame and create the illusion that MCP is the problem. The party’s strategists appear to believe that if they can keep MCP on the defensive, Malawians will forget about the K6,000 sugar and the daily blackouts.
This is a government that is failing on its core mandate and is scared of being held accountable. The DPP knows that MCP remains the most organized opposition force in the country. MCP’s structures are intact from the grassroots to the national level. Its messaging resonates with young voters and the urban poor, the very demographics that swung the 2025 election. DPP’s internal polls, according to multiple sources, show a steady decline in public confidence since January 2026. That is why the panic has set in.
A confident government does not need to fake letters. A confident government does not need to pay bloggers to trend hashtags about opposition infighting. A confident government faces the people, explains the challenges, and presents a plan. The DPP is doing none of that. Instead, it is borrowing from its old playbook of propaganda, intimidation, and diversion.
Malawians are not fools. They remember that the DPP’s previous 6 years in power were marked by cashgate, nepotism, and economic mismanagement. They also remember that in the 5 years under MCP, inflation was more stable, fuel was available, and load shedding was manageable. The comparison is not flattering for the current administration, and that is why the fear is intensive.
The danger in this strategy is that it erodes public trust in all political communication. When a ruling party is caught circulating fake documents, it undermines the credibility of genuine public notices and makes it harder for citizens to distinguish fact from fiction. It also creates an environment of suspicion and hostility that makes national dialogue impossible.
If the DPP wants to regain the confidence of Malawians, it must stop looking over its shoulder at MCP and start looking at the markets, the hospitals, and the power stations. No amount of fake news can bring down the price of sugar. No amount of propaganda can keep the lights on. The only thing that can do that is competent governance, something Malawians are yet to see under this administration.
Malawi deserves better than a government that governs through fear, lies, and diversion. The people voted for change, not for a recycled version of the same arrogance and failure that cost DPP power in 2020. If the DPP cannot deliver, it should at least have the courage to admit it, instead of hiding behind fake letters and false narratives.
The clock is ticking, and Malawians are watching. The sugar price, the blackouts, and the empty promises are all being recorded. No amount of fake news can erase that record.
