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Leston Mulli the chairperson of board of trustees of the cultural grouping told a news conference in Blantyre on Tuesday that the column was “offending” for linking the economic policy to Tchopa, the Lhomwe dance.
The Backbencher commented on the fiscal plan and country’s economy and dubbed the budget woes as ‘Tchopanomics!’, a term derived from the popular dance of the Lhomwe, a tribal grouping which the deceased president Bingu wa Mutharika founded and his brother incumbent President Peter Mutharika consolidated by appointing Ngolongoliwa as its paramount Chief (Mwene-wa-mamwene).
The columnist likened the country’s economy to what was known as Reaganomics when the United States of America’s economy was destroyed by the economic policies of President
Ronald Reagan who ruled the country from 1981 to 1989.

“Tchopanomics is steeped in a strong sense of economic emancipation which made Bingu mess up old-established relations with western donors early in his short second term (2009-12). He claimed western aid, unlike Chinese aid which came without strings attached, was a mere tool for neo-colonialism, and was convinced that by adopting a zero-deficit budget, Malawi could manage just fine without their aid,” wrote Backbencher.
But Mulli said described the newspaper column as “insulting” and “grossly violating cultural sensitivity.”
He said: “We strongly condemn the ethnicisation of Malawi;s economic policies made by the said article.”