By Edwin Mauluka
President Peter Mutharika has announced a major push to rebuild Malawi’s civil service, saying the system once known for excellence has deteriorated and is failing to deliver essential services to citizens.
“Sadly, service delivery across all sectors has collapsed,” Mutharika said on Friday during the official opening of the 52nd Session of Parliament and the Mid-Term Review of the 2025/2026 National Budget.
He said Malawians continue to struggle to access basic services such as education, healthcare, clean water, and sanitation. Others, he added, face long delays in obtaining passports, driving licences, electricity connections, pensions, and social welfare benefits.
Observers have noted that since the dawn of multiparty democracy in the early 1990s, corruption and political interference have weakened the civil service, eroding public trust. Many citizens complain of being asked to pay bribes for services that should be free.
Mutharika said rebuilding the system requires restoring professionalism and ending the promotion and hiring of unqualified individuals through favoritism or nepotism.
“This was not an ordinary election,” he said. “Malawians voted beyond regional, tribal, and religious lines. That should teach us that our differences must never be used as a licence to discriminate or deny others opportunities.”
The president also reaffirmed his commitment to non-interference with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and urged all Malawians to prioritize national interest over personal gain in the collective effort to rebuild the country.
Mutharika further called for stronger social safety nets to support vulnerable groups, particularly the elderly and people with disabilities, through the Social Cash Transfer Programme.
On the diplomatic front, the president said his government would pursue economic diplomacy as the foundation of Malawi’s foreign policy. The strategy, he explained, will focus on strengthening existing partnerships while forging new ones to attract investment and advance Malawi’s development goals.
The country’s embassies and missions abroad must work to promote Malawi as a destination for investment and trade, Mutharika said.
