By Joseph Dumbula, Blantyre Malawi.
President Lazarus Chakwera is insisting he will continue to ‘guide Malawi into socio-economic stability’, a stance that dares the opposition and good governance that his regime has not done substantial work to bail out the Southern African nation out of its woes.
The nation is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranked 174 of 189 countries on the Human Development Index with over half the population living in poverty, and one-fifth in extreme poverty.
This is compounded by a challenging access to clean water, sanitation, and health care.
In the recent months, Chakwera has been accused by for instance former President Peter Mutharika of failing to lead the nation.
President Lazarus Chakwera says his administration will continue the agenda of transforming the country to attain the Malawi 2063 vision of a self-reliant nation.
But his administration has since 2020, when he won the disputed fresh presidential poll grappled with corruption.
At the moment, last year’s Corruption Perception Index released by Transparency International has shown that Malawi’s performance has remained constant on corruption scores.
The report shows that Malawi has scored 34 out of 100 points and has been ranked 115 out of 180 countries that have been assessed.
In 2022, Malawi scored 34 out of 100 points and was ranked 110 out of 180 countries and territories that were assessed.
The 2023 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) shows that corruption is still thriving across the world.
The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories around the globe by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring them on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
However, Chakwera has said he remains steadfast to driving the nation into marking developmental activities.
He recently told a public rally that his government will continue to intensify efforts to ensure that people have access to clean water for improved hygiene and sanitation.
Mutharika has been slamming Chakwera over the 44 devaluation of the Malawi Kwacha against the US Dollar in 2023, a tag that government spokesperson Moses Kunkuyu has repeatedly termed as mere political bitterness.
As Malawi heads to the polls, Chakwera is most likely going to have a tall order into convicing the voters on matters to do with a steady rise in prices of goods and services as well as the fallout out of the economy at large.
