Mutharika tells UNGA Malawi economy stable: ‘Leadership not prestige but responsibility’   

President Peter Mutharika used the United Nations podium on Tuesday to highlight that the Malawi economy has improved in the last four years under his leadership and the welfare of the people has been better under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rule as the country goes to polls next year.

Mutharika will be seeking a fresh mandate to govern for his second and mandatory final five years term.

He told the UN General Assembly that his administration has in the past four years “relentlessly pursued” macro-economic measures that are now improving Malawi’s economy.

“We have stabilized the economy within four years in spite of the natural disasters of floods, drought and hunger that hit Malawi for two consecutive years,” said Mutharika.

“Within four troubled years, we have reduced inflation from 24 per cent to single digit. We have reduced interest rates from 25 per cent to 16 per cent.

“We have taken our import cover from the lowest point to the highest point in our economic history. Our import cover has risen from below 2 months to 6 months. We have made local currency stable and predictable,” said Mutharika.

Mutharika said he found Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate at 2.4 per cent when he took over the leadership from Joyce Banda in 2014 after the Cashgate corruption scandal.

“Now we expect growth 4 per cent in our 2018/2019 financial year. And we expect this growth to rise to 6 percent in 2019,” he highlighted.

Mutharika said his administration is improving the macro-economic because “a bad economy is injustice to its citizens.”

He said his administration is also focusing on the justice of specific sectors of the society.

“We are fighting against violence against women and girls. I believe no human society can meaningfully develop while marginalizing its women. Development must always be inclusive,” he said.

Mutharika disclosed that with support from the United Nations and other development partners, particularly the European Union (EU), Malawi will from 2019 implement the Spotlight Initiative in a bid to eliminate violence against women and girls.

He also said no society can progress without the youth, saying his administration is therefore implementing a number of youth initiative including a skills development program that involves establishing community technical colleges.

“We are empowering the youth with skills for them to create jobs and businesses for themselves and others. We believe no society can develop without a skilled labour force. Our urgent need is to train the trainers in this Youth program,” he said.

In his speech, Mutharika said power is responsibility. “Leadership is not prestige. Leadership is responsibility,” he said.

World leaders are meeting at the UN for this year’s 73rd UNGA under the theme: ‘Making the United Nations Relevant to All People: Global Leadership and Shared Responsibilities for Peaceful, Equitable and Sustainable Societies.”

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