If I were Ken Lipenga

Finance Minister, I would realise that my attempt to attribute the doubled internal travel budget to classification errors was puzzling and not convincing.

If I were the big shot that is Ken, I would appreciate that organisations such as Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn) and Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) have a point to suspect that the People’s Party (PP) administration wants to use the resources for partisan politics in next year’s tripartite elections.

I would appreciate that people are justified to raise questions, especially in a budget statement coming from a Finance Minister, who, during the Bingu wa Mutharika era, was implicated in borrowing funds from commercial banks to create an impression that Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) had met its target and that the Zero-Deficit Budget was on track.

I would realise that my explanation is even more questionable when I could not state how much is planned for the elections’ travel budget.

How I wish I were the man responsible for government’s purse, because I would appreciate that no amount of explanation will justify my claims since it is just not convincing.

I would appreciate, if I were Dr. Lipenga, that not even tempting phrases such as ‘erroneously classified’ and ‘misclassification’ will change people’s mind on the issue.

That is if only I were my man Dr. Ken. Fortunately [or is it unfortunately], I am not Dr. Ken Lipenga.