President Peter Mutharika has jetted off to South Africa yet again -- his fourth "private visit" in barely seven months -- fuelling fresh speculation about what exactly is so private when the traveller is the Head of State.
State House confirmed on Wednesday that the 86-year-old President would leave Kamuzu International Airport for South Africa, offering no details on the purpose of the trip and its duration.
It followed a chaotic 24 hours in which broadcasters published, deleted and retracted reports about his movements, leaving Malawians guessing where their President actually was.
First, Malawi Broadcasting Corporation reported that Mutharika was heading out on another private visit -- then abruptly scrubbed the story.
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Zodiak Broadcasting Station followed with claims that the President had "sneaked" out of the country, only to retract the report hours later.
State House has now confirmed the trip, but not the confusion.
And that confusion is precisely the problem.
Why has the President made four private trips to South Africa in such a short space of time? Why are they simply labelled "private"? How long does he stay?
And crucially -- who is running the country when he is away?
There is nothing wrong with a President having a private life. But privacy does not erase public accountability.
Repeated foreign trips, unexplained absences and contradictory reports inevitably raise legitimate questions about whether the presidency is functioning normally.
Malawians do not need medical records or personal details. They need reassurance that the President is fully in charge.
Instead, they are left piecing together the whereabouts of their Head of State through deleted posts, retracted broadcasts and social-media screenshots -- an information vacuum that rumours quickly fill.
If the trip is genuinely private, State House could simply say so and provide basic clarity.
If the President is receiving medical attention, his privacy can still be protected while reassuring the nation.
If plans change, the public can be told.But when the official explanation is only "private", the obvious question remains: what exactly is private about a President repeatedly leaving the country?Malawians elected a President. They did not elect a mystery.
