Justice for sale: how Malawi’S courts protect the powerful and crush the poor

By Suleman Chitera

Corruption will not end in Malawi—not because laws are weak, but because justice itself has been captured. The courtroom, which should be the final refuge of the ordinary citizen, has become a revolving door for the powerful and a prison gate for the poor.

Across the country, the pattern is disturbingly consistent. A senior official is accused of stealing millions—public money meant for hospitals, classrooms, roads, and fertiliser. The arrest makes headlines. Statements are issued. Cameras flash. Then, quietly and efficiently, the suspect is granted bail. They return home. They eat well. They move freely. They enjoy the very money alleged to have been stolen from a suffering nation.

Meanwhile, in the same justice system, a poor Malawian—hungry, unemployed, desperate—steals a chicken worth a few thousand kwacha. The courts move with remarkable speed. Bail is denied or unaffordable. Sentencing is harsh. Six years in prison. No sympathy. No consideration of circumstances. No mercy.

This is not justice. This is class punishment.

A TWO-TIER SYSTEM OF LAW

The Constitution promises equality before the law. In practice, Malawi operates a two-tier judicial system: one for the rich and connected, another for the poor and powerless.

For corruption suspects:

Bail is almost automatic.
Cases drag on for years.
Files go missing.
Witnesses “disappear.”
Judges cite technicalities.
The accused walks free, often without ever returning stolen assets.

For petty offenders:

Bail is denied or set beyond reach.
Legal representation is minimal or nonexistent.
Trials are swift.
Sentences are extreme.
Lives are permanently destroyed.

The message from the courts is clear: stealing millions is a mistake; stealing food is a crime.

BAIL AS A LICENSE TO ENJOY STOLEN WEALTH

Bail, in principle, exists to protect the presumption of innocence. In Malawi, it has been weaponised to protect looters.

When a corruption suspect is released on bail without strict conditions—no asset freezing, no travel restrictions, no recovery orders—the court effectively grants permission to enjoy suspected proceeds of crime. The accused continues to live comfortably while the state struggles to fund basic services.

What deterrence does this create? None.

What lesson does it teach? That corruption pays.

THE HUMAN COST OF JUDICIAL BIAS

The victims of this injustice are not abstract. They are real people.

Prison cells overcrowded with the poor.
Children growing up without parents jailed for minor offences.
Communities losing faith in the rule of law.
Citizens concluding that courts are for sale.

When the poor see thieves of public wealth treated with dignity and mercy while hunger-driven offenders are treated with cruelty, respect for the law collapses. And when respect for the law collapses, corruption thrives.

THE JUDICIARY CANNOT CLAIM IGNORANCE

Judges and magistrates know the consequences of their decisions. They see the poverty outside their courtrooms. They hear the statistics. They understand the imbalance.

Yet the sentencing disparity continues.

This raises uncomfortable but necessary questions:

Why are corruption cases endlessly delayed?
Why is bail routine for economic crimes that devastate the nation?
Why are alternative sentences rarely considered for petty offenders?
Who benefits from this imbalance?

Silence from the Judiciary is not neutrality. It is complicity.

NO END TO CORRUPTION WITHOUT JUDICIAL REFORM

Malawi can pass all the anti-corruption laws it wants. It can arrest suspects every week. None of it will matter if the courts remain a shield for the powerful.

Corruption will not end when: