‘Don’t be holier than thou’: Minister Phiri explodes at MCP over stalled Dzombe fertiliser factory

A Malawian cabinet minister has accused the opposition of shameless hypocrisy over a stalled fertiliser factory project — insisting the party has no right to point fingers when it sat on the problem for years while in power.

Local Government Minister Dr Ben Malunga Phiri let rip at the former ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP) in a fiery exchange in the National Assembly, telling MPs the opposition should stop acting “holier than thou” over delays plaguing indigenous businessman Napoleon Dzombe’s fertiliser plant in Dowa.

The bust-up erupted after independent Lilongwe Likuni MP Kelvin Mphande warned that the hold-up was costing Malawi dearly — robbing the country of jobs, tax revenue and a chance to cut its reliance on imported fertiliser.

But rather than defending his own government’s record, Minister Phiri turned the tables — training his fire squarely on the MCP.

“Probably the Speaker you may want to note that the factory has not started being constructed within the eight months we (Democratic Progressive Party) have been in government,” Phiri told the House.

“It started a long time ago and MCP was in government — they could have approved this assessment a long time ago, so they shouldn’t be holier than thou.”

Twisting the knife further, the minister insisted the blame lay not with any single party — but with a broken system.

“It is not the problem of MCP, it is not the problem of DPP. It is the problem of the systems that we have,” he declared.

With tempers flaring, Speaker of Parliament Sameer Suleman stepped in — ordering the creation of a joint parliamentary committee to dig into exactly what has been holding up the long-delayed project.

Adding fuel to the row, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Roza Mbilizi revealed the hold-up was not entirely political red tape — but partly down to the developer himself dragging his feet.

She told MPs government had raised serious environmental concerns — including how the plant would handle waste — as far back as July 2025. Yet, astonishingly, it took the developer around nine months to respond.

Mbilizi insisted ministers were determined to see the factory finally get off the ground — but warned government would not cut corners on environmental standards just to speed things up.

The revelations are likely to reignite the blame game in the chamber, with MPs on both sides of the aisle demanding answers over who really dropped the ball on a project meant to ease the nation’s fertiliser crisis.

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