What a year 2013 has been for Malawi! Following the sudden death of the former president Bingu wa Mutharika on 5th April, 2012, vice president Joyce Banda became president and started working hard to mend relations with the world and restore the economy of her country, which had almost come to a complete halt, especially due to the lack of forex caused by the freeze of foreign aid. Without forex, it became impossible to purchase fuel and motorists all across Malawi were queueing days and nights to get a chance to buy a few liters. Factories could not produce anymore; imported goods were harder to find; prices skyrocketed; and the entire economy of the country started collapsing.
013 in this respect was a good year for Malawi. The supply of fuel remained constant. Large donors (governments of countries such as USA, Germany, Norway, Japan, EU; and international agencies such as IMF and World Bank) resumed their help, crucial for Malawi as foreign partners contribute 40% of the national budget. The tobacco season yielded a good harvest and met increased prices on the market, which brought $361 million of forex into the country. Devaluation and inflation persisted though, but in a contained way compared to 2012. On the political front, President Joyce Band, boosted by her status as the second female president in Africa, continued to tour the world to gather more support for Malawi. At home, the president launched interesting projects, such as the houses the Mudzi Transformation Trust is buidling for the elderly in villages throughout the country. Her main political rival Peter Mutharika, brother of the late former president Bingu wa Mutharika, has been battling in court treason charges but is expected to take part in the upcoming presidential elections in May 2014.
Now all these promising developments were shattered on 13th September 2013 when Ministry of Finance Budget Director Paul Mphwiyo was shot outside his home in Lilongwe in an assassination attempt and then flown to South Africa for treatment. Shootings are rare in Malawi, and the fact that such a high ranked civil servant had been targeted, stunned the nation. What followed was the uncovery of the biggest corruption scandal in the history of Malawi, what the media quickly nicknamed the "cashgate scandal". Tens of millions of kwacha were found in car boots and houses of clerks and civil servants of various government ministries and up to 20 billion kwacha is today not accounted for ($50 million). The shooting of the budget director is apparently linked with the cashgate scandal, as Mr Mphwiyo was about to denounce financial malpractices. Minister of Finance Ken Lipenga was dismissed. Former minister of Justice Ralph Kasambara also lost his job and was then briefly imprisoned for his involvement in the scandal, before being released on bail. The investigation is in process right now and we are expecting more revelations in the coming weeks. Donors' confidence has been of course badly affected and major aid programs were frozen while foreign partners wait for a strong improvement in the government financial managment. This now risks to relaunch the cycle of lack of forex, shortage of fuel, devaluation and slow down of the economy, even though, as the Norwegian Ambassador to Malawi Asbjorn Eidhammer recently said, "Donors are not walking away".
This debacle explains why 2014 must be the year of truth for Malawi. Truth about the cashgate scandal must fully come out. Government reacted swiftly and many suspects have already been apprehended and their houses and assets confiscated. But Malawians deserve the whole truth about what happened to their tax money. In a country where the immense majority live in extreme poverty, this plundering of public resources by civil servants is scandalous and shameful. The president and the government must keep the pressure on and get to the bottom of this extraordinary practice of theft, which apparently has been going on for several years.
On May 20th, 2014, less than five months from today, the country will hold presidential and parlimentary elections. The 7.5 million electors who have registered to receive their elections cards (a very good outcome, as less than 8 million people are eligible to vote in Malawi) are waiting for answers and in the meantime suffering from the high price of maize, the lack of medicine in government hospitals and the late payment of civil servant such as teachers, all this partly due to the evaporation of public funds resulting from the cashgate scandal. If the government is able to bring the culprits to justice, eradicate this culture of theft and restore confidence in its financial management, President Joyce Banda and her party will be in a good position for the elections, thanks notably to their good records in civic rights and sound economic policies. If not, Malawians may be tempted by the opposition parties and their two leaders, Peter Mutharika and Atepele Muluzi, respectively brother of the former president Bingu wa Mutharika and son of the 1994 and 1999 elected president Bakili Muluzi.
In July 2014, Malawi will celebrate 50 years of independence; but Malawians today are still suffering from some of their elites' poor governance. Let's hope 2014 will be a year of truth indeed!
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