By Jones Gadama
The Malawi Congress Party government did not stumble out of the IMF program. It walked out. This was for two reasons:
1. To face-save incompetence.
Chakwera administration lacked experience and the know-how to meet the minimum qualification for the IMF deal as laid out in the Extended Credit Facility that was approved on 14 November 2023. Among others, the deal demanded three things: rebuild forex, control borrowing, restructure debt. Now, when a review was due, government deserted the talks and lied that it was protecting the citizens from unfavourable preconditions.
2. To make government their feast.
With the IMF at the table, it would be difficult to steal and plunder. The IMF demands publication of procurement, quarterly fiscal reporting, reserve targets, and an independent Anti-Corruption Bureau. MCP viewed IMF as a hindrance to theft and to their 2025 political agenda.
They had public money for party functions: hiring artists, buying maheu, party cloth and zikwanje pofuna kuthana ndi ena. As a result, they pursued bush economics – a deliberate departure from conventional means of managing public resources.
This is the reason the Chakwera administration was marred by scams and scandals:
– They connived to plunder using the Bridgin Foundation and signed a $6.8 billion pact without due diligence, without Attorney General, without Reserve Bank.
– They wandered from a butchery through a pharmacy to get a good cut from fertilizer purchases – the Butchery-gate and the Pharmacy-gate.
– They itched for quick monies and smuggled a money bill to Parliament at midnight.
– They wanted quick fixes and resorted to *the medieval barter* – maize, pigeon peas and tobacco for fertilizer and fuel.
– To sugarcoat the budget and cover inefficiencies, they borrowed wantonly.
The Results Were Predictable:
– Inflation soured to about 32%, from 8% they found
– Policy rate almost trippled
– Debt level quadrapled
– Incessant forex and fuel shortages
APM changing the story: Integrity and Experience
When he became president on 4 October 2025, President Peter Mutharika did not run to print money. He brought back the IMF to the negotiating table while implementing attractive reforms including the following:
– Reduced borrowing – expenditure tightly controlled
– Austerity measures – zero foreign trips, limited local travel, State House discipline etc
– Debt restructuring – re-engaging Afrexim and Eurobond holders
– Market reforms – fuel and sugar pricing reforms
– Increased revenue
– Containing inflation
In conclusion, Chakwera government killed the IMF deal to create darkness where it could feast. While Mutharika is inviting the IMF back to bring light where books can be audited.
