Malawi govt rejects Chilima’s solutions to Covid-19 fight: Mutharika holds ‘prerogative’ over choice of place to be
Government says President Peter Mutharika holds the prerogative over the choice of the place to be, saying the country’s vice-president Saulos Chilima cannot dictate to the Head of State to leave Sanjika Palace in Blantyre and relocate to Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe.
Minister of Information and government spokesperson Mark Botomani was reacting to Chilima’s call at a news conference at the UTM Digital Command Centre in Area 10, Lilongwe, that Mutharika should immediately return to Kamuzu Palace to coordinate coronavirus (Covid-19) issues from the capital city.
“In any case, the President has been leading the fight against Covid-19 while in Blantyre,” Botomani said.
On Chilima’s call that the government should refurnish State House lodges such as Zomba, Mtunthama, Chikoko Bay in Mangochu and Mzuzu Lodges to be places for treatment when Covid-19 increases, Botomani said the government is well set by preparing several places.
“Actually, even in countries that are worst hit, we have not seen state lodges turned into treatment centres.
“It is in that regard that alternative places like stadiums have been turned into treatment centres,” the minister said.
He said that the Malawi College of Health Sciences campus have already been earmarked in case of increases and this is also in alignment to the proximity of trained medical personnel.
On assertions that the country do not even have enough ventilators to treat even 100 Covid-19 patients, Botomani disclosed that Malawi has over 20 ventilators available in public hospitals.
“We are lucky that so far most of our patients have mild symptoms and do not need ventilators,” he said.
The minister said the government, through UNICEF, is procuring more equipment for Covid-19 management, assuring, so far, there is no need for alarm.
The Vice-President, who provided a litany of solutions to government to contain the virus, including that Mutharika and his Cabinet members instead of fcommitting 10 percent of their salaries to the Covid-19 fight, the gesture is “too little and insignificant” hence they should increase to at least donate 50 percent of their salaries and fuel allocations.
Government has flatly rejected such a call.
Chilima, who is UTM Party president, also wondered why the country only has three testing centres—two in Blantyre and one in Lilongwe—with none in the Northern and Eastern regions.
Meanwhile, Principle Secretary forMinistry of Health Dr. Dan Namarika on Thursday said Malawi has not registered any positive Covid-19 case in the last 24 hours.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
kukakamila kufungatila ndalama ce pitala. ukuiwala that malawians ,i mean the fenuine citizens have been ever and since sourcing your trip from US ,your first plate of food since you arrived until today and you are worried what you will be doing once moved from this cushion seat.
anyway you are too old for anything. you are scared to die as an ordinary man. staye funeral will not mean anything you LAZY BASTARD
The president..minister heath and the entire cabinet say malawi is ready for corona virus. Chakwela and chilima say malawi is not ready..the government should have closed borders 3 months ago and malawi has only 20 beds with icu ventilators for 18 million of us..remember me one day ..we will see who the liar is ..
A minister rejecting proposals from the state vice president. Well to be honest the proposals were fair . Just to mention stadium overseas have hotels ..conference room and shops etc in them..stadiums are buildings and not a grass pitch surrounded by concrete stairs..therefore overseas they can be turned into hospitals..how can you turn five stadium into a hospital? It was govt policy to allow air passengers into the country and road passengers into the country even when the disease was declared a pandemic..now we hear Kamuzu Central hospital has only 3 fully functional ventilated icu beds which also saves for other illness. When you charted presidential jets..buy.expensive cars …splash money on fuel and sitting allowance..poor countries pay allowances to its civil servants and politicians to do their job? Why do people meet in hotels. Meet at the office money should go to the project not administering. 5 state houses for one person is too much.
Chilima is power hungry. Rev Chakwera looks more like he is the Running Mate of Chilima. Bwana Chakwera you have chosen to work with a man who will be disloyal to you from day one. This man Chilima is a dangerous power hungry man he will not spare anyone who stands in his way. Rev Chakwera this man Chilima will do to you what he tried to do to Mutharika with lies about corruption and election rigging. By the way remember Chilima promised to tell the nation how Mutharika rigged the elections. What happened? Well a rigger cannot implicate himself because if Chilima revealed how the rigging was carried out fir the elections which elected him Vice President then he will be implicating himself.
Bravo. You have summed it up well. Chilima is power hungry and disloyal to the core.
There is nothing good he can say about the government.Does this man have elders at his home.Even at our villages people who are always busy kutapa mkamwa ,miseche , backbiting,milandu are questionable.When choosing a chief they look into these behaviors.Chilima is 100% on this behavior.What a leader?
