Fulfil campaign promises—DPP, UDF
Opposition political parties represented in Parliament on Monday took turns to urge President Lazarus Chakwera and his Tonse Alliance administration to seriously consider implementing presidential campaign promises to win back diminishing public trust.
The opposition leaders were responding to Chakwera’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) he delivered in Parliament on Thursday to mark the beginning of the 2022/23 National Budget Meeting.
Leader of Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa of main opposition emocratic Progressive Party (DPP) said Chakwera is currently presiding over a frustrated nation because of unfulfilled promises.
He said so far, Malawians have found the President’s leadership wanting.
Said Nankhumwa: “The President should remember that he is in that office by vote and trust of all Malawians, not his friends, party functionaries, or family. He is not there to please certain individuals but Malawians. He is there to drive the best interests of this country and its citizens.
“Malawians have endured dizzying back-and-forth movements on the leadership’s own commitments, indecisiveness and lack of consistency on many other issues.”
On the battle against corruption, the Leader of Opposition said if Chakwera wants to take corruption head on, he must not fear risking his close friendships and relations if that is what it would take to deliver on his promises.
On Chakwera’s efforts to fix broken systems, Nankhumwa said that can never be achieved when the President is keeping corrupt ministers in his Cabinet.
The Leader of Opposition said during the campaign, Malawians were told that there will not be any corruption, nepotism, tribalism, and regionalism in the “land of milk and honey”. However, the President has not lived up to his promise of appointing people based on merit.
He claimed that Chakwera is in the forefront abusing his position of authority by appointing his daughter and other Tonse Alliance family members to diplomatic and government positions.
Nankhumwa observed that Chakwera said the first thing he would do after taking office would be to send a bill to Parliament to reduce presidential powers and make Anti-Corruption Bureau independent, but nothing is happening.
The Leader of Opposition said Thursday’s Sona was the third by Chakwera since he became President, and Malawians are no better than they were before this government came to power.
“In fact, the economic situation now is worse than at any time in the history of multiparty democracy in this country. Inefficiency in the public sector is at its worst, with high levels of official corruption taking root,” he said.
On job creation, Nankhumwa noted that in July 2021, Chakwera appeared on BBC Hard Talk television programme where he admitted that his government had failed to create the 1 million jobs that he promised, and that 600 000 jobs had been lost instead.
He wondered how Chakwera has come back seven months later to claim that his government has created over 900 000 jobs, describing it as strange.
On his part, United Democratic Front (UDF) leader Ned Poya warned Chakwera to tread carefully by implementing campaign promises, failing which Malawians will lose their trust in his administration and that the Tonse Alliance will be voted out of power in 2025 elections.
He urged the government to fix the economy and invest more in commercial agriculture, saying the country will not develop by depending on subsistence agriculture.
Poya also expressed worry that corruption and nepotism, which largely led to the booting out of power of the former governing DPP, is becoming rampant in the current administration.
Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani Hara announced that it is expected that this week and part of next week will be dedicated to debating the Sona, while the 2022/23 National Budget will be presented on Friday next week and thereafter, the budget debate.
