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BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-Former President Lazarus Chakwera’s recent call alleging that the arrest of senior Malawi Congress Party (MCP) officials is politically motivated is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.
The man who presided over a regime notorious for arbitrary arrests and detentions, often without evidence or due process, has the audacity to lecture President Peter Mutharika on governance and human rights. It’s time for Chakwera to shut up and reflect on his own record.
During his five-year tenure, Chakwera’s administration was marked by a string of politically motivated arrests, targeting critics, opposition figures, and perceived enemies of the state.
The list of victims is long and includes notable figures such as Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, Late Saulos Chilima, Alfred Gangata, Ben Phiri, Henry Mussa, Roza Mbilizi, Peter Mukhito, Jean Mathanga, Henry Mathanga, Norman Chisale, Linda Kunje, Martha Chizuma, Rayneck Matemba, Mzomera Ngwira, Enock Chihana, Bon Kalindo, Patricia Kaliyati, Sameer Suleman, Charles Mchacha, Leonard Chimbanga, Levy Luwemba, Newton Kambala, Kamlepo Kalua, Kennedy Luwemba, Fegus Lipenga, Grace Kaphale, Ben Chitsonga, Godfrey Itaye, Henry Macheso, Elvin Mwapasa, Stanley Chirwa, Joseph Mwanamvekha, James Chuma, Henry Njoloma, Elvis Thodi, and many others.
Not a single one of these individuals was convicted, because, as President Mutharika pointed out, the arrests were made without sufficient evidence.
The same cannot be said of the current administration, which has taken a more measured approach, ensuring that law enforcement agencies act on clear evidence before making arrests.
The five MCP officials who were recently arrested including Vitumbiko Mumba, Richard Chimwendo Banda, Jessie Kabwila, Moses Kunkuyu, and Ezekiel Ching’oma, are being held on charges that are being investigated and will be tried in court.
Chakwera’s claim that the arrests are politically motivated is not only baseless but also an insult to the intelligence of Malawians.
His regime’s record on human rights and governance is a matter of public record, and he should be the last person to lecture anyone on the rule of law.
The people of Malawi remember the terror and intimidation that characterized his administration, and they will not be swayed by his empty rhetoric.
It’s time for Chakwera to take a long, hard look in the mirror and confront the demons of his past.
He should acknowledge the damage his regime inflicted on the country and its people, and seek redemption rather than trying to score cheap political points.
The Mutharika administration has shown restraint and commitment to the rule of law, and it will not be swayed by baseless allegations from a man with a tainted past.
To Lazarus Chakwera, we say: shut up and reflect on your own record.
The people of Malawi deserve better than lectures from someone who presided over a regime of terror and repression.
The current administration will continue to uphold the rule of law and ensure that justice is served, without fear or favor.
The list of victims of Chakwera’s regime goes on and on, and it’s time he took responsibility for his actions. The people of Malawi will not forget, and they will not forgive.
It’s time for Chakwera to retire from the scene and let those who are committed to democracy and the rule of law take the reins.
In conclusion, the arrest of the MCP officials is a matter for the courts, and it’s not for Chakwera or anyone else to prejudge.
The Mutharika administration has shown commitment to justice and the rule of law, and it will not be swayed by baseless allegations.
Chakwera should shut up and let justice take its course.
European leaders brace for President Trump’s speech at the World Economic Forum, as new tariff threats and talk of acquiring Greenland overshadow talks on affordability.
The Justice Department issues subpoenas to Minnesota’s top Democratic leaders, as state officials accuse the Trump administration of weaponizing immigration enforcement and creating fear in immigrant communities.
And the Supreme Court hears a high-stakes case over President Trump’s attempt to fire a Federal Reserve governor, a move that could upend a century of precedent and rattle financial markets.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Rebekah Metzler, Gigi Douban, Krishnadev Calamur, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.
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(0:00) Introduction
(02:24) Trump’s Speech in Davos
(06:07) DOJ Subpoenas For Minnesota
(09:49) SCOTUS Federal Reserve Case
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Civil Society, Development & Aid, Featured, Global, Headlines, Health, Humanitarian Emergencies, Sustainable Development Goals, TerraViva United Nations, Water & Sanitation
Lead author Prof. Kaveh Madani
Flagship report calls for fundamental reset of global water agenda as irreversible damage pushes many basins beyond recovery.
