By Jones Gadama
Finally, the truth has come out. The World Bank has confirmed what every Malawian was feeling on the ground.
Malawi is rising again under President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika.
After five years of economic mess, looting, and clueless leadership under Lazarus Chakwera, discipline has returned to Capital Hill.
In its 23rd Malawi Economic Monitor (MEM) launched in Lilongwe yesterday, the World Bank Group Division Director for Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Firas Raad, has applauded the Mutharika government for what he called an “important institutional achievement.”
For the first time in more than five years, Malawi is executing its National Budget within approved limits.
The 2026/27 Budget is not being abused. It is being respected.
That statement alone tells you everything. For five solid years under Chakwera, Malawi had no budget discipline. They were spending like drunkards.
They were borrowing recklessly. They were printing money. They destroyed the Kwacha, they created 44% inflation, they created forex black market, they killed businesses.
The World Bank says under Mutharika, the primary fiscal deficit has fallen sharply from a dangerous 3.7% to only 0.4% of GDP. This is not a small achievement. This is a miracle rescue. From 3.7% to 0.4% – that is leadership.
That is what happens when you have a leader who understands economics, a leader who is a professor of business and law, not a pastor who turned State House into a church of lies.
President Mutharika came to rescue Malawi from the economic graveyard where Chakwera buried it.
Let us not forget where Chakwera left us:
1. Forex had disappeared
2. Fuel queues everywhere
3. AIP fertilizer scandal stealing billions
4. Sattar corruption
5. Uncontrolled borrowing that pushed our fiscal deficit to 8.8% and above
6. National budget that was just on paper, never followed
The World Bank itself says the overall fiscal deficit is now narrowing to 8.8% because of Mutharika’s expenditure controls, tax reforms and stronger revenue administration.
This is fiscal consolidation. This is real leadership. Mutharika is fixing what Chakwera destroyed.
Chakwera destroyed Malawi’s economy. He promised Canaan but delivered hell. He promised 1 million jobs but fired thousands. He promised cheap fertilizer but gave us sand.
He promised to cut presidential powers but was flying every week with his family. Five years of Chakwera was five years of pain.
Now look at Mutharika in less than a year. The World Bank, not DPP, not MBC – the World Bank, the most respected financial institution in the world, is saying Malawi is showing early signs of economic adjustment. Early signs of recovery.
Yes, the World Bank admits growth is still low at 2.7% because the damage Chakwera caused is so deep – persistent inflation, forex distortions, unreliable ESCOM power, weak supply chains – all these are Chakwera’s legacies that Mutharika found.
You cannot fix five years of destruction in seven months. But the direction is right. The foundation is being rebuilt.
This is why we say Malawi needs a business leader, not a motivational speaker. President Mutharika is a leader for business. He understands investors.
He understands fiscal discipline. He understands that a government must live within its means. Chakwera never understood that.
He thought government money was church offering.
Malawians, let us give credit where it is due. The World Bank has spoken. It has applauded Mutharika. It has trashed Chakwera’s five years without even mentioning his name, by saying “for the first time in more than five years.” That “five years” is Chakwera’s term. Five years of indiscipline. Five years of chaos.
Now discipline is back. Respect for the budget is back. Hope is back.
President Mutharika is indeed rescuing Malawi.
May God continue to bless Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika for restoring Malawi’s lost glory.
