Stakeholders debate Sona’s different shades of grey

President Arthur Peter Mutharika’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) yesterday got mixed views, with some praising its substantive prose on policy direction while others said it lacked on detail. On one hand, some opposition parties and civil society organisations said the 20-page speech is silent on pressing issues such as security and enforcement of austerity measures. On the other hand, Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama) president Bertha Bangara-Chikadza drew positives from the s t atement whi ch she said covered most issues stakeholders were expecting.

The address officially opened the 2026/27 Budget Meeting of Parliament, which is expected to sit for the budget session until April 10. In an interview, Leader of Oppos it ion Simplex Chithyola Banda argued that the address should have provided a detailed homeland security plan, pointing to recent abductions and armed robberies. “The Sona is very silent on rampant robberies that are happening, including abductions.

The President would have issued a very strong The opposition leader also took issue with the President’s announcement on maize price reduction, warning that without corresponding action on farm input prices, the move could hurt productivity. “You are supposed to sell five bags of maize at between K38,000 and K55 000 to purchase just one bag of fertiliser. So it was supposed to be: you reduce the price of maize and subsequently reduce the price of farm inputs so the two can go together.

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But if you do nothing on the farm inputs, the ones that will be affected are the producers. Therefore, it means you are postponing hunger,” he said. He also faulted the President for not adequately addressing youth programmes.

“We wanted the President to pronounce himself on programmes that inspire young people and create jobs — not necessarily talking about soft loans, which are not long-term,” he said. But Bangara-Chikadza said the Sona contained what stakeholders were looking for. “We wanted to hear issues of recovery, and we’ve noted that even the theme itself was talking about recovery, but also being people-centred,” said Bangara-Chikadza.

She welcomed the President’s focus on food security, noting its critical role in controlling inflation. “I think it’s encouraging that the President took food security as a prerequisite because, as you know, in this country, over 50 percent of inflation comes from food. And if people have access to affordable food, then inflation automatically goes down,”

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