Four private trips to South Africa in ten months. No public itinerary, no departure times, no arrival details — and the President never faces the press
For Malawians paying for chartered flights, the Statehouse’s growing opacity is more than unusual; it’s a break with long-standing practice that raises questions about accountability and public access to the head of state
A quiet shift has settled over the Office of the President and Cabinet [OPC]. Communications about the President’s foreign travel have become noticeably sparse.
Where once the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued timely notices with departure and return times, purpose of travel and often a brief programme, the information now trickling from OPC is skeletal.
Since returning for a second term, President Peter Mutharika has made four private visits to South Africa.
Each time, formal announcements have omitted core details—actual departure time, expected time of return and, crucially, the purpose of the trips. Just “private visit”.
Notices arrive, if at all, only a few hours before movement, a reversal of the previous practice that allowed media and the public to track the president’s engagements.
The repeated lack of transparency has prompted unease among governance watchdogs.
“These trips are funded by taxpayers and often use chartered aircraft which means there is huge expenditure. With public funds involved, Malawians deserve more details about these trips,” said one Willy Kambwandira Executive Director for the Center for Social Accountability and Transparency (CSAT) a non profit committed to promote transparency and accountability in public affairs.
“Citizens have a right to know where the head of state is and what he is doing on their behalf.” added Kambwandira a crucial voice on governance matters.
The opacity, critics argue, blurs lines of public oversight and accountability.
A related change concerns interactions with the press. Traditionally, the president would speak directly with journalists at departure and arrival points. Now, Press Secretary Cathy Maulidi fields the routine questions and relays short responses, a practice some observers describe as reducing the president’s direct accountability to the public.
OPC and Statehouse have not provided an explanation for the travel pattern or the scaled-back briefings.
Supporters say private visits are within the president’s prerogative and may concern sensitive matters that warrant discretion.
But without greater clarity—timelines, purposes and whether trips are state, private or mixed—suspicion fills the vacuum.
For now, Malawians are left piecing together fragments of information and asking whether this “new normal” signals a prudent respect for privacy or a retreat from the transparency that citizens expect from their highest office.
