There is nothing that both President Peter Mutharika and his Minister of Information Patricia Kaliati say that will justify the merciless act of plunder by the State House on the poor people of Malawi, blowing K50 million of their tax to fly in opulence to Ethiopia to get an honorary degree.
The President himself on arrival from Addis Baba said he was conferred the degree because of his efforts to turn Malawi from donor dependent to trade dependent as well as his efforts to improve water and electricity woes in this country.
Kaliati, on the other hand, shamefully said she did not know that the State House chartered a plane and insulted taxpayers who are concerned with the reckless plunder as jealousy people and that they should be thankful that our Head of State has been conferred an honorary degree.
But both the President and the minister know the problem and they are trying to run away from it.
The problem is the insensitivity of the President to be reckless and choose to spend on himself millions of taxpayers’ money at a time he is saying we cannot celebrate Independence Day because government has no money. It turns out he was saving for his trip.
The problem is the State House spending money recklessly at a time it is needed to buy food for the poor people without which they face imminent deaths.
What Kaliati and the President are saying is simply a desperate attempt to manufacture consent among Malawians that it is good to blow over K50 million of poor taxpayers’ money to charter a jet merely to receive an honorary degree when they know it won’t wash.
The President said he was given the degree because he is solving black-outs.
Escom is under strict instructions not to ration power to the State House and perhaps the President is ignorant that there has had never been a let up in blackouts for him to say the citation for his degree was about ending blackouts.
In fact, I am told that as he was making this statement there was a massive blackout in Lilongwe.
For the record, Escom is also on a campaign sensitising us consumers to brace for more blackouts, using their perennial excuse about the drop of water in Shire Rive during this dry season.
As for water shortage, Lilongwe Water Board put up a full page advert recently in newspapers, informing the Capital City residents of serious water rationing.
In short, there is nothing that the President and her Information Minister can say that will assuage Malawians to accept how their President who is preaching frugality to them does exactly the opposite for himself when he is supposed to set an example.
As for the donor dependency, it is laughable to imagine that Mutharika would want to take credit on something that has been forced on us, thanks to Cashgate, as if the country, let alone the President, had a choice.
In any case does the President need honorary degrees at this time and stage of his life? I thought he has been telling us that he is professor of international law? Is that not enough in the academic world? Do you need further degrees for your clout when you have reached the pinnacle of professor?
What crime did long suffering Malawians commit that makes all their leaders get obsessed with honorary degrees as if they do anything to alleviate their poverty?
Kaliati says we should be proud but of what? How does she expect suffering Malawians that have no food for their bellies to get proud of an honorary degree of the President? What is an honorary degree especially of someone?
This was a personal issue concerning the President and taxpayers should not have picked the tab and an exorbitant one at that.
There is a direct Ethiopian Airlines flight between Lilongwe and Addis Baba every day. Why did State House not think the President could not use that flight?
The answer lies is the love of extravagance and opulence by our leaders at the expense of poor people.
How can the President justify this?
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