MCP, DPP to unveil manifesto in Lilongwe this weekend
Opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will on April 6, 2014 unveil their electoral promises, through their manifestos, in Lilongwe.
MCP president Reverend Dr. Lazarus Chakwera said the launch of the manifesto, which will go together with the campaign launch, will take place at Masintha ground in Lilongwe.
According to Chakwera, the manifesto centres on revamping agriculture sector cognizant of the fact that the country’s economy is agro-based.
He has also promised to empower the youth through entrepreneurship once voted into power.
The MCP, which has been out of government for the past 20 years, will also promise that it would ensure that the plunder of public resources never happens on its watch.
Reads the draft manifesto in part: “The MCP-led government will wage war against corruption in all its forms and will endeavour to eliminate corruption by…establishing clear ‘performance criteria’ and ‘benchmarks’ by which government spending will be regularly audited and validated by independent auditors.
“The MCP-led government will design and implement efficient systems of monitoring the allocation and utilisation of all resources so that possible irregularities can be detected at an early stage in the project or programme cycle. This will help government to reveal the existence of fraud and corruption.”
MCP spokesperson, Jessie Kabwila said the party manifesto is a “concretisation” of what they have already been talking about in their rallies, debates and the media.
Opposition DPP, which governed Malawi from 2004 to April 2012 when president Bingu wa Mutharika died at the climax of poor governance and economic woes, has also this weekend as the official launch of the manifesto launch.
The party initially wanted release its manifesto last Saturday at Bingu International Conference centre but was cancelled.
The party’s spokesperson Nicholas Dausi confirmed the launch is set this weekend, same venue and that their blue print will tackle issues of “hunger, development and financial and fiscal discipline.”
Asked how the party is going to deal with plunder of public resources bearing in mind reports that it was under the DPP government the Cashgate started and K92 billion reportedly stolen, Dausi said: “Then let’s just wait for the release of our manifesto, we don’t want to make empty promises.”
Currently, UDF and PP are only the big parties which have unveiled their manifestos.
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