Chakwera upbeat Tonse promises to be fulfilled: ‘On our way to Canaan… will never give in to despair and to negativity
President Lazarus Chakwera has promised that his Tonse alliance administration will fulfil its electoral manifesto which include free electricity connection and creation of one million jobs, adding that a policy is being formulated to see to it that the promises are achieve.
In his televised address to the nation on Sunday from Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe on taxpayer funded MBC , Chakwera said government has put in place measures to see to it that Malawians are provided with safety nets as a relief from the challenges that are there due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said even though Covid-19 has led to delays in some projects his administration will make sure all promises in its manifesto are achieved.
Chakwera said the the government he inherited in June last year was not was not one with all the tools to immediately end the economic pain people are feeling.
“I wish I could tell you that the government I inherited was the beginning of life in Canaan. But that is simply not the case. To be sure, my administration has ended the cruel political bondage we all suffered under the previous [DPP] administration. But though we can rejoice that our political slavery has ended, we must now wisely navigate the economic wilderness we have entered if we are going to reach the promised land of a resilient and robust economy of shared prosperity,” said Chakwera.
He said the wilderness his administration entered 245 days ago is a government presiding over an economy of falling revenues.
The President said as announced by my Minister of Finance in his Mid-Year Budget Review Statement before Parliament on Friday, K600.1 billion was projected to be collected during the first half of the current financial year, yet what we collected fell short of that target by 6 percent.
He said wilderness his government entered is presiding over an economy of rising costs; unforeseen expenditures towards managing Covid-19 and the unforeseen expenditures for readministering the Malawi School Certificate of Education Examinations have contributed to an over- expenditure of 2.5 percent above the K974.6 billion targeted for the first six months.
“This has necessitated an upward revision of the expected net domestic borrowing in the second half of the financial year by 34 billion Kwacha, a testament to the wilderness conditions we are operating under,” he pointed out.
He further said the wilderness his administration entered was a government presiding over an economy of severe job losses and depreciating incomes. It was a government with a public debt stock of 4.1 trillion Kwacha, which is 65% of GDP, with an interest bill of 376 billion Kwacha to be met this fiscal year alone, which is more than triple our budget for development.
“It was a government which owed the Malawian business community K228.2 billion for goods and services received but not paid for. It was a government whose resources were being routinely and wantonly siphoned into political party coffers.
“So, as we travel through this wilderness on our way to Canaan, I am mindful of the economic pain that many of you are still experiencing,” he said.
Chakwera said his government has the economic reliefs put in place “to cushion the poor against the economic aftershocks of the pandemic, to revitalize the business sector, and to get us back on track with our agenda for transformation.”
He said: “You entrusted us to govern on the promise that we would deliver the Hi-5 Agenda that is driven by the values of servant leadership, uniting Malawians, prospering together, ending corruption, and the rule of law.
“Our progress in advancing each of these pillars towards building a new Malawi is steady and sure. “
Chakwera said the Tonse alliance review of the Civil Service to promote servant leadership across the public sector is underway; and its refusal to employ the primitive tactics of denying Malawians opportunities on the basis of their tribe or region of origin is intact.
“Our fortitude in shutting the doors of the public purse to those who wish to steal from Malawians to finance their political parties and fatten their bellies is unmoved; and our indiscriminate application of the law to those who break it is constant.
“Even so, our implementation of an agenda of economic transformation that guarantees that all Malawians prosper together has slowed in the face of the pandemic. However, though the pandemic may have delayed our progress and affected our timelines for delivery, it can never deter us from our resolve to deliver what we promised Malawians as Tonse Alliance in the 2020 Fresh Presidential Election Campaign.,”he said.
Chakwera said despite the efforts of some to mislead the public into despair, the signs of Tonse alliance resolve to deliver what it promised are plain to see.
He highlghtes “a few clear examples:
- We promised a 75 billion Kwacha fund to give loans to young people and women so that they can start new businesses. Last year, we successfully rebranded the Malawi Enterprise Development Fund (MEDF) into the National Economic Empowerment Fund (NEEF), which we restructured under new management. This month, despite the pandemic, we began rolling out this fund, beginning with the disbursement of over 1 billion Kwacha to over 6000 people, mostly youth and women, who are the first to benefit from a 40 billion Kwacha portfolio this year, to be increased to 75 billion Kwacha next year. I am therefore calling on the new management of NEEF to speed up the rollout of the program to more beneficiaries.
