APM in fresh Tonse attack
Former president Peter Mutharika has dared President Lazarus Chakwera to resign and pave the way for an interim administration pending fresh elections within 90 days for allegedly failing to tame multiple crises rocking the country.
Mutharika, who is also president of the former governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), made the call in Mangochi yesterday when he co-addressed the media with some of his party’s senior members.
He said: “In that caretaker government, there should be people who are capable of bringing solutions to the current challenges. As DPP, we are going to provide insights through our experts that helped stabilise the economy when we assumed power in 2014.”
This is the second time in two months that Mutharika, 82, has called for the resignation of Chakwera and the nine political-party Tonse Alliance. He first made a similar call on July 17 this year when he accused the Chakwera administration of failing to govern the country amid a worsening economic situation.
He cited the prevailing shortage of foreign exchange despite a 25 percent devaluation of the kwacha effected on May 27 and other measures authorities touted as solutions to the problems. In the past three weeks, fuel shortages reminiscent of the DPP era under Bingu wa Mutharika have resurfaced.
Put to him that the Tonse Alliance administration attributes the current economic mess to his leadership’s manipulation of data on variables such as foreign exchange to hoodwink the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that an existing Extended Credit Facility (ECF) was on track, Mutharika said he was not aware of such things happening and that neither was it anything to do with policy under his administration.
Instead, he blamed the Tonse Alliance administration for prematurely cancelling the IMF programme.
He also described as insensitive Chakwera’s travel to the 77th United Nations General Assembly (Unga) amid the crises affecting the country and worsening people’s plight by the day.
Mutharika played down the infighting in his party, saying the situation in DPP was normal and does happen to political parties that are mostly in opposition.
Infighting within the DPP came to the fore soon after Mutharika lost the court-sanctioned June 23 2020 Fresh Presidential Election to Chakwera. One faction is loyal to Mutharika while another is affiliated to estranged DPP vice-president (South) Kondwani Nankhumwa.
But Mutharika yesterday described the situation as a democratic process and that will be resolved at the party’s convention slated for next year.
Minister of Information and Digitisation Gospel Kazako, who is also the official government spokesperson, could not be reached for comment. Our questionnaire sent via WhatsApp was also yet to be responded to.
But in a reaction to Mutharika’s earlier call for the Tonse Alliance to step down, he is on record as having said Chakwera and his administration were “not moving an inch” out of Capital Hill.
Kazako, who is the official government spokesperson, said: “These are politically-bereaved people. All they can do is to be relevant and take advantage of global economic trends.
“We are moving forward. We are building a new Malawi.”
In an interview yesterday, political analyst Ernest Thindwa said Mutharika’s call for an interim government was not viable.
He said: “First, the call does not advance the cause of constitutional order. Second, such a demand cannot be sustained as it is devoid of political viability.
“While a majority of Malawians are concerned with the performance of Tonse Alliance administration on a number of key governance dimensions as shown by the recent Afrobarometer report, such shortfalls cannot be the basis for replacement of the current administration nor is the call for replacement widely shared.”
Thindwa said DPP should not be preoccupied with getting into office through non-democratic means, but focus on presenting to Malawians a clear alternative plan of action for rescuing the country from the socio-economic malaise being experienced.