I fully support and endorse what Rt H Saulos Chilima said. He sounds more Presidential than the ribbish coming from DPP.
150 days in mind
Both Chilima and Government are fools and crooks playing around with peoples minds. Each one of them is trying to be smarter than the other when they are all equally fools. First, Chilma is a senior fool because he is a VP in this very government and I do not see any reason why he should use poliical podiums to offer solutions on matters requiring his own government exigencies. Two, whtat is preventing Chilima from meeting Mutharika (his own boss) and discuss these issues before making a public statement. Three, why cant Mutharika simply accept the advice, and advise this small boy that next time, use proper channels to raise your opinions on this pandemic.
My take, Chilima is simply showing his wanting for public recognition and an attempt to score political score. At the end of the day, I cannot tell who really is caring about the plight of poor Malawians within this pandemic. I cannot include Chakwera in this equation because him too is the worst criminal who does not know what he wants other than being Militant at anybody including Malawians through use of his Nsundwe Youn Pioneers and HRDC…..
I agree with you
You have A chicken Brain woman, my be you are living in Mars,
Well chilima is sidelined.. he could hav suggested that to the president if he was welcomed by president. Clearly his plan is the most practical solution I’ve hear in malawi so far. However please no malawi politics ..people could loose their jobs if their listen or acknowledge or suggest to president to watch ot listen to chilima speech. Even if the points r great it’s either they will ignored or crashed just coz they came from chilima. Theres absolutely no power or support given to the vice president from the cabinet or president therefore he is just talking as a citizen. I and you will never blaim any death or economic collapse from covid19 on chilima as his decisions or lack of decisions cant bring change. In USA trump isnt the most intelligent guy ..lives are being lost because he is stubborn and makes wrong decisions. Wise people are there around him but they play dumb to appease him. Wise people r there in opposition but he cant listen to then.all you have said is light however the govt brought the disease by no locking the borders in january from human traffic. UK..italy..usa have had 7000 dead in 4 weeks..from 1 death to 7000 deaths but they have better facilities ..more medical workers and billions of dollars. The govt has only provided 20 icu ventilated beds as it buys lots of luxuries..guess what for every car that they buy for ever k300 000 wasted materials would have been bought.
You know what a good acid test would be? One of these government ministers to contract the virus. Forgive me for saying it but I am sure people understand where I am coming from.
I am not wishing them ill (pun not intended) but to see what their reaction would be as they seem to be clue-less on how to handle this. We all know that the trend has been them being flown to hospitals outside the country (with South Africa being the preferred destination) to be treated. At the expense of the tax payer of course. What will they now do as they can’t be flown anywhere because of the lock down?
It still boggles my mind that people have been pointing out that our health system needs an overhaul and each and they never took heed. Honestly, one looks at the way money gets squandered and to them, it is all normal. How do we still go on like this as a country?
I am sure even APM must be pissing his pants now hoping he doesn’t catch the virus as there is no way out here. Do we really need to be in dark place first to see the light? I don’t think so.
Mtondoli, indeed the government is not prepared. No strartegy in place to prevent or treat. I have been checking out the so called government website most recently a few seconds ago. There is no COVID-19 message or just a mention. Where are people getting the message and when a citizen takes a lead, he/she is thwarted.
Only time will tell. Am hoping that the scientific stories that BCG vaccinine that we all received builds immune systems capable of fighting the virus. Otherwise, i see doom. there is no leadership.
Very much true. Tiona ana awo akadawala kuti zitha bwanji. DPP ntizitsiru
Was just a piece of advice take it or leave it
Baseless advice typical drunkards
A Ndife you will understand the advice better when you or your is sick from the pandemic. kungotsutsira ukadeti opanada nawo phindu\\\\\\
So nobody lives in the Northern and Eastern region hence no requirement for ventilators? Do what’s good for your country not because other countries are not doing it then you are following suit. Love him or loathe him, this guy is proving to be a genius than all the government put together. I never thought I would ever this but I just did ! VIVA Chilima ! Leadership we deserve…
Ndale zaku Malawi zopusa. Inu mukuti gvt rejects Chilima’s suggestions mulibe nzeru. Chilima is part of you mwawanthu mweee shaaaa
That’s why Chilima is an idiot. He is a VP and therefore he can’t be suggesting parallel things.
Dnt miss thw point, chilima could be part of the government if he could talk issues with integrity and confidence thru good channels and not thru his political party podium. U shud realize how chain of command works.
