By Kondanani Chilimunthaka
President Lazarus Chakwera has bemoaned the tendency of slowness and delays in implementing public projects, saying such culture is impacting negatively on the progress of development and economy for the country.
The President was speaking at Luanar, Bunda Campus on Friday, May 6,2022 when he presided over the official opening of the Luanar Building and Teaching facility that has been constructed with funds from Malawi Government.
In his speech, President Chakwera wondered why one project can take close to twelve years before being completed, saying his administration is much committed to complete projects which were started and left unfinished by the previous administrations.
“I am delighted to join all of you in celebrating completion of these magnificent facilities. One of the things that I am committed to as a servant of Malawian People, it is not on to continue the past practice of frustrating or abstracting the completion of projects that were left unfinished by previous administrations, I said I will not do that. In fact when I accepted to be the chancellor of this University on November 19,2020, I promised to ensure the smooth and speedy completion of these facilities that has taken four different administrations passing on the responsibility to see it done.” Read part of President Chakwera’ speech.
He further told the gathering that the kind of continuity of projects across administrations is the kind of continuity that he believes in, if the agenda 2063 is to be achieved, adding that being constitutional right, such developments must not be politicized but celebrated as of national enjoyment.
President Chakwera then said the infrastructure has added the value to the accelerators of agricultural sector which he described as one area the country must get right by diversification to produce variety of crops that have high demand around the world to create a diversified economy.
“It is simply a disgrace for us as a nation to take twelve years to complete these buildings. This is not a criticism against the people who did the construction, but a criticism against us as a nation, all of us. We are very slow as a nation, We are a nation in slow motion. ” Lamented President Chakwera while saying such slowness is killing the country’s economy.
President Chakwera in his speech also revealed that he has requested the World Bank to support the agricultural high education in Malawi with resources amounting to 30 Million United States Dollars to facilitate series of excellence in agriculture of which some will be housed at Luanar.
