My govt will not fall, challenges Mutharika
Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika has hit back at critics who argue that his administration will collapse due to fuel and forex crisis that is submerging the country into economic turmoil, saying he will still hold on to the balance of power.
Speaking in Ntcheu district on Thursday on remarks broadcast live on state MBC radio, Mutharika said the economic challenges his government was facing were not unique to Malawi.
“Let me say that there is no any country globally that has no problems and more financial problems beyond ours,” said Mutharika.
He said those claiming that Mutharika administration will collapse will be shamed because nothing of that sort will happen.
“My government is not going to fall. You (the critics) are going to fall,” said Mutharika.
A damn
He also attacked critics and the media to go ahead and criticise him.
“I don’t care what you write. Write whatever you write. I am tired of you,” said the 78-year-old ruler whose term of office expires in 2014.
He claimed to have developed Malawi beyond recognition than the past two presidents Kamuzu Banda and Bakili Muluzi.
“People should be able to talk about development which I have brought to this country. In the 1990s, there were grave problems like people dying of hunger and nobody ever wrote on that.”
He claimed to have alleviated hunger and reduced the HIV related deaths in the country.
Mutharika also maintained his attack on the former ruling parties MCP and UDF attributing his administration’s malfunction to what he called lack of visionary leadership by the former ruling parties.
He castigated the two former ruling parties for failing to construct fuel reserves in the country which he said would have ended the fuel crisis by now.
The President, however, said his government was doing everything possible to ensure that the fuel shortage problem comes to an end.
Mutharika is also on record blaming Satan for the country’s woes.
Not serious
But an editorial on Malawi’s flagship daily newspaper, The Nation, criticised Mutharika’s attack on the former ruling parties.
“It cannot be denied that MCP, in particular, made a significant contribution to the country’s energy sector by building reservoirs in all the regions of the country. MCP also envisioned and pioneered the Ethanol plant in Dwangwa. In fact, in their vision, both MCP and UDF governments also talked about a fuel pipeline and revitalised the Nacala Corridor—all in an attempt to ensure constant fuel supply for the growing economy,” wrote the paper in its editorial on Wednesday.
The paper said for the President to turn round and start castigating his predecessors on such endeavours “really sounds surprising.”
“It is not UDF or MCP who are running the State coffers. It is DPP. It is not the opposition that have made costly decisions in 2011, for example, the souring of diplomatic ties with key traditional donors such as the UK, USA and the EU. It is the DPP government. It is not even MCP or UDF that have soiled up our relations with key neighbours: Mozambique and Zambia. It is Mutharika’s DPP regime,” the editorial reads.
The paper said it was “awkward” for President to blame the opposition and that the people are still reeling with laughter and disbelief following the President’s attribution of Malawi’s problems to Satan.
“President Bingu wa Mutharika is not serious. He is joking with his citizens,” the paper wrote.
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