Government has told off the 5th all inclusive Stakeholders Conference on Economic and Political Governance organised by Public Affairs Committee (Pac) in the ended week, that no one can ask the DPP administration to resign.
Government spokesperson, Jappie Mhango, said in an interview on Friday that governments are not elected by Pac and therefore, demands for ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Government to step down are impossible.
Mhango, who is also Information and Civic Education minister, said the calls for President Peter Mutharika and his administration to resign because they have failed the country were not part of Pac resolutions but opinions of Malawi Congress Party’s (MCP) Jessie Kabwila and two People’s Party (PP) officials Ken Msonda and Kamlepo Kalua
“Those were not resolutions that emerged from group discussions. These were individual recommendations from Kamlepo Kalua, Jessie Kabwira and Ken Msonda,” said Mhango who claimed that the three hijacked the Pac conference to champion their own political aspirations.
“It’s naive to make such demand and no way can three mediocre people ask a government that was elected by the people to step down… These people never voted for the professor they voted for their own candidates that’s why they are in opposition. We will help them to remain professional opposition politicians for the next 100 years,” a cheeky sounding Mhango declared.
He said recommendations that came from the group discussions had no such content and yet the Pac conference had delegates drawn from various sectors and not just political parties.
“These were recommendations of MCP and PP; and you know these two parties. MCP is crying for power that it lost in 1994. Every election they have lost but they don’t want to concede defeat, now they want to get power through the backdoor,” claimed Mhango.
“PP tasted power for two years through an accident, and they lost [the elections] miserably. Can the two parties be realistic, they cannot be positive; they seize every opportunity to fulfil their evil intentions,” he added.
Mhango said the problems Malawi is facing today were created by these parties.
“MCP never did well to this economy as they only benefitted from the Cold War where the West used to pour in a lot of resources but after the Cold War the economy crumbled and you do not need a rocket scientist to tell you that,” he said.
“What did PP do in two years? Kugawa waka ngoma mumusewutu(just busy distributing maize handout on the roadside). These messed up the economy and today they are saying imwe mwananga charo (you have destroyed the nation),” Mhango said about PP.
He said the ruling DPP is not in control of the weather where in Lower Shire for example floods damaged property. He insisted that issues of climate change are not the responsibility of Government alone.
“We need a collective approach that’s the more reason Pac had organised that conference,” he said adding that therefore “We just have to sit down, sober up and find solutions to these problems.”
“When they say we have failed, what have we failed, to bring you rains? The President is spending sleepless night to steer the country to prosperity and one cannot expect a miracle when the Government has been in power for one year and eight months,” he said.
In an interview Msonda hit back by saying whenever a DPP Government spokesperson and official open his or her mouth all that comes out are lies.
“We were at the Pac meeting as representatives of the people. And the views were presented to the delegates during the conference. The people are saying this Government has failed us. And even the Government officials themselves told the gathering that they have failed,” he said.
Msonda claimed that Government delegates confessed that they have no answers to the problems that Malawi is facing as a nation.
“So it’s not us. What do you make of a whole Government official telling Malawians that they have no powers on the inflation and they cannot do anything on the high interest and lending rates? They cannot do anything to pay the money they owe the private sector because the powers rest with Reserve Bank and the IMF. This only shows that they are not on the driving seat,” he said.
He said Malawians cannot keep on suffering just because they elected this Government.
President Mutharika has since said he won’t respond to the calls until he has been formally given the resolutions.
Speaking through his Press Secretary, Gerald Viola, President Mutharika said the resolutions haven’t reached the office of the president.
“What normally happens is that after their conference or whatever meeting they report to the President. After they have presented to the President the resolution that’s when the stand by the President will be made. Otherwise since we are not in receipt of the same we cannot comment on the resolutions,” said Viola.
Pac Executive Director, Robert Phiri, told Malawi News that a date has not been set yet.
“But the directive I have is that next week I should convene a meeting for the board members. We will have to fine tune the document and this is the document that we will deliver to the authorities,” he said.
On whether or not the meeting was hijacked by the political parties, as alleged by Mhango, Phiri said the best to comment would be the delegates.
Civil society representatives at the Pac meeting have, however, dismissed claims by information minister.
Civil rights activist Billy Mayaya, who was a delegate at the conference, said they have made three demands including asking for an early election that should come after creation of a Government of National Unity.
This position has been put down in a statement that was contributed towards the resolutions seen by Malawi News part of which reads:
“We concur with the calls that the responses to the issues outlined require a collective response as the current administration has shown a gross lack of leadership. Leadership requires sustained vision and decisive action.”
The statement further observes and proposes that since these factors have been lacking, in view leadership based on sustained trust as enshrined in Malawi’s Republican Constitution in Section 12, there now should be composition of an inclusive interim government to facilitate the transition of power through early elections.
“This will comprise of key political parties represented in Parliament, religious bodies and civil society,” it reads.
Mayaya said the statement has indicated that the government has an ultimatum of 90 days in which to effect the recommendations.
The other recommendation is that resource allocations to the key sectors of Education, Health and Agriculture be proportional to the current needs of these sectors.
“We believe that the allocations directed to State Residences and the Office of the President and Cabinet are too large and unjustified,” it states.
Mayaya says these calls have come about upon realising that the deteriorating state of the economy, spearheaded by the Government’s propensity to borrow heavily leading to runaway inflation.
Other concerns are high unemployment rates and a lopsided economy that is exemplified by a predominantly consumption economy as well as failure to deal with the gap created by lack of donor support.
There are also concerns on lack of transparency and accountability in the comprehensive handling of the Cashgate cases and inaction of the Government to respond with urgency to the current food crisis, in spite of huge financial injections to the Farm Input Subsidised Programme (FISP).
* Establishment of a legalised Nation Economic Planning Commission (NEPC)
* President Peter Mutharika to step down if he fails to release maize to all the Admarc depots within 30 days.
* Form an interim Government of National Unity comprising all political parties, CSOs and Religious leaders
* Call for early elections
* President Peter Mutharika should call for help from international organisations and the local community for the provision of maize
* Change of electoral voting system
* Allocate resources to ministries of health, agriculture and education be proportional to the need of the sectors
* Government should institute austerity measures in order to curb Government’s wasteful spending
* Government should invest in production and manufacturing
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