By a Concerned Citizen
Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera’s public lament over the arrest of four Malawi Congress Party (MCP) officials has landed with a thud among many Malawians. Not because the arrests are beyond scrutiny—every arrest deserves legal due process—but because the outrage feels profoundly disconnected from the lived experience of a nation that endured widespread hardship under his leadership.
When a former Head of State raises his voice, it carries historical weight. That is precisely why the reaction has been so sharp. For millions, the memory of the Chakwera administration is not one of moral clarity and transformation, but of economic suffocation: hunger deepening across households, the cost of living spiraling beyond reach, fuel shortages paralyzing livelihoods, and chronic water failures eroding basic dignity. Survival replaced progress as the daily national project.
This is the uncomfortable contrast. Today, four arrests are framed as an affront to justice. Yesterday, an entire nation was effectively immobilized—without warrants, without trials—by policy failure and economic decline. Poverty can be a prison without walls. Inflation can be a sentence without an appeal. Hunger can be a conviction handed down to families who did nothing wrong.
The issue, therefore, is not the guilt or innocence of four individuals. It is moral consistency. One cannot credibly champion justice for a few while remaining silent—or defensive—about a period when millions were trapped by unemployment, rising prices, and failing public services. Justice cannot be selective without becoming hollow.
Dr. Chakwera rose to power on the promise of moral leadership. He spoke the language of accountability, integrity, and renewal. History, however, is not persuaded by speeches. It records outcomes. And for many Malawians, the outcome of that era was diminished hope and heightened hardship. That reality makes today’s protests ring hollow.
Leadership does not expire with office. It demands reflection, humility, and accountability long after the motorcade is gone. A more constructive intervention in the national discourse would not be to shield party colleagues from scrutiny, but to acknowledge the suffering that defined the period of his rule and to stand openly with citizens who bore the cost.
Four arrests may dominate the headlines today. But the deeper wound remains a nation that felt abandoned—hungry, exhausted, and unheard. That is the verdict many Malawians still live with.
