Kachikho urges MPs to respect President Mutharika
Former minister, Annah Kachikho who is parliamentarian for Phalombe north constituency, called upon her fellow parliamentarians to work together as a team and respect the Head of State and not always attack his speech in the House.
The MP said that whenever the President comes in the august House to deliver a state-of-the-nation address, other MPS rush to brand it as “empty speech” or that it has no substance.
Kachikho urged her fellow parliamentarians to stop that behaviour and reserve some respect for the first citizen.
“Whenever the President comes in, the opposition says that it’s an empty speech or has no substance before they have even studied it. When are we going to respect the President? They should come open to say if they have missed the point or they didn’t understand what he has said rather than castigating whatever the President says, ” Said Kachikho.
“As members of parliament we should work as a team and help in developing this nation. Look at the civil societies, they work together and they are very united, that’s why they capitalize on our mistakes because we are not united,” she said
Kachikho also backed the President’s decision not to devalue the country’s currency, Kwacha against the United States dollar, claiming that it would hurt the poor.
“I agree with the president not to devalue the kwacha because people in our constituencies will not manage to buy their necessities. We have to bear in mind that 75% of these people are jobless. The President is very passionate about his country that’s why he doesn’t want his people to suffer, if someone doesn’t agree with this it shows that you are not passionate with the people you represent,” argued Kachikho.
But Lifred Nawena parliamentarian for Thyolo Thava disagreed with Kachikho’s statement.
He said it is utterly false to claim that people would suffer just because of devaluation, saying in actual sense people are facing difficulties because of the Zero Deficit Budget that government introduced.
Nawena also dismissed claims that MPs disrespect the President but that they critique his speech.
