Edward Chisanga
On September 15, 2025 or a day prior to elections, I published an article entitled, “Why Malawi’ chief salesman of words is not coming back to sell more words.” I got one main reaction from a blogger who said, “The problem with Malawi is same problem we have in Zambia. No serious opposition and Chakwera is coming back.” Well, I thank the blogger for his reaction. But Chakwera is not coming back.
At the heart of my article was a collapsed Malawian economy that triggered Mr. Chakwera’s downfall. I argued that the economy, in particular the GDP per capita had contracted so much, amid its infinitesimal size, that it is, as he leaves office, in the abyss. I expand on that and include the Church, which also warned about the poor state of the economy.
The Church, in particular in Africa represents a better member of parliament for the people than the politically elected MPs. While the elected MPs are largely driven by an insatiable and unbridled appetite for material gains from their jobs, the Church stands out as an honest and material-free MP, representing real interests of the people wherever the Church is found. While elected MPs line up for monthly allowances and other benefits, the Church depends on donations from its followers.
While elected MPs spend limited time with the poor, afflicted and helpless, the Church is permanently available providing health care, food, water and divine support. Elected MPs and their leaders are often artificial thriving on self-approbation while the Church stands realistic. Elected MPs come and go while the Church remains. The Church is the people just as the people are the Church in most African countries.
In other words, the bond that exists between the Church and those it serves are far more important than with political leadership. That’s why, any reasoning politicians will only ignore the Church at his or her own peril. Of course, politicians buy poor people by giving them bribes. But the Church does not have that money. Even if it had, that simply is not the way it works.
You’ve to visit the official website of the Catholic Church of Malawi to see how many letters it wrote to President Chakwera and his government to understand the extent to which Mr. Chakwera, who campaigned on the church as a ‘messiah’ on earth, failed his own God. You’d expect divine logic to play a major role in Chakwera’s governance of Malawi, in particular working closely with the Church. But he failed.
Chakwera failed for many reasons. But one extremely important is that he failed to listen to the Church. The church referred to him as salesman of words. Yet he did not take hid to that warning or sign. The Church repeated asking Mr. Chakwera’s government to address basic needs of governance. On February 25, 2024, a pastoral letter of the Catholic Bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi was published by a newspaper. It listed concerns similar to those found in almost every African country.
The Church was concerned about what it called, “Fruitless engagement with the state president. It complained to Malawians that despite privately engaging the state president several times, it fails to see any positive change in the general governance of the country or improvement in the plight of poor people across the country. “We’ve repeatedly warned the Government leadership that if poor governance continued, the state of our nation would become far worse than it was four years ago. Unfortunately, our prediction has come true.
It complained about judiciary, saying, “Even the judiciary appears to have abandoned its integrity and has embroiled itself in corruption and partisanship. The price of judges and magistrates is no longer taboo; it’s an open secret that some lawyers thrive by bribing judges and magistrates to defeat the ends of justice. Some judges and magistrates are accountable to no one.”
The Church is concerned about the evil of religious intolerance and violence based on physical and verbal attacks inter-party squabbling. The Church complained about the suffering of the poor who cannot afford three decent meals a day because of high prices of essential goods and services. It was concerned that Malawi and its people were not arriving at the promised land.
It must be remembered that the Church seeks no allowances, political appointments or fame in asking for collaboration with African governments in making lives of the poor better. The Church is not an opposition party seeking to outperform the ruling party. The needs of the Church are simple. It simply wants to fulfil teachings of Jesus Christ.
The Book of Luke says, “Then he looked up at his disciples and said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.’ The Book of Matthew says, “Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”
The Church simply wants equality, dignity and fair treatment of the poor. The high cost of living is the main problem in Malawi. The poor need food, clean water, sanitation, energy, and other essential things. The poor are equally entitled to jobs in Zambia’s embassies and missions abroad, in government departments and parastatal organizations, to public contracts, and other government facilities. The poor deserve to be an integral part of government, not simply as tools for winning votes but for benefiting from government.
Finally, when the Church speaks, it does so on behalf of the poor who it always sees confronted with social, economic and even political problems every day at their doorstep. The Church therefore is or can be government’s hope for success. If Chakwera has worked with the Church, that represented his MPs much better, because of its closeness with the people, today, he would have been waiting to be installed to serve his second term. He ignored the Church at his own peril. The Church or God is the most effective invisible opposition party because of the followers behind it.
Mr. Chakwera invested more in words than action. It’s no wonder, the Church nicknamed Chakwera salesman of words. Of course, this has implications and lessons for other African leaders. If it has brought the downfall of many governments, why are leaders of today not learning from these mistakes and doing better? Why can’t we simply do the rights things and let people judge? Why can’t we simply serve the people in dignity? When a father or husband in the house does good things for the family, he doesn’t remind them. Instead, they do.
He promised to donate laptops to all students in Malawi. He gave free handouts. He proclaimed and pronounced economic and other achievements. HE STILL LOST. So, change while the sun shines. The problem is not losing elections. It’s the impact that it brings on private life of Chakwera and his family and close friends.