Former president Peter Mutharika has accused his successor President Lazarus Chakwera of foiling his planned visit to cheer patients on Christmas Day at Mangochi District Hospital.
But Minister of Information and Digitisation Moses Kunkuyu, in an interview yesterday, laughed off the accusation and advised that leaders visiting such public institutions need to inform the government of their arrangements in advance.
Mutha r i k a , who i s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) leader, indicated that he planned to cheer patients at Mangochi District Hospital, but his planned trip announced through social media earlier in the week, was cancelled at the eleventh hour after communication on Christmas Eve that Chakwera was scheduled to visit the facility.
However, Chakwera’s trip did not materialise to the chagrin of Mutharika, whose spokesperson Shadric Namalomba said in an interview yesterday that the President’s action was an act of political desperation.
“APM is sad and depressed, that’s the feeling. No politics attached, it’s bizarre that President Chakwera could do that,” he said.
In an earlier statement, Namalomba said patients and guardians at the hospital were expecting to be cheered.
Reads his statement in part: “Out of respect for the Presidency office, the former president and first lady postponed their visit today [December 25].
“This is a sad state of affairs, and it is a reminder that leaders should always be sincere in their actions and decisions.”
But Kunkuyu yesterday advised all senior people who would want to visit public institutions such as hospitals and prisons to cheer the sick and inmates during the festive season to make timely arrangements.
He said: “This is because many people would want to visit such places during the festive season and authorities must ensure they provide the necessary advice to avoid congestion and other scenarios that would go against the protocols of the facilities to be visited.
“In the case of a former president wanting to visit a place that the President of the country already has plans to visit, it is obvious that the former president yields to the sitting President and waits until there is space.”
Kunkuyu said Mutharika presented his request on December 24 after all confirmations for other programmes were already done.
He said if they had submitted the request earlier, some space would have been provided or the necessary advice would have been given.
Said Kunkuyu: “It is, therefore, absurd for the DPP to try to politicise this issue instead of simply putting their planning department in shape. How can they write official requests to government offices when they know very well the government offices are closed? Where does that happen?
“Let’s be orderly. From January they forgot that there comes Christmas on 25th December?”
Meanwhile, governance and political pundit George Chaima has described the situation as uncultural and unhonourable.
“What President Chakwera has done is wrong; his advisers should have told him about APM’s plans. It’s disrespectful to the former president,” he said.
Cha kwe r a de f e a t ed Mutharika in the court-sanctioned fresh presidential election of June 2020 in which he paired with fallen Vice- President Saulos Chilima as running mate under the banner of Tonse Alliance.
Since his election, the President has been cheering the sick at Mangochi District Hospital as one way of celebrating Christmas.
Mutharika is also based in Mangochi where he built his private beachside residence.
