Malawi pleads with donors for aid: Chaponda says nation in desperate need of budgetary support
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Corporation Dr George Thapatula Chaponda, the strongman in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, on Wednesday met ambassadors and other heads of diplomatic missions at Capital Hill in Lilongwe and pleaded that the poor southern African nation is in desperate need of aid.
Donors, who provide about 40 percent of Malawi’s budget, pulled the plug on aid of around $150 million from cashgate fraud scandal in government.
Chaponda told donors that the country is facing numerous economic challenges and persuaded them to resume budgetary support so that the nation can fasten its social economic development.
Some of the ambassadors present at the meeting included the influential front man, the European Union country representative, Ambassador Marchel Gerrmann, US Ambassador to Malawi Virginia Palmer, British High Commissioner Michael Nevin.
Briefing reporters, Chaponda described the meeting as very critical.
“The meeting was very important because I was briefing the diplomatic missions to Malawi on the 2015 highlights. In my report I described the 2015 as a mixed bag, since there were some positives and negatives,” Chaponda said he asked donors to resume aid to Malawi.
“I am happy to report that response is positive and as you might have heard from the Minister of Finance that we will be on IMF track.”
Chaponda said he also briefed donors on the progress of cashgate cases.
“I pleaded with them that they should start supporting us financially because the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) and the Ministry of Justice is doing everything possible on prosecuting all cash gate suspects,” he said.
But he said donors want to see improvements before they can open the aid taps.
“Some of them have shown that they may come back soon but maybe in another form. Maybe just financial support,” said Chaponda.
He assured the diplomats that the Peter Mutharika administration was reforming the management of public finances “to avoid a repetition of the Cashgate”.
Chaponda said during the meeting he took an opportunity to thank donors for responding to President Peter Mutharika appeal for support following the various calamities such as floods and drought which hit the country.
“Following the appeal donors has given Malawi USD146Million and I was asking them to finish payment of the deficit that we have at the moment.”
During the meeting, Chaponda briefed the donors on the positives of 2015.
“I also reported to the donors that during the 2015 Government successfully negotiated various projects such as; the 300 Megawatt Kam’mwamba Coal Fired Power Plant, which is aimed at increasing the power generating capacity of Malawi to meet the ever increasing demand. The project cost is estimated at US$667,232,814.” said Chaponda.
Chaponda said during the 2015 Malawi successfully negotiated a US$2 million Second Grant for the Procurement of police vehicles for the Malawi Police Service.
“I also briefed donors on the E-Government (National Identity) Project–The Chinese Government approved the Fibre Back-bone component of the project, which will lay the fibre optic cables to increase internet connectivity. The second component of the National Identification Project, however, will be subjected to further discussions. The entire project is estimated to cost US$50 million,” said Chaponda.
According to President Peter Mutharika, who came to power in 2014 after defeating Joyce Banda in an election, the decision by donors to cut aid due Cashgate has contributed to the country’s economic hardship.
Mutharika claims his administration inherited a number of problems and that the government was “almost bankrupt because most of our donor partners left after the Cashgate scandal.”
Malawi’s plight worsened in January when severe floods left more than 170 people dead and 200,000 homeless.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
Donors are not fools like Peter and the likes.They know precisely well that Peter and his late brother Bingu were not authentic leaders,but excursionists ( travellers) who had managed to hoodwink mainstream politicians for their own interests.To be honest Malawians are in for a long haul and it is pity that Malawian talents are being washed into the drain and our country is blown into the unknown destination.We Malawians in diaspora,are strongly behind the concerns of the Donor Nations,there must be stringent strings to coerce Muthalika and his gang of thieves otherwise Malawi is heading to a real political and… Read more »
The government just spent MK65M on a luxurious motor home so Mathanyula can comfortably deposit his biological wastes, paid MK265M to a British PR firm and now we are telling donors that we are destitutes????? Really ? You expect donors to believe you????
A cgaponda akybama, afuna azibe for 2019 election staregy.baanhu ati bill sikuu
Donors we need the results of K577bn cashgate first.We are tired of thefts
It is indeed regrettable that the so called donors are still holding back any financial assistance/lending insisting that everything that went wrong must be rectified first. One would have thought that the needed changes are at various stages of being implemented or some are already implemented. Maybe there is some information that the public has not been made aware of. What are the sticking points? What is it that remains to be done before normal aid flows are resumed? If what remains to be done is not as critical as what has already been accomplished, then the donors simply want… Read more »
This is the same Chapondo who said he does not want donors to remind the Malawi government of Human Rights. The donors have been clear on their insistence that the Malawi government closes the leakages in the Public Finance Management so that the likes of Chaponda cannot steal their donor money.
Aliyense amene akusangalala ndi donor withdraw machende ake achanganganu….Iknow ndi anyawu ndi atumbuka amene akusangalala ndi izi anamachende inu kukamwa kwanu kuda ngati machende…….mesa ovutika ndi azigogo anu amene avutike.U think u are punishing the mutharikas..U fools the mutharicas will never suffer for the rest of their life.Even their great grand grand childrens shall be rich ….iweyo amako ali ku nkhamenya kugonera madeya iwe uli bizy kuwombera mmanja ma donors to keep on punishing malawi.kkkk..Mtundu wa zitsiru, ogunata .Agalu inu simuzalamula malawi forever……
At least JB told us who stole the Mk13 Billion through cashgate. Peter you need to tell us who is keeping the Mk577 Billion in cash and properties. This money is enough to cover the donor budget support that you want. I cannot be so foolish to give money to someone who is unwilling to account for such a big sum of MK577 billion in bigger way. GOD must punish you while on earth. Donors release your money at owners risky. You can help if you so wish the suffering Malawians through other means until we hear of the MK577… Read more »
These donors did not stop giving you money because of cashgate. Dpp rigged the votes. Cashgate is just a scapegoat
It will be a big mistake for donors to give DDP budget money. APM thought he could get money because he was prof. And lived abroad. Not even America where he has lived or many years want to give him money. Please donors if you care about poor Malawians dont give the governmen money. Lisne to Malawians. This is the man who has not full filled the demands for getting aid. AID is not our money. It is TAX PAYERS money from the donors countries. Why can Malawi not use their tax money? NO because they are used to beg… Read more »