APM chides Chakwera for allowing devaluationhe
Former president Peter Mutharika yesterday expressed displeasure with the recent 44 percent devaluation of kwacha and dared President Lazarus Chakwera to immediately fix the country’s ailing economy, saying the current state of affairs is bad.
Addressing the press at his Page House in Mangochi, Mutharika, who is leader of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), claiming during his time he improved the economy ten-fold while Chakwera’s government is spending money through frequent travelling.
DPP top brass that attended the briefing included Dalitso Kabambe, George Chaponda, Bright Msaka, Mary Navicha and Francis Mphepo.
Mutharika said by allowing the devaluation, Chakwera is not solving the problem, but killing Malawians who are already very poor.
He said: “I am touched with the recent devaluation of the kwacha as announced by the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) last week. It has created a lot of problems. These agonies we are facing are intolerable and we need solutions with immediate effect.”
The DPP leader said government is bent on nothing, but self-enrichment and nepotism, which have worsened poverty among Malawians.
Mutharika said it is unfortunate that the Malawi kwacha has become a valueless currency.
“This administration is clueless. It does not know anything about economics. This has tendered us to be buried under the rubble of poverty,” he said.
To this effect, Mutharika challenged the Tonse Alliance administration to immediately come up with solutions that redeem Malawians from the current mess, including creating one million jobs that they promised.
Sharing similar sentiments, former RBM governor Kabambe said it is unfortunate that the people who are mismanaging money are not the ones who are making it.
“This money that is being misused is the sweat of tobacco, cotton farmers and other cash crop farmers that bring foreign currency. But look! They are busy squandering it and yet those who make the money are crying,” lamented Kabambe.
Efforts to talk to government’s spokesperson Moses Kunkuyu, who is also Minister of Information and Digitalisation, proved futile as his phone went unanswered on several attempts
However, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) national coordinator Boniface Chibwana has justified APM’s concerns, saying they are genuine looking at the magnitude of the devaluation and the plight of Malawians.
“I think APM has a point. Looking at the suffering of Malawians, I was not expecting this government to devalue the kwacha with such a percentage. It would have been ideal to do it in phases, not with such a huge percentage at once,” he says
Chibwana said it is unfortunate that government does not usually walk its talk on austerity, so he does not expect much from the measures announced to caution Malawians from the 44 percent devaluation.
