Legislator chastises opposition, says DPP is sleeping on the job

An opposition legislator in Mangochi has surprised his own Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for sleeping on the job, saying the party is failing to perform its core job of keeping checks and balances on government.

Mangochi north MP Benedict Chambo, who was sponsored into the 193-strong House by the DPP, said the main opposition party in the country is busy with power struggle, political infighting, backbiting and obtaining court injunctions instead of performing its job.

Chambo said this on Monday at a political rally in his area held by President Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera after he launched the construction of the state of the art maternity wing at Makanjira health centre.

“Do we have the opposition in Malawi?” said Chambo rhetorically before he responded his own question, “we don’t have. We have the weakest opposition ever in the country,” he said.

He said the real opposition in the country ever had was when Chakwera was the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, saying the Malawi Congress Party provided checks and balances on government.

Chambo said Chakwera inherited a rotten and broken economy from his predecessor Arthur Peter Muntharika.

The DPP MP has since criticized his fellow politicians who have been ‘wrongly judging’ President Chakwera’ on the slow economic progress.

Chambo wondered why politicians are blaming Chakwera for the economic hardships Malawians are facing yet they fail to appreciate that the President inherited a rotten and broken economy from the DPP regime under Arthur Peter Muntharika.

The lawmaker reminded Malawians that the incumbent Head of State took over power while the country was already engulfed in economic malaise, which was later compounded by natural disasters such as Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war.

At this point, Chambo commended Chakwera for undertaking various development projects across the country despite the challenges the current administration found and is still facing.

He urged Malawians to appreciate the developments happening across the country and only oppose where it is necessary and justified to do so.

Meanwhile, some political and social media commentators have hinted that Chambo is likely to face a whip from the DPP following since the former ruling party does not ‘believe in giving credit where it is due.’

“Certainly, Chambo will receive a rebuke from Namalomba and his company,” reacted one social media commentator.