By Kondanani Chilimunthaka

President Lazarus Chakwera on Tuesday, 23rd May, 2023 told the nation that governance, institutional dysfunctions, and external shocks have for long created conditions not conducive for development of the country as they have been negatively impacting on the economic growth.

He was speaking at Bingu International Convention Center (BICC) in the city of Lilongwe at the Malawi Investment Summit II.

In his speech, Malawi leader mentioned governance dysfunctions and external shocks as being the country’s major challenges towards achieving meaningful development over decades.

“As you may recall, I mentioned two major obstacles that stand in the way of our efforts to create the conditions for a producing, exporting, and forex-generating economy. The first such obstacle I mentioned at that time is the governance dysfunctions in the public institutions responsible for running these sectors. For decades, we have had public institutions that are meant to regulate sectors of our economy but that do not do so efficiently, either because of corruption, or because of slowness in execution, or because of incompetence, or because of resource constraints, or because of political sabotage, or because of petty fights by institutional leaders with fragile egos. The institution dysfunctions that emanate from these toxic elements often leave many sectors of our economy too disorganized, too neglected, too unregulated, and too exposed to exploitation to attract meaningful investments or to unleash their potential.

For this reason, two of the economic enablers we have spelled out in Malawi 2063 are building effective governance institutions and systems, and enhancing public sector performance. As such my administration’s present posture is to intensify the level of accountability for heads of governance institutions, streamline systems that are needlessly long, tedious, and redundant, and exacting uncompromising and unapologetic consequences for public service deliverers whose performance is woefully poor.” Said President Chakwera.

Further, Chakwera mentioned the external shocks of Covid-19, War in Eastern Europe, and Tropical Storms as another major obstacle that has tormented the country’s economic progress.

However, the President told the nation that despite all the challenges, Malawi has been upbeat in the quest for economic growth through Private Sector Investment, hence restoration of the power plant at Kapichira power station, and government’s embankment on the pursuit of winter cropping and Mega farms among others to create wealth, jobs, and achieve food security in the country in the midst of all the challenges.

In his speech, President Chakwera has once again said Malawi can easily become a middle-income economy only through increased Private Sector productivity, saying it is the primary sector where a healthy, and strong nation creates jobs, wealth, and achieve food security for its citizens.

Meanwhile, President Chakwera has said he is sending Ministers of Agriculture, Tourism, and Mining to South Africa to address potential investors at the Malawi Investment Forum that is being hosted by the Malawian Embassy as one way of intensifying country’s vision of prioritizing Agriculture, Tourism, and Mining for economic transformation under the ATM Strategy.