Nankhumwa faults Chakwera on promises

President Lazarus Chakwera’s 2023 State of the Nation Address (Sona) came under spotlight in Parliament yesterday with reactions from legislators, including Leader of Opposition Kondwani Nankhumwa faulting the presentation in its entirety.

In a response titled ‘Talk is cheap, lies have short legs’, Nankhumwa defied interjections and calls for point of order, especially from the government side, to describe the Chakwera administration’s stance on graft fight as “rhetoric” and that his plan to fix the country was long overdue.

But his sentiments did not amuse Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda who, in an interview after Parliament adjourned, expressed disappointment with the response, saying he expected the Leader of Opposition in Parliament to help in providing solutions.

In the response, Nankhumwa faulted the implementation of the 2022/23 Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP), the Tonse Alliance administration’s flagship campaign promise to lower fertiliser prices, saying it was doomed for failure from the onset. He said the President, in his address, did not offer solutions to fixing the broken systems, including the economy.

Describing the Tonse Alliance administration as “a stumbling block against the fight against corruption”, he said the State’s handling of a leaked audio of a conversation between Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director general Martha Chizuma and a third party was suspicious.

In the audio that went viral in January 2022, Chizuma was overheard discussing details of an ongoing investigation with a third party. The President at the time reprimanded her and said she would be maintained in her position. A presidential commission of inquiry into Chizuma’s arrest last December also faulted her for demonstrating lack of sound judgement.

But Nankhumwa said: “The President said he did not know anything [about Chizuma’s arrest on December 6 2022]. He quickly set up a commission of inquiry to establish circumstances surrounding the arrest, including finding out who actually ordered it.

“Mysteriously, the President tweaked the terms of reference for the commission. It ended up with findings that were far removed from the questions that Malawians were asking. Up to now, Malawians still don’t know who actually ordered the arrest of Martha Chizuma.”

He also said Chakwera omitted to mention how much Treasury has funded the newly-established Financial and Economic Crimes Division of the High Court of Malawi, arguing that courts and institutions such as ACB complement each other.

Said Nankhumwa: “The President almost heaped the blame on the slowness of conclusion of corruption cases on the Judiciary. However, my own opinion is that the Judiciary lacks adequate funding. The President knows it and he pretends all is well.”

He also decried lack of commitment to promote reforms and failure by the President and other senior government officials to adhere to austerity measures.

Nankhumwa also took to task Chakwera on his silence on the interview yesterday said whether inflation will decline will mainly depend on the maize availability and prices on the domestic market.

He said: “In recent months, inflation has stabilised, but attaining the RBM inflation projection will depend on the maize availability and prices on the domestic market.

“If the prices are low and we have bumper yields, then, inflation would decline.”

As at December 2022, year-on-year inflation for December stood at 25.4 percent, according to data from National Statistical Office.

In his State of the Nation Address delivered in Parliament in Lilongwe on Friday, President Lazarus Chakwera said even a quick look at inflation rates is not encouraging.

“The average annual inflation rate for 2021 was in the single digits at 9.1 percent and yet, this increased by more than double to 20.9 percent in 2022, way above the central bank’s target of five percent with no prospect of reaching that target in 2023, whose inflation rate is projected to be 18.2 percent,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts a year-on-year inflation rate of 13 percent while the International Monetary Fund projects an average of 16.5 percent for 2023. The country’s year-on-year headline inflation rate was last in single digit at 9.8 percent in October 2021.