Chakwera faults poor Malawi leadership for driving citizens to be economic migrants

Poor leadership in Malawi perpetuating poverty are a fertile background promoting migration of individuals in search of better life in South Africa and other countries,  president of Malawi Congress Party (MCP)  Lazarus Chakwera has said.

Chakwera said this on  South African Broadcasting Coorperation’s (SABC)  Agenda programme  monitored by Nyasa Times on Friday.

Speaking from Cape Town, Chakwera  attacked the  Democratic Progressive Praty (DPP) led government  for its ineptness  to provide economic transformation.

He said many Malawians are denied  dignified life s only a few are enjoying economic development hence  Malawians flock to South Africa to get jobs with some of them ending up victims of xenophobic attacks.

“Many of the struggles we [Africans] face are because we have not provided economic transformation for our citizens,” said Chakwera  SABC.

He continued:”We must understand the context that Africa we must not be divided, not just South Africa but in a way that gives confidence to all countries.”

Chakwer, further, said inadequate human and economic development forces people to migrate.

“We tend to create cliques that rule and this creates a certain amount of hatred from unfulfilled promises. We need to face up to the fact that as people, we must be responsible to our people. If we run for office as politicians, we must be honest and be people of integrity serving the interest of other people rather than our own, create the jobs, create the environment in which true development can take place,” he said.

During the interview, Chakwera called for coexistenc among people following days of looting and violence in South Africa targeting foreigners in which five people died..

“ If we are not accountable, we become a worst kind of enemy, our own enemy. So as leaders we must educate our people to say, we are but one people so we must live right with  our neighbours,” Chakwera said.

South Africa has become a magnet for migrants from other parts of Africa. It has one of the continent’s biggest and most developed economies.