The best treatment centres that we can seriously think of are warehouses. They can be fitted with partitioners, equipped with the required medic equipments, enough lighting and so on. Others are play grounds like stadiums on which big tents can be mounted fitted with the required facilities. One of the advantages is that it can accommodate more patients. We can learn more on this one from other countries using such facilities. Turning structures such as state residences, colleges into COVID centres cannot be appropriate in this case and it might result into huge unnecessary expenditures. This is just a suggestion with no any political connection.
Kkkkkkk bola mwamva kaya simuchita kona Chilima wakuwuzani basi
Bulutu Chilima. Asamatisokose
Akhala bwanji bulutu munthu ali ndi PhD. Inu maphunziro munalekeza pati. Anyone with some insight can see APM does not know what he is doing. Akulephera kuyankhula chichewa uthenga wofunikira kwambiri. We should pray this virus does not explode then you will see what an idiot this APM really is.
Chilima is part of govt everybody knows that .He was simply advising his won Govt kinsmen. APM cannot go to the Centre, iyenso akudziwa. Akataniko? These politicians’ senses will come back to them shortly once this COVID-19 hits their loved ones. They use our taxes to travel abroad for treatment, they use our taxes to send their children to schools in foreign countries and they can’t learn at CHANCO, Poly, MUST, etc. Our politicians are very crazy. They don’t care about their country, they are only here for our taxes, period. This time around, nobody is going out, European hospitals cannot receive patients from Africa, Asian hospitals cannot treat patients from Africa. They must build Africa with our taxes and leave the white man alone.
Anthu adandaula kangati kuti mu zipatala mankhwala mulibe? Who listened? Nobody!
Anthu adandaula kangati kuti maphunziro alowa pansi kwambiri m’dziko lino? Who listens, Nobody.
Poor road infrastructure everywhere…the list goes and goes
Why?
They don’t get treated here, they don’t get their children’s education from Malawi. Even, ma scholarship othandiza anthu (ana) osowa, they grab them and award their friends’ kids, relatives kids and their own children. Our taxes are not safe, there is massive abusie
Botomani, just stop it.
Chilima is a genius. Ena bottom man awa……angopanga makani ngati kuti ndi anthu. Ndi ma chola boy agogo tikusunga kubstate house uku.
We through away the word genius too easily in Malawi. What is genius about these dunderhead suggestions?
Wake up! Mark has no clue what he is talking about and Dan is equally in the dark. Chilima ndi wanzelu. He is looking at what the west is doing and serving the country. You idiots are busy pushing backward ideas. Look into your own party at the folks that went to school, they will tell u that Chilima ndi team ina. Stop playing games!! No covid patients registered in last 24 hours because u have useless test kits, ana a daddy!
What is your comment on allowances?
Minister check one president has offered state Lodge
mild symptoms when you already have a death my foot
Chilima is more government than any of the ministers
Chilima what you should have done is to ask MCP how Kamuzu managed to live in Sanjika whilst parliament was not in Blantyre. Bas
It is possible covid-19 is worried that there isn’t much work in the country after HIV/AIDS! JUST. …just
I not know who sent Zeze to say the trash he did yesterday. It has all been ably swept and dumped in the trash-can. Mkaladi wopanda nzeru.
Mwamva a Boma koma mwano. Mudzamva zenizeni ili mmutu.
We are paring hard that none of the cabinet members is not infected soon. You will remember the wisdom of Chilima.The whole cabinet and MPs including their President are on self-isolation from today because they have been tested by a positive health worker. By the way most leaders including Museveni of Uganda and Ramaphosa of South and even the mad man Trump of the US have been tested. When are our Cabinet Ministers and the President going to be tested?
The government, through Botomani is well aware that Chilima’s suggestions are exceptionally good and surpass the ones that govt ‘has put in place’. We knew that Botomani and his ‘comrades’ are jealous of Chilima’s brilliant ideas and would give lame excuses not to adopt any of them. These dead woods surrounding the president are past the stage of thinking and are always supporting their master who is also unable to make any meaningful decisions. However, it is just a matter of time and all this nonsense will come to an end. Forward with Chilima!!!!!
Muntharika is rubbish President he doesn’t have what a President needs to have. Political on everything that’s weird
This is a joke of a country. How can the Minister say we are well prepared and we have 20 ventilators in a country? We have 28 districts and so if we had to have one per district 8 districts wold have none! In any case, these ventilators are for normal patients and not covid 19 and sharing would be a challenge.
Secondly, he say the Schools have been ear marked, but are they ready? We need to be proactive and not promise the future, honourable pitiful minister.
