Katsonga backs Kapito, band of critics: Malawi Govt failing on economy
President of the Chipani Cha Pfuko (CCP) Davis Katsonga has joined the growing band of critics to People’s Party (PP) government , accusing the government for failure to address economic woes that have been inflicted on Malawians after President Joyce Banda bowed down to the dictates of international money lenders to devalue the Malawi Kwacha.
Katsonga, a former cabinet minister who also served as Speaker of Parliament, is also trashing comments from other Malawians backing President Banda by saying that she should be excused and be given more time to ensure recovery.
“Those who are saying that are being very defensive because the issue is not only failure to deal with economic problems but also their failure in not putting out a policy statement as to what it is doing in a way of finding solutions to the problem,” Katsonga said.
“If I ask anybody that ‘do you know what the government is doing in dealing with the current economic problems, everybody I know would says ‘no’ because the government has not brought out any statement at all to say we are going to do ABCDE to deal with economic problem.”
Katsonga, the former foreign affairs minister in Democratic Progress Party’s government (DPP) government says this is disappointing that “there is no any assurance to business people, no assurance to investors to say ‘yes the current government of Malawi is doing ABCDE to resolve the issues that are currently afflicting the country”.
Executive Director for the Consumers Association of Malawi John Kapito had recently called for the resignation of President Banda’s government for failure to bail the country from economic mess she inherited from the Democratic Progress Party’s government.
However, presidential spokesperson Steve Mhlane described Kapito’s outburst as the voice of a bitter man who is frustrated for not being given a position in PP government.
But Katsonga says Kapito as a citizen of Malawi is entitled to his opinion.
“I think that John Kapito is entitled to his opinion and in democracy, we have to respect all comments made by the people who have a role to play in the way our government is moving forward. The disappointment that we in the CCP have picked is the response that the government gave because the comment by John Kapito I think is very serious one.
“Perhaps there was a bit of emotion attached to it but as the government we should not pick on small issues about the statements citizens are making but let’s look at the main point. The main point that John Kapito l is making is that there is failure on the part of government to address the economic woes that this country is currently experiencing and this is the fact,” says Katsonga also the former speaker of parliament.
He says though it is true that the PP government found the economy in tatters but it has failed to tell Malawians measures it is taking to address the problem.
“If there is anything being done at all, some of us citizens we don’t know, what those solutions are. Has the government indeed voiced out or come out in the open to say that to address economic problem in Malawi the PP is doing this? There is silence in that area. We need to know what this government is doing this to resolve the problems that have come into play since the PP government came into power.”
Meanwhile, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) has issued a statement faulting the President on what it calls the breakdown of security; disrespect of the Constitution and rule of law; her increased and costly mobility; rising cost of living; her weakening of civil society organisations (CSOs) and failure to hold tripartite elections, among others.
Just last week, Professor Wiseman Chijere Chirwa, a researcher and lecturer of social history at Chancellor College, a constituent college of the University of Malawi, also noted that Malawians are not happy with the current state of affairs as evidenced by strikes and rising crime rate. He called for a lean, technocratic Cabinet to tackle the current crisis.
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