The Malawi government has dismissed claims by opposition UTM Party President Dr. Saulos Chilima that Special Cabinet Committee Members are pocketing huge sums of money in allowances.
Chilima, who is also the vice president made the claims on Wednesday during a presser in Lilongwe. He lied to Malawians that cabinet Ministers in the committee are receiving over MK 300, 00O as allowance per meeting.
Responding to the claims, Government Spokesperson who also doubles as Minister of Information, Mark Botomani said members of the special committee on Covid-19 are not receiving an allowance as claimed by Chilima.
“There is no budget line for allowances in the funding for corona virus mitigating measures. The public will be pleased to know that Ministers and their technical officers are sacrificing a lot in the fight against the coronavirus.
In this regard they do not pocket any allowances despite even working at odd hours,” said Botomani
He added: “The Government further appreciates the media for their understanding as even journalists that attend the COVID 19 press conferences do not even get any allowances.
These measures are meant to ensure that resources made available in curbing COVID 19 are channeled directly to the actual intervention measures”
Malawi President Professor Peter Mutharika appointed the special cabinet Committee on Covid-19 on 7th March 2020. The Special Committee is being chaired by Minister of Health Jappie Mhango.
Malawi has so far registered eight cases of coronavirus, including one death and According to World Health Organization, as of Wednesday morning the world registered over 1.3 million cases of Covid-19 with over 72, OOO people.
