By Burnett Munthali
Member of Parliament for Nkhatabay Central constituency Symon Vuwa Kaunda, advised fellow opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) and the opposition parties to respect President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera , government and all other leadership positions. Vuwa Kaunda said government was a machine for one not to play with hence a great need of each and everyone to respect it as the government of the day thanking President Chakwera for allowing him being DPP to come and attend his meetings.
Vuwa Kaunda reminded Malawians of the mid-night meeting soon after former President Professor Bingu wa Mutharika’s death that he and others, were doing contrary things to the country’s Constitution. Kaunda said he was not alone who was conducting the mid-night meeting claiming that the embattled Leader of Opposition in Parliament Dr. Kondwani Nankhumwa was there too, saying police came to disrupt their meeting as it was against the constitution. Was it necessary a statement to be provided on Martyrs Day?
Promises and lies of Chakwera and Tonse Alliance
Few years ago, Chakwera winded up his campaign on a high note; promising to transform Malawi once he takes over Government. Malawi Congress Party President Lazarus Chakwera in 2019 held a final rally at Kamuzu Institute for Youth and sports in the Capital City of Malawi, Lilongwe. Chakwera was accompanied by People’s party President Joyce Banda (Former State President of Malawi) and MCP’s National Executive Committee members. During the rally which marked the final push for voting basket, Chakwera promised total transformation of Malawi once he takes over leadership through his Chakwera Super Hi-5 of Servant leadership, Uniting Malawi, Prospering together, Ending corruption and Rule of law.
1. Risk allowance to police officers.
– Malawi police are still being low pay without the promised allowances.
2. Ending corruption.
– The Transparency International Corruptions Perception rankings are used as a proxy for assessing the level of government corruption for each economy. World Economics has converted the ranking data into an index on the scale from 0-100 where 0 is absolute corruption and 100 is no perception of government corruption. Malawi’s level of Corruption Perception is 37.8 against a global average of 48.4.
– The 2023 Corruption Perception Index released by Transparency International shows that Malawi’s performance has remained constant on corruption scores. The report shows that Malawi recently scored 34 out of 100 points and has been ranked 115 out of 180 countries that have been assessed. In 2022, Malawi scored 34 out of 100 points and was ranked 110 out of 180 countries and territories that were assessed. Corruption had simply not been reduced.
3. Improving life of all the citizens.
– Poverty levels are rising in Malawi and are estimated to have reached 71.7 percent in 2023 at the international extreme poverty line of $2.15 per person per day, the latest World Bank Malawi Economic Monitor (MEM) has shown. The MEM was launched in Blantyre last Tuesday.
– According to the bank, ganyu labour, the mainstay especially of poorer households, both pays less and has become scarcer, driving up poverty. “Ganyu, a term for casual labour in Malawi, is the main source of income, especially for vulnerable households (Benson and De Weerdt 2013). While in November 2022, 11.9 percent of households in rural southern Malawi reported challenges in finding ganyu during the previous week, that share increased to 20.0 percent in November 2023.
4. Bringing back the abolished Junior Certificate of Education examinations.
– Indeed, junior certificate of education examinations was free introduced by Tonse Alliance but that is not all Malawians were promised. A lot more was promised and had not been fulfilled.
5. Empowering women and youths with small scale businesses through bank loans.
– Small scale businesses are shutting down due to lack of business and harsh economic environment in the country. Getting bank loans is a risk and no longer an opportunity as it is hard to do business on the ground.
6. Tightening security to every citizens including those living with albinism.
– Security has become compromised as people with dissenting voices in the ruling and opposition parties are targeted and hacked due exercising their freedom of speech by government sponsored MCP thugs. MCP member who declared his intention to contest as Director of Youth at the party’s forthcoming Convention this year was physically manhandled on Kasungu leaving him seeking medical treatment.
– This was brought to light by an audio which circulated on various social media platforms that one MCP diehard, Dickson Chatanga was beaten leaving him half dead at Santhe ground in Kasungu at an MCP rally which was addressed by Minister of Finance Simplex Chithyola Banda on 1st January, 2024.
7. Lowering interest rates further as they were exorbitant to poor Malawians.
– Interest rates are even higher than they were before and poor Malawians cannot afford getting loans from the bank or else they end up failing to pay back.
8. Going to parliament to answer questions as per constitution signifying his interest to follow the rule of law and be a servant leader.
– Indeed we have seen President Chakwera going to parliament to answer questions as per constitution signifying his interest to follow the rule of law and as a servant leader but that’s not enough. Malawians need more than just a president going to answer questions to Parliament though he dodges some critical questions such as the reason for training of MCP youth at Mtakataka.
9. Reducing fertilizer prices for all the Malawians so that every one could afford and be food secure and financially independent.
– Realistically, farming has become a very expensive adventure for poor farmers because fertilizer had never been reduced for everyone to buy but has simply become exorbitant.
10. Introducing the use of tractors and ploughs as substitutes for hoes in farming.
– Poverty levels are rising in Malawi and are estimated to have reached 71.7 percent in 2023 at the international extreme poverty line of $2.15 per person per day, the latest World Bank Malawi Economic Monitor (MEM) has shown. The MEM was launched in Blantyre last Tuesday.
– According to the bank, ganyu labour, the mainstay especially of poorer households, both pays less and has become scarcer, driving up poverty. “Ganyu, a term for casual labour in Malawi, is the main source of income, especially for vulnerable households (Benson and De Weerdt 2013). While in November 2022, 11.9 percent of households in rural southern Malawi reported challenges in finding ganyu during the previous week, that share increased to 20.0 percent in November 2023.
On the ground
Just after the Tonse led administration clocked two years in power, citizens expressed mixed reactions to its performance and how it was handling the economy. Francis Jere from Lilongwe said the Tonse government had delivered well in terms of infrastructure development where it had managed to build hospitals and construct roads. He said, given a chance to vote again in 2025, he wil would still choose the administration if it still maintained its nine-party band.
But in Neno, Williams Sosola argued that nepotism and corruption had not been dealt with and had worsened, saying prices of fertilizer had gone up, hitting hard low-income households who depended on agriculture. He however observed that there was no difference with the Democratic Progressive Party in the way the Tonse government was handling the economy.
Sosola said both regimes mismanaged the country and paved way for massive corruption that affected the ordinary citizen. In Phalombe, John Phiri said the cost of living had worsened during Tonse Alliance regime and people were living beyond their income. Citing fuel hikes at that time as a major blow to the country’s economic growth.
Adding his voice, Shabil Kapeta of Machinga thought the Tonse government was doing the opposite of what it promised and should find solutions to the country’s problems rather than blaming the Russia-Ukraine war.
Conclusion
President Chakwera is losing respect for himself for not honoring his campaign promises and lies. He is not a man of his words, he keeps talking and Malawians have labelled him as the greatest lying president who cannot be taken seriously. President Chakwera must walk the talk for Malawians who have lost confidence and trust in him.
In the Bible, Respect is earned through living by priority. Proverbs 11:27 says, “If your goals are good you’ll be respected.” Proverbs 14:22 in the Good News translation says, “You will earn the trust and respect of others if you work for good.” If you want to be a leader, have good goals. Therefore, President Reverend Lazarus Chakwera must work to earn himself respect.
 and the opposition parties to respect President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy…){kind=link}