Tembo says Malawi should not accuse foreign countries for its economic mess
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president John Tembo has said President Bingu wa Mutharika government should not accuse foreign countries on the crippling foreign currency and fuel shortages.
The problems have prompted the government to ban all foreign trips by public officials and affected Mutharika’s trip to attend Commonwealth Heads of government meeting in Trinidad and Tobago.
“Where has foreign exchange gone? Let people know,” said the veteran politician.
“But don’t accuse foreign countries as being responsible for the mess we are in today in Malawi,” said Tembo.
Malawi government blames Mozambique as being esponsible for the country’s fuel woes, claiming that fuel has been held up because of congestion in the ports of Nacala and Beira. The claim was strongly denied by Mozambique authorities.
Tembo in remarks made on Capital Radio said the ban of all foreign trips by government officials is not going to help save the much needed foreign exchange.
“It is not. Because the amount of money spent by civil servants on trips is not the major problem. But the major problems that Malawi has, are not caused by civil servants, whether in their trips, allowances and so on,” he said.
“Yes it’s good to reduce expenditure, control expenditure but to use that as main reason, no!”
Tembo questioned President Mutharika for presidential jet purchase at the tune of about US$15.9million.
“Where did he get the money to buy the plane which he has?” wondered the MCP president.
“I don’t remember parliament passing the budget and money which was used to purchase the presidential jet. Because an item like that comes to parliament as a specific item for the whole country to take pride in for a Head of State to have a new jet.
“After all, I have dealt with purchase of plane before, both as minister of finance and chairman of Air Malawi. We had to bring to parliament specific items for approval.”
He said: “For instance, Kwacha that plane we are using now, I negotiated for its purchase myself and parliament had to pass authorization bill for the loan which was used to buy that plane.
“Who can tell me now that you can hide in the budget a major item as a purchase of a plane?”
Tembo called on government o be democratic, transparent and be open to its own citizens.
Palibe nkhani apa. Ife obadwa kalefe takumana nazo izi kambirimbiri mu boma la Kamuzu, kanitu nthawi imeneyo nkuti forex iri strictly under control kokuti ukagula galimoto nkumafunsidwa kuti forex unaipeza bwanji? This is how economy works: upswing and low swing. Dont blame the President!!!!
People of the south and central it is your government which is making blunders. We had Gondwe in your government but you chased him fro Finance porfolio. You don’t need we northerners in your government now it is the tie for you clever and intelligent people to correct the economic mess. If Gondwe was still the minister of Finance you Chewas could be heping blames on him. I know you. God was with him to move him out of that ministry. Northerners do not take part in rebuilding this economy by using your intelligence. Economists from the north please do not offer ay advice to resurrect the economy because the Lomwe president said that northerners contribute in a small way to the economy.Bingu should not include Goodall Gondwe in the ministerial committee he has created to solve fuel and forex problem. He should not get him through backdoor to solve some of these economic problems. Let the proud, arrogant people from the south and central solve their own problems. After all it is them who enjoy wealth of this country. We people of the north will feel no difference whether the economy improves or not. In fact i pray that northers should help in destroying the already poor economy
a enginneer ataya ma nut ndi ma bolt a economy bola a m’jomba tinkamwa tea.bola bingu wa 1st 5yrs not this swelfcentered drunkard we are seeing driving nyasaland ku mphopo forex wa blamer ma china kenaka ali IMF ndi world bankk weaiyala those xpensive Mercs for his ministers jet wagulayo? ma hummer ngongole kwa alamu ku zimbab
FOTATSEKI WAGWA NAYOOOOOOOOOw
Apa ungapake akuteta chaa! akunenesha pakhola apa Dinyelo yalutankhu!ka wa Goodal walinkhuu! watovwileko panyengo ya iwo nga ivi vikawako? yowani pakwelu naa makopala ghalutankhu
Zenasi ukulankhula ngati ndani inu ndiye mungatani
If all you think about is to provoke the chewa’s then its good not to comment on these issues. I dont see the link between your attak on the chewa’s and the problem at hand. You Northeners have and axe to grind with the Chewas and you try as much as possible to drag the chewas in every puddle of mud in your sight. Please lets be rational in our arguments after all it is Tembo the Chewa who has set the ball rolling on blaming the ills that our perpotedly economic engineer has led us into. It is your hate for the Chewa’s that will never hand you over the ruling mantle in this country. Unless akuyikeni as part of Tanzania but not Malawi!!
