Mutharika gives ministers ultimatum to deliver
at the press briefing
Malawi President Peter Mutharika has given government ministries an ultimatum of 30 days to come up with reports on how their respective sectors can attract foreign investment into the country.
“Get down to business. I want you to be committed towards your roles; be more efficient, productive and functional irrespective of your political affiliations. Your job is to serve the interests of the government of the day, and in my case; it’s the interests of all Malawians. It’s either you deliver or else, you will be sorry over yourself…,” warned Mutharika.
Speaking on Tuesday afternoon during his first-ever press conference held at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe after his first trip abroad, the President said time is up for loftiness in the civil service.
“I know some of you will not like what I’m going to say right now, but time has come for us to move away from donor dependency. There are opportunities out there that can help grow our ailing economy, but we need to grasp them as a country. There is money dangling somewhere, but we can’t have it if we do nothing. That’s the truth, unfortunately,” said Mutharika.
Directly addressing the contingent of ministers and principal secretaries, whose attentiveness resembled that of students in a classroom, Mutharika added: “I’m giving you 30 days to come up with ways on how best your ministry or department can woo investment. Obviously, we can’t grow if we rely on foreign aid. It’s time we stood up on our own feet in turning around our socioeconomic development.”
Mutharika also appealed to those with foreign connections in the country to help his government bring in the much-needed foreign investors.
“I said the same thing to the diaspora in the states (US) to help us out. Actually, I’m like regretting now to have given up my green card as it was the only meaningful connection linking me with the United States,” Mutharika said wryly, attracting laughter across the room.
Mutharika also stressed the need for Malawians to move away from dependence on hand-outs and urged the government and the private sector machinery to work hard in exploiting investment opportunities that can transform the nation’s economy.
“The opportunities are there. It’s up to us to take advantage of them,” Mutharika declared at the press briefing that seemed a new user-friendly model in recent years, as the new administration did not bring party zealots in tow.
Mutharika bemoaned the fact that Malawi has lost a number of opportunities where investors were virtually ignored by the government machinery.
“What a shame! What is wrong with us? We have to move away from this lethargy,” he declared.
He expressed joy that the presentations he gave and the meetings he had with his host, President Barack Obama, and his officials and the 49 other heads of State and government at the just-ended summit in Washington DC had been fruitful.
“People are now looking at Malawi [with keen interest]. They think there is hope here,” the President said, indicating that his government will follow up on the deals and agreements secured at the summit, whose these was Investing in The Next Generation.
I would have been really happy if the president was giving this so called ultimatum to his ministers on issues like how they would seal all the loop holes that the tax payer’s money is sipping through the net in form of corruption on daily basis.
Any Jim & Jack can come up with brilliant ideas on how to attract investors; but the issue is when the so called investors have paid their taxes where would that money go? Would the money benefit the many poor Malawians or just the same few individuals / cashgaters we are all aware of?
I agree with President Mutharika that his country will not move forward as long as it depends on foreign aid. I can remember that the late Tanzanian President Mwalimu Julius Kabarage Nyerere once said that as long as we depend on foreign aid,we cannot overcome poverty. If we want to be enslaved, let us continue to accept free money/donor money.
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