A fresh payroll blunder at the Mulanje District Council has sparked renewed questions about the competence of the DPP-led administration, after several staff members reportedly received double salaries for October while others were paid nothing at all.
The internal memo issued on October 30, 2025, confirms that the anomaly resulted from errors processed through the Reserve Bank. Officials have urged employees who received duplicate payments not to touch the extra funds as the state rushes to reverse the transactions.
While authorities blame a technical mistake, governance analysts say this embarrassment reflects deeper structural problems under the current administration.
“In a functioning system, payroll errors of this magnitude do not happen. This is not a minor slip — it is a sign of inexperience and poor management,” one public sector analyst observed.
Critics argue that the problem stems from widespread replacement of experienced officers with politically aligned appointees. Many warn that the administration’s decision to purge capable technocrats has left critical institutions vulnerable to avoidable errors.
“This is what happens when government fires competent professionals and replaces them with amateurs,” another observer commented. “The previous MCP-led government maintained systems that minimized such risks. What we are seeing now is experimentation with the nation’s payroll.”
The incident has triggered frustration among civil servants, especially those yet to receive their salaries. There are growing fears that more administrative lapses could emerge if capacity gaps are not urgently addressed.
As the administration battles to clean up the mess, Malawians are once again reminded that leadership decisions have real consequences — and the quality of people appointed to manage public systems matters.
