By Christopher Nhlane
Folks, 15 and counting. That鈥檚 how many presidential hopefuls have already lined up for this year鈥檚 elections. By Thursday morning, the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) had already collected K150 million worth of ambition for the country鈥檚 highest office.
And while a handful might carry genuine intent, many are perpetual delusional dreamers and jokers still convinced that Malawians owe them some farewell apology鈥攐r worse, that the presidency is a retirement home for the politically restless.
But let鈥檚 stop pretending. Most of those that successfully paid K10 million to MEC don鈥檛 even have functioning offices, let alone nationwide structures. They are briefcase politicians who are not driven by a passion for policy reform, public service or national transformation. They are driven by proximity to power, access to privilege and dreams of soft-life benefits 鈥 all at the expense of poor Malawians.
For some, politics is a family inheritance, passed down like personal estates. They contest nearly every election not to fix the country, but to keep family names on the ballot. For others, it鈥檚 simply a shortcut to luxury and status. They know the soft-life benefits are reserved for those who master the art of political recycling.
So, this is not just a crowded race. It鈥檚 a symptom of a limping democracy. At the dawn of modern multiparty democracy in 1994, we had five presidential candidates. That was a clean fight. Fast forward through the years鈥攕ix in 1999, five in 2004, seven in 2009, twelve in 2014, seven in 2019, three in the 2020 re-run and now 15 and counting in 2025. This reckless flood of candidacies has real consequences.
We saw it in 2019, when vote splitting handed victory to DPP鈥檚 Peter Mutharika, who limped into Kamuzu Palace for his contested second term with just 38 percent of the vote. That meant 62 percent of Malawians actively opposed him, but their voices were scattered across too many alternatives. The result? A constitutional crisis, a historic court-ordered re-run and the most expensive election in our democratic history 鈥 all because the opposition couldn鈥檛 sit at one table with one candidate.
Now, with 15 contenders (and likely more) in 2025, the same nightmare looms. We risk electing another minority president, rejected by most but blessed by mathematics. That is not democracy. That鈥檚 witchcraft.
What some people don鈥檛 understand is that more candidates don鈥檛 always mean more clarity. Instead, the citizens get a cacophony of empty promises. Instead of vision, we get confusion. And when voters can鈥檛 tell a genuine candidate from a fake or sponsored decoy, apathy sets in. People switch off. They don鈥檛 vote. And the same democracy suffers.
At the rate we are going, Malawi desperately needs a serious political detox. We must revise our electoral laws to raise the bar, not to kill people鈥檚 ambition, but to filter out the background noise masquerading as potential leaders.
In future, before any aspirant flaunts their millions in nomination fees, voters must demand proof: verified national structures, a written and costed policy blueprint and a record of accomplishment of service, not just recycled slogans, a good command of English and shiny press conferences.
And this should not be optional. It must be mandatory and binding. Because democracy should not be a free-for-all circus where opportunists, jokers and political time-wasters with money and ambition hijack the national conversation.
So, dear 2025 voter, when you walk into that booth on September 16, and stare at a football team-sized list of candidates, ask yourself: 鈥淎m I voting for a leader or just another jobless guy who thinks the presidency is a shortcut to a soft life?鈥
Because this isn鈥檛 just a political season, it鈥檚 a test of our national sanity.