How do Northerners and Easterners get tested for Covid-19 should the need arise at the moment? Yet we claim to be ready to face the pandemic. Stretch testing centres in all districts and border posts
This government should learn listen to other people. You have no monopoly of wisdom and intelligence. So sad
It was a well known fact that this Malawi corona virus the [DPP and its leadership] cannot accept to be advised, the know it all.
Indeed the minister is Bottom man who doesn’t understand the issue at hand. Where is the testing kits for Northern and Eastern region ????
Northern region share a border with Tanzania where Coviid 19 was first reported b4 Malawi and Eastern region also share a border with Mozambique where as well Coviid 19 was also reported b4 Malawi .
These are strategic point where we need to test people first b4 they can even enter our country . Why in Blantyre or Lilongwe as if this is hot spot?? We closed our Airport both in Lilongwe and Blantyre then no need to keep these testing kits in these places .
Take them to border Areas for once.
No one asked Chilima to commit his salary to COVID19 fight. He has no right to ask APM and anybody to do what he did. Why didn’t he commit his salary before APM announced 10% pay cut? Why did he wait for the announcement? Why doesn’t he ask the judiciary staff and MPs to do that?
Chilima misala yafika poyipa tsopano ngakhale a MCP ngati atazalowe muboma kumene aliko adziwirethu kuti mgalimoto mwawomo atenga wina wamitsala. Chilima adzakhala wopenga mpakana kalekale
Minister Botomani 20 ventilators against 28 district hospitals gives us a shortfall of 8. A worse case scenario will be apocalyptic as so many people will die because we are not ready. God have mercy our president has forgotten that its good to protect the people than defending his position.
Mutharika holds prerogative, what a pompous and arrogant thing top say if indeed this old man past his retirement age if indeed he was a Professor at all? Malawi is one of the poorest country in the world and is it not reasonable that in a time off national crisis with Covid 19 for the President of Malawi, to be in Malawi’s capital city Lilongwe instead of Ministers and Civil Servants travelling miles each way to meet him?
It seems that Mutharika prefers to base himself at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre, to entertain the Lomwe and Yao Traditional leaders or helping the First Lady
Fact is, we have more State Houses or Lodges, than testing centres for this virus! What a lavish attitude, keeping this all for one single person!
It seems we need a pandemic like this to wake up and get our priorities right!
Che Saulosi palibe cha nzeru chomwe munganene lero madara inu. Steam yanu inatha mu 2019 pamene after all pomps and pride your party only ended up with 4 MP’s. Very shameful indeed. That means people lots trust in you. Before you come to address us reporters please do a thorough research. Government is already prepared with COVID 19. You cant close state houses for the sake of creating more space in Malawi. It has never happened in the world. Akamati mkuluyu amasuta chamba tsopano ndakhulupilira dzulo mmene ankalankhulira pa msonkhano wathu wa Atolankhani.
Kodi ndimayesa munthuyu ali mu Cabinet? Bwanji osamanena zimenezo at Cabinet Level? Ndithu mpaka kuuza H.E. Kuti bwerani muzakhale ku Lilongwe ? Kodi Ndalama zomwe anthu akumapanga ngati allowance zikukupweteke eti? Please note Democracy is expensive . Leave the President to choose where to stay, after all he is the President for the nation and not LL or BT or Mzuzu . Mwaonetsa ukape wanu wonse che Arafati as you are fondly known. The Media houses expected you to be with members from your alliance partners. Where are they ? Please next time invite Lazaro to be with you to spread news about covid 19.
Egos! Egos! Egos! Stuck with old Attitude and Thinking, this was expected. This is the reason this country is failing to develop. Big man syndrome and hand clapping pure nosense!!!!
Bwana Botomani, is there any need for you to be responding to anything that Veep Chilima says in respect of how this country is run and how our Brother Leader should behave as President of this great Republic? Don’t you have anything better to do than spend your time and my taxes responding to anything that comes out of the mouth of SKC? Shame on you! Freedom of opinion, what?
Please, stop responding to Chilima. He is a mad man.
I agree with you this guy is very stupid bt now I can see he is about being vice president always instead of being president after he leave government and start his own party 😂😂
What do you expect from NTCHONA and his pathetic administration? You are in extra time.
I wouldn’t expect a positive response from people who are corrupt anyway……!
There is nothing to defend here. All that money could have gone to the fight against Coronvirus. The govt surely has its priorities wrong.
NTHAWI YA MCP, UDINDO WOTSUTSA CHILICHONSE UNALI WA NTABA, AAH TAONANI NTABAYONSO ALI KU DPP PANO!!