By Staff Reporter
Political activist Bon Kalindo has launched a blistering attack on the government’s economic direction, accusing authorities of ignoring practical wisdom in favour of policies that suffocate ordinary citizens and businesses.
Kalindo argues that instead of rushing to implement the electronic invoicing system—widely criticised as a backdoor mechanism for squeezing more taxes from struggling Malawians—the government should have sought counsel from accomplished business minds and influential figures such as Shepherd Bushiri, Thomson Mpinganjira, and Napoleon Dzombe.
According to Kalindo, these individuals represent lived economic experience, job creation, and wealth generation—qualities glaringly absent from current policy formulation. “You cannot fix an economy by listening only to politicians and recycled advisors who have never built businesses,” he contends.
Kalindo further criticises what he describes as a dangerous culture within government: prioritising political loyalists and disposable allies over citizens who have consistently demonstrated commitment to national development. In his view, this has reduced national budgeting to a closed-door ritual, detached from the real economy and the suffering on the ground.
He maintains that the Minister of Finance missed a critical opportunity to conduct broad, genuine consultations ahead of the national budget. “If the government was serious about economic recovery, it would have engaged Malawians who actually create wealth, not those who survive on politics,” Kalindo argues.
The activist warns that policies like electronic invoicing, introduced without trust, transparency, and consultation, risk deepening hostility between citizens and the state. Small traders, SMEs, and informal businesses—already battered by inflation, fuel shortages, and currency instability—are likely to bear the heaviest burden.
Kalindo’s message is blunt and uncompromising: Malawi’s economic crisis is not just about lack of resources, but lack of listening. Until government shifts from political convenience to people-centred consultation, he warns, policy failures will continue—and the public will keep paying the price.
