POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION IN MALAWI
INTRODUCTION
1. Today, I speak as one of you feeling the pain the we are all suffering in this country.
• Life is becoming impossible for most Malawians.
• We are beginning to live like slaves in our own country.
• There is no sense of direction and most of us have lost any hope in this country.
• We have gone back to the Malawi Congress Party darkest days of terror, death and fear.
2. Today, I want call upon President Chakwera to show leadership and governing this country.
• Almost two years after this country was taken from us, Chakwera has not even started governing this country.
• I want Chakwera to know that Malawians are suffering. This country is on a breaking point.
3. I also want to appeal to the international community to break the silence and stand with the people. Malawi is heading for a humanitarian crisis.
• Malawi has a leadership crisis. • We have a political crisis.
• We have an economic crisis.
• But we are now moving from a political and economic crisis to a humanitarian crisis.
Let me now get to the details:
1. LACK OF ECONOMIC LEADERSHIP
• Malawi is in an economic crisis.
• The economy is not working. Nothing is working.
• We are failing to raise revenue. Yet, senseless over-expenditure is rising.
• We are failing to provide basic needs for the common Malawian. There is no essential medicine in hospitals— we can’t cure malaria, we can’t provide Panado, we can’t do operation in some hospitals. o We are failing to provide fertilizer to the people. We are failing to provide food.
• We are failing to manage the rising cost of fuel prices.
• We are failing to control prices for anything.
• Thousands of Malawians who commute to work can no longer afford to pay for public transport to and from work. They can’t even pay for kabaza .
• The economy stopped working as soon as this country was taken away from the DPP. Everyone knows that.
• But instead, President Chakwera wants to blame his failures on the DPP. Arresting and persecuting DPP members will not solve the economic problems of this country;
• Malawians know that the economy was stable before Government was taken from us. Prices were stable. There was forex in this country. Businesses were functioning and Malawians could feed themselves.
• So, stop blaming DPP and start managing the country. Stop making the DPP a scapegoat!
• Malawians want to afford fuel, cooking oil, soap and sugar. Malawians want to be able to afford water, electricity, food, kabaza and minibus fares.
2. RAMPANT CORRUPTION AND SELECTIVE JUSTICE
• Every Malawian now knows that we have a Government of thieves, by thieves and for thieves.
• Everyone knows that DPP did not steal any money from Government. That is why the economy was working before Government was taken from us. • There is more theft and corruption more than ever in the history of this country.
• Yet, it is only DPP officials who are being arrested on trumped charges.
• We know that ACB has evidence but they are being dictated by politicians. • Stop this selective justice and stop persecuting DPP leadership on trumped up charges.
3. POLITICAL PERSECUTION AND ETHNIC HATRED
• I urge President Chakwera and his Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Government to stop politics of perpetrating ethnic hatred in this country.
• In the last one year, we have all seen: o Dismissal of almost all high-ranking civil servants from the Southern Region and ethnically biased arrests.
Economic exclusion of Northerners and Southerners o Political exclusion of Southerners and Northerners— 70% of the Cabinet was appointed from Lilongwe and more than 90% of all Government appointments are from Central Region: in particular Lilongwe, Mchinji, Dowa and Ntchisi.
• This political marginalization and nepotism is fueling ethnic hatred because most Malawians are made to feel like this is not their country. This is a dangerous for the country.
4. THE RETURN OF OPPRESSIVE DICTATORSHIP
• Malawi is fast sliding back into the dark era of one-party state. o We are seeing a rising appetite for wanton arrests of Arrests without proper charges of Suppressing dissent voices— the arrest of Bon Kalindo is an example of Use of police as instrument of terror o Use of the ACB as a tool for political persecution
• These are all signs of dictatorship. The international community needs to note that Malawi is becoming a dictatorship.
• Government rushed to arrest Hon. Joseph Mwanamvekha and Dr. Dalitso Kabambe just because we announced that these individuals were going to speak on the economic situation of the country. They arrested Hon Ben Phiri because he spoke in Parliament.
• But this is the message to Chakwera: YOU CANNOT SILENCE US ALL! YOU CANNOT SILENCE MALAWIANS! YOU CANNOT SILENCE THE VOICE OF NATIONAL PAIN.
5. CONCLUSION
I urge all Malawians never to give up the struggle for our country.
We should never give up on our country.
We should never stop believing in our country.
We should stand up for our country!
May God Bless us all!
