Minister of Information and Communications Technology Shadric Namalomba has asked critics to give the government at least two years to fix the fuel and foreign exchange shortages, saying both are structural problems it inherited. He spoke to The Nation, which published the interview on Friday.
He was answering UTM Party president Dalitso Kabambe, who said the government was taking Malawians for granted and urged President Peter Mutharika to address the nation on the crisis.
Key facts
- Namalomba says fuel and forex problems predate the DPP government, which took office in September 2025
- He says Mutharika has already said stabilising the economy could take at least two years
- Government points to spending controls, mining, value addition and talks with the IMF
- Kabambe wants Mutharika to speak to the nation
What the minister said
“The issue of forex was there. It is not something that has come about in the one year that DPP has been in government,” Namalomba said. “The issue of fuel has been there. So these are problems that have been there and what we are doing is to address them.”
“This is a process. It is not like when today he [Kabambe] complains about the problems, then tomorrow the problems will be sorted out. These problems are structural and they require time,” he said. He added that the government expects things to stabilise in the coming months, and that Malawians, Cabinet ministers included, are feeling the hardship.
The measures he listed: controls on government buying and spending to save foreign exchange, support for mining and value addition, and talks with the International Monetary Fund to restore the Extended Credit Facility.
What the critics said
Kabambe, a former Reserve Bank of Malawi governor, made his case in a Facebook statement on Wednesday. Others told The Nation the government is not acting fast enough:
The wider pressure
The row comes as people deal with fuel queues, power cuts and high food prices. On 4 November, the government and Malawi First, a group led by Bon Kalindo, agreed to suspend a seven-day ultimatum the group had issued on 29 October over the shortages.
Mzuzu University economics lecturer Christopher Mbukwa told The Nation that Malawi could recover within two years if the government made the right moves.
Check the current pump prices in our MERA fuel price guide.