– The world is already in the state of “water bankruptcy”. In many basins and aquifers, long-term overuse and degradation mean that past hydrological and ecological baselines cannot realistically be restored.
While not every basin or country is water-bankrupt, enough critical systems around the world have crossed these thresholds, and are interconnected through trade, migration, climate feedbacks, and geopolitical dependencies, that the global risk landscape is now fundamentally altered.
The familiar language of “water stress” and “water crisis” is no longer adequate. Stress describes high pressure that is still reversible. Crisis describes acute, time-bound shocks. Water bankruptcy must be recognized as a distinct post-crisis state, where accumulated damage and overshoot have undermined the system’s capacity to recover.
A group of women fetching water from a dam in Taha, Northern Region of Ghana. Credit: Evans Ahorsu. Source: UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health
Water bankruptcy management must address insolvency and irreversibility. Unlike financial bankruptcy management, which deals only with insolvency, managing water bankruptcy is concerned with rebalancing demand and supply under conditions where returning to baseline conditions is no longer possible.
Anthropogenic drought is central to the world’s new water reality. Drought and water shortage are increasingly driven by human activities, over-allocation, groundwater depletion, land and soil degradation, deforestation, pollution, and climate change, rather than natural variability alone. Water bankruptcy is the outcome of long-term anthropogenic drought, not just bad luck with hydrological anomalies.
Water bankruptcy is about both quantity and quality. Declining stocks, polluted rivers, and degrading aquifers, and salinized soils mean that the truly usable fraction of available water is shrinking, even where total volumes may appear stable.
Managing water bankruptcy requires a shift from crisis management to bankruptcy management. The priority is no longer to “get back to normal”, but to prevent further irreversible damage, rebalance rights and claims within degraded carrying capacities, transform water-intensive sectors and development models, and support just transitions for those most affected.
Governance institutions must protect both water and its underlying natural capital. The existing institutions focus on protecting water as a good or service disregarding the natural capital that makes water available in the first place. Efforts to protect a product are ineffective when the processes that produce it are disrupted.
Recognizing water bankruptcy calls for developing legal and governance institutions that can effectively protect not only water but also the hydrological cycle and natural capital that make its production possible.
Water bankruptcy is a justice and security issue. The costs of overshoot and irreversibility fall disproportionately on smallholder farmers, rural and Indigenous communities, informal urban residents, women, youth, and downstream users, while benefits have often accrued to more powerful actors. How societies manage water bankruptcy will shape social cohesion, political stability, and peace.
Water bankruptcy management combines mitigation with adaptation. While water crisis management paradigms seek to return the system to normal conditions through mitigation efforts only, water bankruptcy management focuses on restoring what is possible and preventing further damages through mitigation combined with adaptation to new normals and constraints.
Water can serve as a bridge in a fragmented world. Water can align national priorities with international priorities and improve cooperation between and within nations. Roughly 70% of global freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture, much of it by farmers in the Global South. Elevating water in global policy debates can help rebuild trust between South and North but also within nations, between rural and urban, left and right constituencies.
Water must be recognized as an upstream sector. Most national and international policy agendas treat water as a downstream impact sector where investments are focused on mitigating the imposed problems and externalities. The world must recognize water as an upstream opportunity sector where investments have long-term benefits for peace, stability, security, equity, economy, health, and the environment.
Water is an effective medium to fulfill the global environmental agenda. Investments in addressing water bankruptcy deliver major co-benefits for the global efforts to address its environmental problems while addressing the national security concerns of the UN member states.
Elevating water in the global policy agenda can renew international cooperation, increase the efficiency of environmental investments, and reaccelerate the halted progress of the three Rio Conventions to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and desertification.
A new global water agenda is urgently needed. Existing agendas and conventional water policies, focused mainly on WASH, incremental efficiency gains and generic IWRM guidelines, are not sufficient for the world’s current water reality. A fresh water agenda must be developed that takes Global Water Bankruptcy as a starting point and uses the 2026 and 2028 UN Water Conferences, the conclusion of the Water Action Decade in 2028, and the 2030 SDG 6 timeline as milestones for resetting how the world understands and governs water.
Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era | UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) (20 January) (press release)
Support Paper
Madani K. (2026) Water Bankruptcy: The Formal Definition, Water Resources Management, 40 (78) doi: 10.1007/s11269-025-04484-0)
IPS UN Bureau
