Projects that could lower costs, create jobs and save foreign exchange continue to face unexplained obstacles. From fertiliser manufacturing to specialist healthcare, Malawi’s biggest challenge may not be a lack of investment, but a system that rewards dependence and resists change.
EDITORIAL | Political Economy
A broken system is one that no longer serves its intended purpose. Its institutions remain intact, its rules still exist on paper, but the outcomes consistently fall short of the public good. Over time, dysfunction becomes normalized and failure begins to look less like an accident and more like a feature.
Serial entrepreneur Napoleon Dzombe appears to know this reality firsthand.
Reports suggest Nazombe has struggled to secure the necessary approvals to launch a fertiliser manufacturing plant, despite taking corrective steps requested by regulators. The project was expected to begin production in April and has the potential to help address one of Malawi’s most persistent challenges: chronic fertiliser shortages and the high costs associated with imports.
The delays raise uncomfortable questions. In a country where food security is closely tied to access to affordable fertiliser, why should a local producer face seemingly endless hurdles?
The question becomes even more pertinent when viewed against Malawi’s recent history.
Under the previous administration, the country was rocked by fertiliser-related scandals. In 2022, government paid MK750 million to a UK-based meat company for fertiliser that was never delivered. A year later, fertiliser donated by Russia reportedly disappeared at Mozambique’s Port of Beira before resurfacing in Zambia through illicit channels.
Such scandals have fuelled public suspicion that powerful interests continue to profit from procurement failures, import deals and opaque transactions, often at the expense of ordinary Malawians.
The same pattern appears in the health sector.
This week, India’s High Commissioner to Malawi revealed that roughly 1,000 medical visas are issued annually to Malawians seeking specialised treatment abroad. More strikingly, he suggested that attempts by Indian investors to establish healthcare facilities in Malawi have repeatedly stalled because of a lack of political support.
Former Health Minister Atupele Muluzi believes there is a reason for that.
“The painful truth is that there are individuals within the system who actively frustrate reform because they benefit financially from the status quo,” Muluzi wrote on Facebook. “For every patient sent abroad is not merely a medical case, it is an economic opportunity.”
Muluzi argues that some actors profit from maintaining dependence on foreign medical referrals and therefore have little incentive to support investments that would bring specialised treatment closer to home.
He describes this as a rentier system — one in which wealth is generated not through innovation, productivity or value creation, but through controlling access, contracts, licences, imports and political influence. In such a system, inefficiency becomes profitable and reform becomes a threat.
His assessment extends beyond healthcare.
“Why should a fertiliser manufacturing plant struggle to take off in a country desperate to reduce costs and create jobs?” he asked. “If local production succeeds, many stand to lose lucrative contracts linked to imports, transport, logistics and procurement.”
Whether one agrees with Muluzi or not, his argument resonates because it reflects a frustration shared by many Malawians. Too often, projects with obvious economic benefits encounter resistance while costly inefficiencies endure.
Yet Muluzi’s criticism also invites scrutiny. Having served in multiple ministerial positions across different administrations, he offers little reflection on what was done — or not done — when he was part of government. Diagnosing a broken system is easier from the outside than fixing it from within.
Meanwhile, Malawi continues to wait for tangible results from a $50 million agricultural investment agreement signed in June 2025 with a Chinese agri-technology company. The project, expected to establish a 5,000-hectare China-Malawi Industrial Park in Salima, promises commercial farming, agro-processing facilities and fertiliser production. For now, those promises remain largely aspirational.
The overall issue is one Malawi cannot afford to ignore: are those who actively obstruct progress any more culpable than those who stand by and allow it to happen?
A system that frustrates investment in fertiliser production while farmers struggle, or blocks healthcare infrastructure while patients seek treatment abroad, is not merely inefficient. It is failing the very people it is supposed to serve.
And until those responsible — whether through action or inaction — are held accountable, Malawi’s development ambitions will remain hostage to the interests of those who profit from the status quo.
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Also Read: Malawi health in 2025: Major gains amid persistent medicine shortages
