PAC wants to meet Chakwera again

The Public Affairs Committee (PAC) wants to reengage President Lazarus Chakwera on a number of governance issues it raised in August.

In an interview after a five-hour closed-door meeting at Sunbird Mount Soche in Blantyre on Wednesday, PAC spokesperson Reverend Gilford Matonga said the quasi-religious grouping wants to meet Chakwera to get updated on recommendations they made when they met the President at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe on August 25 2021.

Among others, PAC wants to find out the progress on lean Cabinet, how Chakwera and his Tonse Alliance government intend to address the economic problems and the status of his commitment to fight corruption in the country.

Matonga said: “So the board has agreed to re-engage the President on issues that we had raised before, so that he can update us on what has been achieved and what has not been achieved and why.

“Most of them are what Malawians are talking about already in the public now. So we are talking about actions that were supposed to be done concerning the matters that we had raised.”

He said the process of wanting to re-engage Chakwera started sometime back and expressed optimism that the grouping will be given an opportunity to meet the President as soon as possible”.

In an interview on Wednesday, presidential press secretary Anthony Kasunda said PAC has always been meeting Chakwera without problems.

He said: “They [PAC] have never had problems meeting the President.”

During a closed-door meeting held at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe on August 15, the quasi-religious grouping cautioned the President to desist from appointing close relations to avoid compromising on professionalism.

PAC also asked Chakwera to appoint a lean Cabinet in line with the size of the country’s economy.