Chakwera promises to complete Nsanje Port: ‘DPP has only succeeded in theft’

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) presidential candidate  Lazarus Chakwera has promised to revive and complete Nsanje World Inland Port once voted into power during the May 21 elections, accusing the  governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration for using the project as a deliberate ploy  to defraud taxpayers money.

Chakwera made the remarks on Friday when he visited the Nsanje port on his campaign trail in the Southern Region ahead of the watershed elections.

“We will do it and we promise this time we will do it,” said Chakwera.

Chakwera condemned the current DPP administration for the broken promise President Peter Mutharika had in 2014 that if ushered into power, he would complete the port project and revive the dream of turning Nsanje District into a harbour city, where vibrant economic activities would transform people’s lives.

In his tough talking, Chakwera  pointed out that “rampant corruption, theft, waste and embezzlement of public funds and resources”  at the highest levels of the DPP-led government has destroyed the developmental impact of all the massive investments.

“It is a cost which is borne by the tax-payer,” he pointed out.

Chakwera therefore pledged to revive the Nsanje Port project once elected as President.

But DPP spokesperson Nicholas Dausi, who is also Minister of Homseland Security, dismissed suggestions that the project was  being used to siphon money from public coffers, saying infrastructure projects take time to complete because of technicalities.