By Iommie Chiwalo
The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has urged President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera and his Tonse Alliance administration to stop insulting the intelligence of Malawians by creating unnecessary crises in order to gain cheap popularity and monetary benefits for trying to ‘solve’ the same.
In a statement signed by CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa, Chakwera has been reminded that his ascension to leadership was based on a promise to fix the country and not otherwise.
“Therefore, his leadership should be seen to be built on integrity in order to earn and sustain the trust of the electorate. It is shocking to note that the President is running a counterfeit government clearly mirrored through State-sponsored corruption with impunity and arrogance. Sadly, now Chakwera’s government has mastered the art of creating crises to benefit under the guise of solving such bottle necks,” Namiwa said.
Namiwa questioned how the fertiliser donation of 95, 000 metric tonnes fits into Affordable Input Programme (AIP) which has already lost budgeted hundreds of millions of kwacha to fraud.
“At least just brief the nation on how this donation will transparently benefit Malawians. This silence is very strange, but not surprising. In the absence of such important information, who cannot be tempted to fear that this fertilizer will grow wings and disappear from the warehouses, or get sold to the same Malawians well-wishers have given it for free,” queries Namiwa.
He has expressed worry over the pace at which President Chakwera is departing away from his campaign promises citing the AIP task force announcement on upward adjustment of fertiliser prices as an example.
During campaign period Chakwera promised that fertiliser price will not be selling at more than MK4,500 to access a 50-kilogramme bag of fertilizer, but the AIP task force has announced that this year these needy Malawians will have to top up each bag with MK15,000.
