Kunkuyu defends Tonse on achievements
Minister of Information and Digitisation Moses Kunkuyu has defended the Tonse Alliance’s three-year stay in power, stating that it has done much to improve the citizenry’s well-being.
He mentioned the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP), social cash transfers, youth loans, development of transport infrastructure and ending electricity blackouts as some of the success.
Kunkuyu further said Malawi Government was also successful in its responses to triple health crises of Covid-19, cholera and polio as well as natural disasters.
The Tonse Alliance, ushered into power through the court-sanctioned fresh presidential election held on June 23 2020, clocked three years yesterday and pundits decried its poor leadership “which seemed not to care about Malawi’s direction” and the worsening living standards due to rising cost of living.
But in a written response yesterday, Kunkuyu said assessing the current Malawi on the benchmark of the situation the country was in when President Lazarus Chakwera ascended into office, one would see that it was on the right trajectory.
He said: “President Chakwera came in at a time Malawi’s debt levels were neck choking. There are huge borrowings that Malawi incurred just to finance consumption and campaign during the past regime.
“Those loans have matured now and since they were not meant for investment, Malawians are paying now. All the houses and cars that past government officials amassed, Malawians are paying now.”
However, when The Nation checked public debt levels it found that Malawi Government owed creditors about K4.13 trillion in 2020 when Chakwera came to power. But as at December 2022, the public debt stood at K7.9 trillion with K4.43 trillion as domestic debt and K3.47 trillion as external debt.
Within six months of the Tonse administration, total public debt stock amounted to K4.76 trillion or 54 percent of rebased gross domestic product (GDP) by December 2020 from K4.13 trillion or 47 percent of rebased GDP recorded in June 2020 when the new government took over.
This means, in the three years of Tonse administration, the debt has accumulated by about K3.3 trillion.
Kunkuyu said they believe the mega farms will not only bring food security and enhance agricultural commercialisation but also create jobs for our youth which remains a concern.
He also cited the rehabilitation of the M1 from Lilongwe to Rumphi, construction of rail line in Nsanje, Mzuzu University library, Mzuzu Youth Centre and the sports complex in Lilongwe as other major infrastructure developments Chakwera is implementing and to be completed before 2025.
However, the minister admitted corruption remained a challenge, saying, there was need to work extra hard to deal with the vice.
Kunkuyu said: “The economy will definitely take an upward turn with a serious fight against corruption which will raise donor confidence but also make our national projects more bankable in terms thereby creating more jobs.
“We are most definitely going to pass the test to access the Extended Credit Facility which will give us a breather, replenish our forex reserves, facilitate imports and spur local productivity.”
His sentiments followed an assessment by two University of Malawi (Unima) scholars that the three years of the Chakwera presidency have been a let down to voters.
In his presentation titled ‘The state of governance in Malawi: A chaotic political economy’, Unima political scientist Boniface Dulani observed that there has been an increase in government fraud and dubious deals.
He said foreign exchange shortages, currency devaluation, high inflation rate and rising corruption were worsening the lives of Malawians. He added that Malawi was fast turning into a democratically progressive country on the verge of economic collapse.
Unima economist Dr Farai Chigaru, in his assessment, said the country is facing acute forex shortages because government has failed to put in place development strategies that recommend export products that have a comparative advantage on the international market.
The Tonse Alliance, led by Chakwera and his Vice-President Saulos Chilima, dislodged the immediate-past governing Democratic Progressive Party in the fresh-presedential election.
