Chakwera shakes off criticism
President Lazarus Chakwera on Tuesday tried to convince critics that his administration is on track with his campaign promises, including job creation and the fight against corruption.
Chakwera went to Parliament to respond to questions for a third time since assuming office in June 2020 court-sanctioned Fresh Presidential Election—making him the only President to fulfill the requirement since 1994.
In his remarks before tackling the questions, Chakwera bragged about this politically-important achievement of taking questions from the members of Parliament (MPs) and asked legislators to consider enacting a law that penalises future presidents that fail to avail themselves for questions in the august House.
First to ask was Noah Chimpeni, MP for Nkhata Bay South West (People’s Party). His question on the fight against corruption and job creation, seemed to have attracted huge interest from the MPs.
This was not surprising considering that the corruption and the one million jobs promise have also been topics of hot discussion since the Tonse Alliance took over power.
Chimpeni demanded an assurance from Chakwera that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) will function independently without interference from the Executive.
He asked: “Considering that the fight against corruption needs a lot of resources and joint effort by several governance institutions like the ACB and the Judiciary. Can the President assure Malawians that the ACB will be financially resourced to carry out its investigations in a timely and professional manner?”
In his responses, Chakwera said under his administration the ACB independence is guaranteed and the provision of resources to the institutions “speaks to that independence”.
He said he is the only President to have availed himself to the ACB for an interview as part of their investigation, adding that speaks to the independence of the bureau.
The President was also asked if inviting the ACB director for a meeting did not amount to interference, to which he said as Head of State, he needs to interact with public officers, especially those heading institutions, to appreciate their operations and that does not amount to interference as these institutions have clear reporting lines away from his office.
Chakwera was also asked by Chipiliro Mpinganjira, Blantyre City Centre-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator on the job creation figure which the President had shared in Parliament during his State Of the Nation Address (Sona) two weeks ago.
Mpinganjira asked: “What are the plans for Malawi’s cities regarding setting up industries for jobs and export of Malawian manufactured goods and expansion of cities?”
Chakwera had stated that his administration has created over 950 000 jobs in this financial year alone. His statement attracted a lot of public criticism such that a few days after the President’s Sona, Minister of Labour Vera Kamtukule held a press briefing to clarify what Chakwera meant on job creation.
Kamtukule said the Tonse understanding of a job is that it is anything that provides an income, a definition that is derived from the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
On Tuesday, Chakwera stuck to the Tonse script on the definition of a job, and further expressed worry that some people despise other people’s jobs.
“Madam Speaker, it strikes me as odd when I stated eight months ago that the economy has lost 600 000 jobs, no one came to ask me what kind of jobs have been lost or to parade the Malawians whose jobs have been lost.
“But the moment I said over 900 000 jobs have been created, suddenly many people who had good jobs started asking me to parade the Malawians who had these jobs and whether the income of these Malawians count as jobs,” he said.