- We promised a fertilizer subsidy program, and despite the pandemic and many naysayers, we delivered the Affordable Inputs Program (AIP) in record time. As we speak, the program has supplied 345,652 metric tonnes of cheap fertilizer to 3,788,070 beneficiaries, more than double the tonnage and beneficiaries of any program like it in the past 10 years, and the flourishing maize fields around the country speak for themselves. Going forward, our focus will be the transformation of the agricultural sector through mechanization at production, irrigation, industrialization, and commercialization levels.
- We promised to pursue industrialization through the creation of Special Economic Zones where shells will be reserved for SMEs of various sectors in a drive to move our entire economy towards industrialization. The pandemic may have delayed us in rolling this out, but we are not deterred from seeing it done.
- We promised an ambitious infrastructure agenda, including flagship road, housing, railway, and institutional projects across the country. The pandemic may have delayed us in rolling this out, but the construction of thousands of houses for security agencies has already begun, because we are not deterred from seeing it done.
- We promised free electricity and water connection, and though the wilderness conditions we are under may have delayed us in rolling this out, we are developing a policy for implementing this in the coming fiscal year, because we are not deterred from seeing it done.
- We promised to create one million jobs for the young men and women of our country. And deliberately, all the programs we are implementing have a job creating effect, whether it is the AIP, or our new policies for the promotion of SMEs, or our flagship infrastructural projects, or our decentralization of mask production. We are developing mechanisms for quantifying all the jobs created through all our initiatives and programs, and at an opportune time, we will give you a portrait of where we stand.
Chakwera said Tonse Alliance will never give in to despair and we will never give in to negativity but is determined to ensure that there is macroeconomic stability within the economic framework within which we will be operating.
“We are determined to build a new Malawi, one step at a time, one day at a time,” he said.
Chakwera, alongside Vice-President Saulos Chakwera passionately campaigned on a platform of rooting out corruption and transformation.
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Running government is a serious business I see now chakwera become a pastor again waiting for God to do his instead asking him support his presidency all he know is talking like he is church
che Hi5 agenda shame!..a ma demonstration mumafuna sizimenezi!? Enjoy ur beloved banana president! Don’t cry!
Talk.Talk. And even more Talk.Ayi ndithu zanditopetsa izi.Promises and more promises.Zimenezi mpaka liti? Only action now will count and not tik tok
Another boza
2025 u will be telling the voters that in 5yrs everything can’t be achieved.
listening to him one might think ur in church ndithu the guy has resigned to his fate. Mpaka 5 times mentioning wilderness
Just do it iwe aaaaaaaa
pitala anakhalapo plesdent koma analibe experience ina ili yose ya uplesdent. bwanji pamenepo. anthu opanda bongo angoti e lazalo.
tikupempha DPP CADETS TO STOP FRUSTRATING THE GOOD WILLING MALAWIANS
KOMASO KUPEMPHA BOMA KU MILANDU YOONONGA CUMA CA DZIKO LELO KAPENA DZANA DZULO TIZIONA ZIGAMULO ZOKWANILA KUTI DZIKOLI LIMASULIDWE KU MA CURSES ALIPOWA.
O Lazaro very good at talking Koma very little to show on the grounds . The guy has completely failed Malawians. Anthu akungonamizidwa . Which Kenani are you talking about Abusa inu?
No hope for Malawi, it feels like being taught by that substitute teacher who knows nothing about that class. Kapena driving at night with broken headlights. Mwina president anakakhala Saulosi. This Chakwera guy isn’t it.
You promised to reduce passport fees, instead you have increased. Is that fulfilling a promise?
for him that is clear proof that Malawi is on the highway to Canaan.Zowopsya zedi
DPP entered into a contract with a certain company kupanga ma passport 800000 at 60million dolars – should we bleach the contract?
How about cheaper passports,duty free week???Mr President please tell us when this will be done
Hmmmmm…talk is cheap Bwana, thus what you are famous for, but no tangible progress on the ground. All your predecessors have had as their song ‘I inherited a government in tatters.’ Failurers tend to blame others and their tools, just sort your issues boss but don’t blame the DPP, whatever the DPP were doing in five years, you are doing in just 8 months, who is worse?