im a northerner and i agree with you where you say we should debate rationally.please fellow malawians we are one,let us not be divided now…which is why i hhate the mulakho shit!
an economic engeener,chisulo chanjanji,mose munthalika ndiife zanu zimenezo ife nde sitipita kunja timavala saza za forex zanau izo ndi my economic engeneer anuwo
let him face it he thought he is an achiever in every thing
When there is a national matter of concern can you all leader please unite rather than taking advantage of your polictical campain. This is a serious issue! We are all malawians and we are all going to suffer. It is now the time to see where our weakness are and learn a lesson and never, never let it happen again. All leaders must sort out this messy. If there is a need of restriction/ incintives on our foreign investors or law replacement do it then, rather than just talking ridiculous things. It can be true that there was a carelessness on our forex but it can also be true that foreign investor do alot of damage to our forex. For example Indian government allow only 51 percent of foreign investor on each retail, may be incintives like this might help us too than sending them back as this could jeopardize our relationship with the countries where these people come from, as well as united nations. We Malawian were not very good on tracking up these things, other wise it wouldn’t be like this. May be its time when we need an office to look at these things more closer as we now know how bad it is to be too relax. Another problem I noticed is that the government tax much on people who are working but those who have got small business and make alot of money for example, wedding flower rangers who can make MK150,000.00 on each week were left out.Tax office should track them down through there bank accounts. Any account which carries alot of money needs to be traced to its sources, sorry if this affect someone.
Now stop talking nonsense and work together. Malawians are not stupid people but those who led them. No one is perfect, start working together as malawian then come and tell us what you have done for Malawians. Please don’t let what happened in Zimbabwe to happen in Malawi!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with Sue. This is not the time to fight amongst each other! We are in a mess and the only question (for now) should be: How do we get out of it? Once we are on our way again, we can sit down, dissect the situation and see who is to blame. That is also the time to take appropriate measures and restrictions. I am an investor in this country and I see the potential here. The people are great. Despite all the hardships, people are positive and smiling. That in itself, is the best attitude to have. After all, it is hard to beat somebody who NEVER gives up! Come on Malawians, we are not going to allow this hiccup in the economy to destroy our peace, our harmony and the ability we have as a country to stand together! Let us be practical – Whether the situation was caused by loans to Mugabe or new jets, does not matter. What matters is the fact that we have to use the fuel that is left in the country, in a conservative manner and be resourceful so that we can obtain more fuel. I for one don’t drive around without thinking twice. If it is a short distance, walk. If not, think about alternative ways to get your business done. Can you get it done over the telephone? Then phone. I also agree on taxing the small(er) businesses. We live in a fishing village and I often wonder how much tax these fisherman pay on the tons of fish they catch and sell? I also agree, nobody is perfect – but at least we can learn from the example set by Zimbabwe on how NOT to do things!
choyamba ndikupepeseni a TEMBO kuti sindinakuvotereni.ndinavotera man a whisky omwewa koma ndinakaziwa ndinakakuvoterani.now i knw u r d best canditate malawi wld chose to vote for in just ended election despite kuti mumapha anthu,komabe mwina munakangopha anthu ochepa okha if u has won this tym.u r intelligent hon.Tembo.the best u can do is to offer advise to this failing government&president as u had advised it on subsidised fertilizer which is helping the poor now.u r the best economist with experience.shame on bingu!!!iwe bingu ndiye ukuona ngati ife tiziyenda bwanji with d problem of fuel???ndiyetu bola ungotiphunzisa ufiti kuti maulendo athu tizingoyenda usiku okhaokha basi m’mamawa kumangopezeka titafika to our destinations.tel GEORGE CHAPONDA,PATRICIA KALIATI to help u kutiphunzisa ufiti ife.