Chakwera snoring on the job—Nankhumwa
The year 2022 saw the country facing serious social and economic challenges such as the cholera outbreak. Equally, there were certain emerging events that puzzled not only the citizens but development partners as well. News Analyst LUCKY MKANDAWIRE speaks to Leader of Opposition in Parliament and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) vice president (south) Kondwani Nankhumwa to dissect some of the pressing challenges.
Q: What is your prelude Leader of Opposition?
A: First, let me wish every Malawian well as we steadily move into 2023. As a country, we have crossed one of the most testing years. However, I am firmly convinced that we have a leadership vacuum in this country and that, as a result, Malawi is steadily sliding towards a failed State where government and the leadership are no longer in control of the social and economic systems. Our circumstances as a country are very unfortunate because the captain of our ship is sleeping on duty to the point of not being aware of circumstances around him.
Q: Could you justify why you feel the captain of the ship is sleeping on duty?
A: Case in point is the arrest of Martha Chizuma, head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). We are all aware about what happened, which is laughable to say the least. The President (Lazarus Chakwera) claimed he was not informed in advance about the impending arrest of a high-profile government official. Instead of sacking the responsible officials, he instituted a Commission of Inquiry “to investigate the circumstances surrounding the arrest”. Based on the varied opinions that have ensued since the Commission of Inquiry released its findings report, it is clear many Malawians are not satisfied. Before dust has settled on the issue, we now hear of her interdiction.
Q: The country is currently going through a protracted cholera outbreak with more than 22 000 recorded cases and over 1 000 losing their lives, what went wrong?
A: The worst part is that more than 80 percent of all deaths are occurring in health facilities, meaning that the level of care in our facilities is grossly substandard. The first cholera case was officially reported in March 2022 and since then no single day has gone without recording a case of the disease. In fact, by mid-August last year, we had 1 000 cholera cases with 10 districts affected. This was dry season, which is traditionally a low transmission period and the very fact that the cases were increasing during this season, should have been a warning enough for President Chakwera and his Tonse Alliance government to ensure that the health sector has the capacity to deal with the outbreak before the rainy season.
But the Tonse Alliance government continues to write all the wrong scripts in the health sector. The cholera outbreak was given cursory attention like a small ailment that would go away with regular Panado, and yet it was a time bomb waiting to explode. I asked President Chakwera to declare a State of national disaster in order to unlock more support towards the cholera outbreak, especially from Malawi’s foreign cooperating partners, but it appears my plea fell on deaf ears. I wish to repeat the call for the President to declare a State of national disaster because Malawians continue to die in large numbers because our medical facilities lack the necessary capacity to contain the outbreak.
Q: But government has shown serious concern about the outbreak looking at the various initiatives underway?
A: Not correct. In his New Year’s address, President Chakwera clearly demonstrated that his government is undaunted about the crisis. For instance, he only made one sentence on the crisis. This casual approach to the crisis by the President is breathtaking. It is clearly a consequence of sleepy leadership, which has characterised the administration. In fact, the crisis has exposed the leadership vacuum that this country continues to suffer under President Chakwera.
Q: What other burning issue exposed the country during the year?
A: The Bridgin Foundation purported grant President Chakwera presided over in November 2022 is one thing members of this administration do not want to talk about now. President Chakwera and his lieutenants have realised that the whole Bridgin Foundation fiasco was just a load of hot air balloon and not the windfall Malawians were meant to believe. This is a sad and embarrassing scenario for the government and President Chakwera because of the penchant middlemen without conducting any due diligence. As the opposition in Parliament, we have warned President Chakwera about the caliber of his advisors whose priorities are completely upside down.
Q: What would be your final issue that you would want to address?A: The other issues are the Affordable Input Programme and how government officials are trying to paint a rosy picture and the collapsing Admarc. The reality is this season AIP has completely and comprehensively collapsed. This irredeemable situation is because money for AIP, whose budget we passed in Parliament, was stolen by members of the Tonse Alliance administration under the guise of purchasing fertiliser.
