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Leave the ‘old man’ alone, PS shields Goodall

 

Secretary to the Treasury (ST) Ben Botolo has advised civil society organisations (CSOs) pushing for the resignation or dismissal of Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe to leave the ‘old man’ alone.

Botolo, who has been leading the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development team seeking input on the 2018/19 national budget through Pre-Budget Consultations Meetings, made the statement in reaction to a question from Alliance for Democracy(Aford) member Dan Msowoya in Mzuzu on Friday.

Botolo: He is being unfairly accused

Botolo said Gondwe, who has not attended any of the three Pre-Budget Consultations Meetings this year, was being unfairly and wrongly accused.

He said: “Why do you want to torture the old man to that far when the matter was debated in Parliament in the Rural Development Budget? And, none of the CSOs go to Parliament to question them, but they are now attacking the minister. This is unfair.”

Botolo said people should debate on the Rural Development Budget allocation and investigate why the K4 billion was given out as well as its intended use.

He said: “We have to defend our own. Even here, we are defending him [Gondwe] because it was not in the Ministry of Finance budget, but the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.”

In his question, Msowoya asked Botolo, who was representing the minister during the consultations, to elaborate on the K4 billion as the issue is not clear and has not been concluded.

Queried Msowoya: “We would like an explanation from technical people on that. How was this money available and was not allocated to other pressing issues such as buying of hospital equipment?”

Another participant, Martin Kumwenda, wanted to know why Gondwe did not make it to the consultations this year. He said the minister needed to be present to clarify on “unfulfilled promises” from last year’s pre-budget consultations.

He mentioned roads projects such as the Ekwendeni-Ezondweni-Kafukule-Mzimba Road as one of the unfulfilled promises.

He said: “The minister promised us that the road would be captured in the budget, something that never happened. Some parts in Malawi are regarded as more Malawi which is not good.”

Kumwenda also inquired on the Mzuzu Youth Centre project which has been launched several times by different Cabinet ministers with no progress on the ground.

In response, Botolo said the road is viable and earmarked for development.

However, he did not indicate when the road would be constructed.

“If we can have that road and the Euthini road developed, then the North will be opened up,” observed Botolo. n

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