President Lazarus Chakwera took advantage of his question time in Parliament yesterday to fight back the opposition, particularly the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which branded his State of the Nation Address (Sona) as ‘full of lies’.
Although by the time the President was addressing the august House most members from the opposition, especially DPP, had walked out of the chambers, this did not stop Chakwera from emptying his chest.
Immediately after attending to the first question on the Order Paper, the President moved to address concerns that the opposition raised against his Sona delivered on February 14, which put him in negative light.
He admitted that there were indeed some errors in the Sona, but it was not intentional to call it lies rather omissions by some five technocrats tasked with the responsibility of crafting the Sona.
Chakwera told the House that as a disciplinary measure, the team leader of the technocrats, whom he did not name, has been fired while the rest have been reprimanded.
But even with this admission, the President insisted that like all human beings he is not perfect and is prone to make mistakes, thus to brand his Sona as full of lies was a politically motivated attack for others to build political capital.
Said Chakwera: “But as God is my witness, Madam Speaker, not even I myself have ever claimed to be an angel whose words or actions cannot be queried.
“So, those of you who are looking for a President who is a flawless angel from heaven should vote for somebody else this year, because angelic perfection is a standard I will never be able to reach.”
The first citizen, however, took responsibility for the errors in the Sona and withdrew “the fraction of data in my State of the Nation Address that have been queried”.
From his tone, it was clear that the President was not amused with the discrediting remarks such that he went at length to justify why the accusations from the opposition must not be taken seriously.
He described the criticism from the opposition as part of a scheme to discredit his administration, further accusing them of masterminding false accusations that he had received bribes in exchange of Malawi Defence Force (MDF) contracts in 2022, that he orchestrated an arrest against former director general of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), and that he assassinated Vice-President Saulos Chilima, which was not the case.
Chakwera went full throttle to throw sarcasm at the DPP on several of the blunders that the main opposition party made while in government, such as the desecrating of the corpse of former president Bingu wa Mutharika, failed construction of Nsanje Inland Port, which he said was meant for votes, as well as laying foundations stones for projects that never commenced.
Away from political jabs, the President acknowledged the pressing challenges that Malawi is facing, which include food shortages and the rising cost of commodities.
On the current rising cost of living, he accused some Asian traders of colluding with “one of the opposition parties in this House” to make Malawians suffer and use this for political mileage.
Responding to a pre-submitted question from Kasungu North East parliamentarian Paul Nkhoma (Malawi Congress Party-MCP) who wanted the President to outline measures of dealing with food insufficiency and trade deficits in the context of the agriculture, tourism and mining (ATM) strategy, Chakwera said mining licences have been issued, including one to Lotus that will revive the Kayelekera Uranium Mine.
The President said he will soon address the nation on the status of the rutile mining project in Kasiya, Lilongwe that has the potential to earn Malawi billions in foreign exchange.
According to communication in the House, the President was expected to respond to questions relating to his opening address as well as tackle general issues.
Five questions were pre-submitted with a regional balance; two from the North [Karonga and Likoma], two from the Centre (Kasungu) and one from the South (Chikwawa).
Supplementary questions were also raised largely from the government benches and a few opposition members present, including Nkhotakota North MP Henry Chimunthu Banda, who is also former Speaker of the House, who wanted government to seriously invest in sugar as a potential crop to earn Malawi forex.
Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda, at the end of the session, thanked the leadership of United Democratic Front and People’s Democratic Party for their presence in the House when other opposition members had walked out.
