By Suleman Chitera
Political and social commentator Rodrick Junaid Kalumpha has questioned the feasibility of the MCP government’s proposed MK500,000 “child benefit” fund, warning that the policy risks becoming an unmanageable fiscal burden riddled with inefficiencies.
Kalumpha drew parallels with the United Kingdom’s now-defunct Child Trust Fund (CTF), a policy that ran from 2002 to 2011. Under the CTF, the UK government deposited between £250 to £750 into accounts for children, with the funds accessible when they turned 18. However, the program was scrapped after the 2008 global financial crisis, largely due to its high operational costs and complexity. Scrapping the program saved the UK government an estimated £520 million in the 2011–2012 fiscal year.
“If a well-resourced country like the UK struggled to maintain such a scheme, what do you think would happen in Malawi?” Kalumpha asked.
He cited numerous failures in Malawi’s existing public financial management systems as evidence that the country is ill-prepared to handle a long-term, large-scale initiative like the proposed child fund. Among the issues highlighted were widespread delays in disbursing pensions, with retirees sometimes waiting years to receive their dues. He also referenced repeated protests by pensioners and legal actions by families of deceased civil servants seeking terminal benefits.
Kalumpha further pointed to the National Economic Empowerment Fund (NEEF) as another cautionary tale. Despite being designed as a short-term intervention to support youth entrepreneurship, NEEF has faced repeated complaints over poor administration and lack of transparency.
“If NEEF, which is short-term and involves fewer complexities, has already proven difficult to manage, how can we expect a more complicated, 18-year savings scheme for millions of children to succeed?” Kalumpha argued.
He emphasized that such a fund would come with ballooning administrative costs, operational inefficiencies, and an increased risk of corruption and politicization. In his view, it would eventually become a financial black hole in an already strained national budget.
“Let us not chase dreams we cannot afford. The MCP government must drop this pie-in-the-sky policy and focus on fixing existing systems before proposing new ones,” he concluded.
The MK500,000 child benefit proposal, which the MCP has framed as a long-term investment in the country’s future generation, has sparked mixed reactions across the country. While some have welcomed the idea as visionary, others, like Kalumpha, view it as unrealistic given the government’s track record.
The government has yet to respond directly to the concerns raised.
