By Durell Namasani
In a comprehensive New Year’s message posted to his Facebook page, distinguished governance expert Dr. McBride Peter Nkhalamba has issued a clarion call for Malawi to embrace radical change, arguing the nation stands at a critical crossroads as it enters 2026. The founder and President of the Stresemann Innovation Group stated that traditional approaches to the country’s challenges are no longer sufficient.
In his post, titled “A New Year’s Message to the People of Malawi,” Nkhalamba wrote that while agriculture remains the backbone, a lasting economy cannot be built on fertilizer and maize seeds alone. He urged a shift beyond subsistence farming toward commercial agriculture and manufacturing, and emphasised the urgent need to engage with the digital frontier, including artificial intelligence and green energy.
The hard truth is that the way we have approached our problems, our traditional paths no longer suffice or effective, Nkhalamba stated. The world is racing into an era of artificial intelligence, green energy, and global digital competition. Malawi must find its place.
He called for hard, collective decisions from all Malawians, particularly the youth. On politics, he advocated choosing leaders by visionary competence and integrity rather than tribe or patronage, and demanded daily accountability. For the economy, he pressed for courageous diversification, a stable investment climate, and infrastructure that supports continental and global trade.
The foundation of this new future is each and everyone one of us, our people, he wrote. Our most urgent national project is the total transformation of our human capital. He championed investment in relevant education focused on science, technology, and vocational skills, alongside a cultural shift from consumption to production and from blaming to solving.
Malawians, the future is not something that happens to us. It is something we build, Nkhalamba concluded. Let 2026 be the year we commit to building a self-reliant, knowledge-driven, and industrious Malawi.
Dr. McBride Peter Nkhalamba is a recognized Malawian expert in governance and international affairs and a board director for Corporate and Institutional Integrity Africa (CII-Africa).