by MAVHUTO BANDA
LILONGWE – WITH just weeks before Malawians head to the polls, President Lazarus Chakwera has stunned the nation by renaming key national infrastructure after his political rivals – a move critics describe as an act of desperation in the face of an economic meltdown and plummeting support.
In Lilongwe, the capital city, a major road has been renamed the Joyce Banda Highway, while the capital’s Cloverleaf Interchange now bears the name of Arthur Peter Mutharika, and Blantyre’s Chileka International Airport is set to become the Bakili Muluzi International Airport.
The honourees are all former presidents or their families – and rivals in the September 16 election.
Chakwera’s move, executed under constitutional powers, has been slammed as an electioneering gimmick.
“The timing is suspicious. This is clearly meant to woo undecided voters and portray him as a unifier,” said analyst Yamikani Masamba.
“But it may be too late. The economy will decide this election,” he said.
Malawi is enduring one of its worst crises in decades, marked by fuel and power shortages, rising inflation, forex scarcity, and drug stockouts.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns that macroeconomic instability, food insecurity, and debt distress have worsened ahead of the polls.
Opinion polls suggest Chakwera trails Mutharika, with Joyce Banda and Atupele Muluzi seen as potential kingmakers in what is expected to be Malawi’s tightest contest since the return of multiparty democracy in 1993.
Observers say Chakwera’s symbolic gestures may not offset a battered economy. For many Malawians, the president’s fate hinges on whether livelihoods can be revived – not on renamed roads and airports.
— CAJ News