I decry his excuse of govt deficit when he got my vote when he stressed in an interview with Brian Banda back then that ‘…mdziko muno ndalama n’zokwanira koma zilubedwa zankhaninkhani’ by which he explained then that he would manage with even less revenue, lower budget. I decry his excuse of ‘unforeseen’ expenditure on administering MSCE, the rework of which was incurred due to poor management under the watch of his administration. I decry his excuse of ‘unforeseen’ expenditure on managing Covid-19, after over K6bn went flying and he had to interdict controlling officers, therefore, acknowledging the fact that a financial report on covid is in principle an example of govt unnecessary expenditures, since all ends up being looted upon approval by his administration. In fact, by releasing such hefty allocations from the govts purse without corresponding control, this administration earns a reputation of classic carelessness. I, therefore, further decry that such unnecessary expenditures (on covid loot, and MSCE rework) are forming the basis for the President and his Finance Minister to seek more revenue. This administration should have rather controlled budget by dealing with govt unnecessary expenses such as covid loot, statehouse bills at crossroads hotel, mismanagement of govt bodies like maneb, ndi zina zotero, but no, they are not doing that. Instead, they are robbing the poor Malawian more and more in order to finance such govt inefficiencies, and one way they are doing it is for instance by silently introducing tax on initially non-taxable items such as solar items. Shame that this administration obtained our vote by false pretence.
Tsakulani ma bara ngati mukufuna kuchotsa matsoka..hahahahah
Excuses! If it’s not the pandemic, it is the previous government fault. No, Sir. I am your supporter but this is not good enough.
thanks for the encouraging words, i still trust in your capabilities. and even though you have delayed in some promises, but the ones you have already implemented are importance to the large population.
Drizzle and fog. This is going to persist.
So on MEDF the president successfully rebranded it to NEEF while on the ground no one has ever accessed the loan, wow! what an achievement! Really? Oh God, why always giving us blutant liers who sugarcoat everything to look good, what wrong did our forefathers do for us to deserve such punishment?
Talk and talk now mwayamba kunena zakale apatu it shows ntchito yakuvutani
Little did we know that presidency requires one who has experience in running government business, not one who can simply move with public opinions and mare social media rumours. Uyu yu akuwoneka empty headed. We needed 5 people of Chakwera type combined into one to be able to bring and sustain people’s confidence. Rushed decisions and uncalculated risk taking are signs of immature leadership in government. This one will go sooner than he came. Mark my words.
Mr. Pastor President,
Stop fooling yourself. Which Caanana
Dunderhead
My fellow Malawians, I am not being negative but rather realistic. This train is bound for nowhere, since we have already boarded it good luck to all.
Bwana please understand that most Malawians are suffering and care less for politics but rather their welfare. If indeed you will it to remove utility connection fees, noone in the country has the power to give deadlines but yourself so that the policy documents are worked on with speed. The same way you said the audit will be done in a month. What is actually very strange is that it seems that changing the policy at the water boards that makes Malawians bear all costs from digging trenches and buying pipes etc has happened very quickly, yet to remove the fees seems impossible.
We had Bingu who used to tell us: “ntchito za manja anga zindichitire umboni”. We never had long crafty speeches like this one to justify his successes or failures. Unfortunately in politics, time is of the essence and by the look of things, you have started the race on the bad note.
1) Revenue collection is in a shortfall and you haven’t outlined on how you will overcome this.
2) Putting policies in place for free water and electricity connections is one thing but getting Escom and Water boards to meet the demands is another. If they are taking long( sometimes over 3 years) to connect to the customers who have paid, what more to freebies.There is no free lunch and somehow in one-way or another, customers will pay for this.
3) You are blaming the previous government on corruption but your administration has failed to even suspend or arrest your inner circle confidantes involved in some highlighted cases.
4) You promised creation of 1 million jobs within 1 year. You may give us cooked figures of your achievements may be in July this year but people won’t be fooled, they already know that you have failed on this one.
5) You claim to have started the disbursement of loans to 6000 people from K1bn which if done properly could create sustainable jobs. Doing this without giving a deliberate preferential government procurement opportunities to those people given loans will be deemed to be yet another waste of tax payers money.
Running a government is indeed a serious business and to those who fail to plan before they go into government have always time against their side when they come into government. This is what we are experiencing.
0ne of the best opinions/ comments I have read on this thread
Anzanu pomodzi ndi Vice yomweyo anatinamiza kuti Malawi asanduka Singapore psno awo ali ku Mangochi kudya ndalama zathu.
Stop making promises work in silence it will be up to us Malawians to judge
Really this pastor man likes talking like he is telling kids stories of how ancient people were living. Who wrote this trash of speech for him? DPP is no longer running the affairs of the country and any attempt to attribute government failures to DPP is an open admission of failed government. DPP never told you to promise people one million jobs. Are we still going to have the duty free week?
Your talk show stink.Dont buy time by reassuring Malawians with empty talk shows.Just do the work.We know you are busy enriching urself at the expense of us,poor Malawians.
You and your Vice present should be ashamed of urself.
VIVA CHAKWERA!
WAY TO GO TONSE ALLIANCE!
DPP wasted our time.
🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓
We all would like to see Govt employees working as they should. Deal with nyenyo people parasating on Katangale. This is one sickening and neuseating aspect of our society