By nyasatimes
Africa-Press – Malawi. The greatest battle President Lazarus Chakwera faces as Malawi edges closer to the 2025 elections is not the opposition—it is history itself. In Africa, and particularly in Malawi, the so-called “second-term curse” has haunted many presidents. From Kamuzu Banda to Bakili Muluzi, from Bingu wa Mutharika to Joyce Banda and Peter Mutharika, second terms have often ended in chaos, division, or regression.
But Chakwera has a chance to break this curse. And Malawians have a chance to defy history by rewarding leadership that has sown seeds of transformation in the hardest of times. In truth, there are not ten, not fifty, but at least one hundred reasons why Chakwera deserves a second term.
Peace, Unity and Political Tolerance
While his predecessors were often accused of tribalism, nepotism or oppressive intolerance, Chakwera has governed with remarkable restraint. He has endured public insults without cracking down. He has resisted the urge to turn the state into a weapon of revenge. For once, Malawi has a president who embodies composure.
Infrastructure Boom
Under his watch, roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and stadiums are mushrooming across the country. Cities like Lilongwe are unrecognizable—roads are smoother, bridges stronger, and urban sprawl finally supported by real infrastructure. Even critics like PAC have admitted: “Lilongwe has become a source of pride.”
Agricultural Resilience in Crisis
Chakwera inherited an agriculture sector crippled by corruption and dependency. Yet through programmes like the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) and El Niño Lean Season Support, he has kept food on the tables of millions, even in the face of droughts, cyclones and global fertilizer shortages. Farmers testify that they are no longer entirely abandoned to fate.
Human Capital Investment
Thousands of teachers and nurses have been recruited. Civil servants’ salaries have been raised to cushion economic shocks. For once, government employees feel seen. For once, the ordinary backbone of the state—the teacher in Ntchisi, the nurse in Nsanje—has reason to believe their sweat is valued.
Economic Empowerment
Through the National Economic Empowerment Fund (NEEF), Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) and Climate Smart Cash Support, Chakwera has expanded financial inclusion. For smallholder farmers and small business owners, this is not rhetoric—it is real capital, reaching the grassroots.
Crisis Management with Dignity
COVID-19. Cyclones. The Ukraine war’s ripple effects. Global inflation. Few African presidents have faced such a cluster of crises in one term. Yet Chakwera has kept Malawi afloat, not by miracles but by steady hands and relentless mobilization of international support. As PAC aptly put it: “We may safely state it is God’s intervention for you to assume office in such trying times.”
International Relations Repaired
Malawi is no longer isolated. Chakwera has reopened doors with neighbours, strengthened partnerships with international agencies, and rebranded Malawi as a responsible, visionary state. As Pastor Chris Mathebula of South Africa observed, “Malawi is blessed to have a president with vision.”
Recognition Even from Critics
When institutions like HRDC—once known for fierce anti-government activism—openly commend Chakwera for unprecedented infrastructure projects, it tells a story: this is not propaganda. This is reality.
Beyond Numbers: Why Chakwera Deserves Continuity
Malawi’s story under Chakwera is not perfect. Inflation bites, corruption still stings, and poverty remains stubborn. But let us ask the real question: who else has shown the courage to plant seeds of long-term transformation amidst storms?
A second term is not about rewarding Chakwera for what he has already done—it is about giving him the mandate to finish what he started. The foundations are there: schools rising, roads expanding, farmers supported, public servants motivated, and tolerance normalized.
The tragedy of Malawi has always been that we uproot builders before they finish the house. Chakwera must not be another unfinished chapter.
100 Reasons in One Sentence
Unity, peace, roads, schools, hospitals, food security, farmers’ empowerment, nurses employed, teachers recruited, salaries raised, tolerance, bridges built, disasters managed, international respect restored—the list stretches to one hundred and beyond.
But perhaps the most important reason of all is this: Chakwera represents a rare kind of leadership in Africa today: calm, inclusive, development-minded, and unshaken by insults. Malawi cannot afford to abandon such leadership halfway.
In 2025, the choice is simple: choose history’s curse, or choose Chakwera’s continuity.
Source: Malawi Nyasa Times
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