Mutharika says opposition to continue whining till 2024: ‘I have crashed them as promised’

President Peter Mutharika has urged opposition to concede defeat  after an election marred by irregularities and  move on as he takes a step to develop the country in his second and mandatory final five-year term.

Mutharika, who won the election with a 38.57% share of the vote, with opposition party leader Lazarus Chakwera scoring 35.41% and UTM president Saulos  Chilima claiming 20.24% in the final tally, said  during the official opening of the European Union-funded Bwanje Dam  in Dedza that  opposition give him chance to develop the country.

Chakwera and Chilima are challenging results of the May 21 presidential elections  after electoral commission received 147 complaints  of irregularities, including results sheets with sections blotted out or altered with correction fluid called Tippex.

But Mutharika said if the opposition will not concede defeat they will keep crying.

“I promised that I will squeeze and crash them and I just did that and they are now crying,” said Mutharika.

“The opposition is whining over my re-election. They will continue to do so till 2024. I said I will trample them but they never took us seriously,” he added.

Mutharika also said others have been propagating lies that he  fled for Mozambique.

“I fear no one here. Malawi will continue to be my home and I’m going nowhere,” said Mutharika.

President Mutharika, who maintained his promise for economic revival , said he will develop every corner of Malawi irrespective of how the areas voted.

Malawi has held competitive elections since 1993, when the repressive one-party regime of Kamuzu Hastings Banda, who ruled for three decades after independence, ended.

But analysts say the country is still mired in a cycle of personality-driven patronage politics that feeds graft.

Malawi ranks 122 out of 180 on Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index, above Nigeria but below neighbouring Zambia.

The economy has been stabilised since the Cashgate scandal, with inflation tamed to below double digits and central bank reserves rebuilt.

Government is outlining ambitious plans to industrialise Malawi beyond subsistence agriculture and a reliance on tobacco exports.