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President insulted Malawians—MCP

 

Expectedly, leader of opposition in Parliament Lazarus Chakwera on Monday delivered a scathing response to President Peter Mutharika’s Parliament opening statement describing it as a zero-plan speech and an insult to Malawians.

In his 25-page response, Chakwera, who is also Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president, said Malawians expected concrete direction regarding how government would address economic and social challenges facing the country.

He outlined examples to support his assertions such as inconsistent decisions the government has made on provision of maize seed component in the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp), internships for newly qualified medical doctors and, recently, the tabling of the Access to Information (ATI) Bill which Mutharika said would be tabled in this session which could be anytime between this month and next year November.

Chakwera delivers his response cheered by MCP MPs in the background
Chakwera delivers his response cheered by MCP MPs in
the background

Said Chakwera: “The same government that campaigned on the promise that civil servants will have their salaries improved is now slinging insults at the civil servants for believing the empty promises, saying things that I cannot repeat in this House, when they make legitimate demands.”

However, Chakwera was not hopeful that any proposed solutions to the challenges facing the country would be welcomed by the government.

“Even with the ideas and solutions we put forward in the deliberations of this sitting of Parliament, there is only so much that will be done to move this country forward because under this current government, politics of nepotism, self-defence, slander, denial and misinformation triumph over all the good will, good ideas and good governance available in this House,” he said.

The leader of opposition also took time to respond to what he called “propaganda against the opposition”, saying no amount of it would change the fact that Malawi was sailing through troubled times.

Spiced with hand-claps from the opposition side and calls of “boma ilo”, and responding to calls of “mubweze galimoto” (return the vehicle) from the government side, Chakwera remained unperturbed throughout his delivery as he told the House that the President insulted Malawians by failing to say how bad things were and what he was doing about it.

Said the MCP leader: “The one positive from the President’s address is that it only lasted 23 minutes. So, at least he was kind enough to not take too much of our time with his zero-plan speech.

“To be frank, Mr Speaker, Sir, the President’s speech avoided so many national issues that it is almost impossible to find anything of substance to respond to.”

Among the issues Chakwera wanted the President to address were a progress report on the status of the forensic report on the K577 billion in public funds not accounted for between 2009 and December 31 2014 as established by PricewaterhouceCoopers (PwC) in May this year, progress on the investigations into the murder of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) official Issa Njauju, but also an outline of the short to long-term policies for the House to consider and debate in the 46th session.

He also took a hit at the President’s advice that Malawians should become resilient in the time of no donor aid.

Said Chakwera: “Is this the President’s idea of resilience? Does building resilience mean that the people should accept suffering without any end in sight? Does building resilience mean that the people should pay the price for the President’s failure to engage development partners by resolving outstanding bottlenecks?”

Commenting on Mutharika’s remarks that the age of donor aid was over, Chakwera argued that what was no longer possible was the age of donor aid being given to people who cannot be trusted.

“This President has given our development partners no confidence that he can cut down spending, or balance the budget, or get rid of waste, or crack down on criminal acts of greed and corruption perpetrated in the government of his own party. That is why he cannot make a case for direct budget support,” he said.

He also called for the tabling of the much-awaited ATI Bill and a review of electoral laws, failing which MCP would table a private member’s bill.

As he concluded his statement and the House went to tea break, the opposition side stood up and sang: “Chakwera ndi boma lero [Chakwera is fit to lead government].”

However, the government side, through Chief Whip Henry Mussa took exception to Chakwera’s remarks that if Malawians voted today, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would not win.

“How does the leader of opposition get evidence that if Malawi went to polls today, DPP would lose?” Mussa asked on a point of order after defending Mutharika’s address that it was not a State of the Nation Address which could incorporate developments and plans in every sector.

However, after interjections from the government, Mutharika’s speech remained under attack when People’s Party (PP) leader in Parliament Uladi Mussa took the floor.

“The President only exercised his right to silence. The President seems to have no vision, this government is stuck in the mud of confusion. It needs to be told the truth,” he said.

Mussa said the Parliament opening address fell short of addressing the problems in the health sector such as failure to employ trained doctors and nurses.

He added: “The health sector is in an unprecedented state of disarray. We have no drugs in hospitals, no fuel for ambulances and patients are eating once a day like prisoners. The government is failing to employ doctors and nurses whom we trained. Why does the DPP government want to kill patients when this Parliament approved enough money for hospitals?”

The whole opposition side rallied behind Mussa supporting him with claps and cat-calls such as “awechete [speak]” and this spurred him on even more.

“If you have failed to bring back donors, pack up, get out and let MCP and PP come in and bring back the donors in a month,” he said.

Following the responses from the opposition, Parliament is expected to start general debate on the motion on the President’s address today. n

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