House winds up Sona debate: Chakwera’s address leaves the opposition unimpressed

Malawi Parliament on Thurday  wound up debate  on State of National Address (SONA) delivered by President Lazarus Chakwera last Friday  which  has been met with some push back by opposition parties and the government side naturally supporting it.

While hailing the development that the previous regime managed to cool down Members of Parliament (MPs) from opposition side said the SONA missed a lot of things which were promised in the Tonse Alliance Manifesto’s.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) MP for Mangochi Central Constituency, Victoria Kingston said what the SONA articulated is contrary to what was happening on the ground and what was contained in their Manifesto.

“Tonse Manifesto’s clearly explained that it will offer 1 million jobs to the youth to be productive yet we have seen old and retired people occupying several positions in the government,” she said.

Kingston said the greater number of the country’s population is comprised the youth who have been cheated with the Tonse manifesto of 1 million jobs yet it has only taken a small portion which is opposite to what was promised.

“We have a lot of youth who have gone further with their studies and those that are qualified  to occupy such positions but the administration have thought it wise to employ retired people, sooner or later robbery cases will be at an alarming rate as these youth will have nothing productive in their lives,” She added.

MP for Phalombe North East, Dennis Phiri said the SONA lacked clear deliverance as to what was estimated.

He said that they are a lot of things which were promised and the same is still happening up date, he mentioned of free water and connection fee, reduction of passports fee to K 14 000 just to name a few.

“Malawians are still waiting for the cheap fertilizer not the one which will target a small scale of people as Malawi’s economy relies on farming,” he said.

Culturally those from government benches hailed   the SONA and said the TONSE fruits might seem impossible since the opposition failed to fulfill the time they were ruling.

Lilongwe Msozi South MP, Liana Chapota said the new dawn has come and this would be delivered the way it was presented in the SONA.

“Malawians should patiently wait for the fruits of Tonse Alliance government, it might seem that many projects are delaying and that is because the previous squandered the allocated resources for various projects,” she said.

Leader of Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa said the President’s address contained ambiguous policies.

Nankhumwa faulted the nine-party Tonse Alliance administration led by Malawi Congress Party (MCP) for allegedly not sticking to the promises to employ youths and reduce passport fees.He was apparently referring to the pledge to create one million jobs “during the first 12 months” of governing. The new administration was ushered in following its triumph in the court-ordered June 23 Fresh Presidential Election.

Nankhumwa also said Malawians were still buying farm inputs, especially fertiliser, “at higher prices than the promised K4 500 per bag”. However, for the record, Minister of Finance Felix Mlusu, in his Provisional Budget tabled in Parliament in June announced that in the new agriculture season set to start this October, fertiliser prices will be reduced.

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