Nankhumwa punches holes in Chakwera’s SONA
Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Kondwani Nankhumwa, has punched holes in President Lazarus Chakwera’s State off the Nation Address, accusing him of being a “liar” with a broken system.
Nankhumwa said Chakwera uses beautiful colourful language in his speeches but never implements what he promises Malawians.
“They said Malawi will be a land of milk and honey where basic goods and services will be affordable to everyone. We were told the price of fuel will not be high; that there will free electricity and water connections; that there will be no favouritism in employment of public officers; and that people will be employed on merit regardless of their political, religious or tribal affiliations.
“In short, we were told that there will not be any corruption, nepotism, tribalism, and regionalism in that purported land of milk and honey,” said Nankhumwa.
Nankhumwa said Malawians have lost hope in the Tonse government and that Tonse sold Malawians a dummy.
According to Nankhumwa, the economic situation in the country is now worse than before.
Nankhumwa said the sharp promises about fighting corruption that were made by the Tonse leaders have faded away.
“Instead of a Bill to trim his powers Chakwera brought a Bill that killed the right of workers to hold a strike,” said Nankhumwa.
Nankhumwa said that Chakwera uses nice English words but does the opposite.
He said Chakwera promised to support the graft busting body, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) but what he is doing is denying it funding to extent ACB officers using own money.
Nankhumwa said Chakwera is not capable to fix the system and problems rocking the country.
He said Chakwera gave his Vice Saulos Chilima 90 days to review the public sector policies but the public sector reforms report hasn’t been made public for Malawians to appreciate the recommendations.
“Why give the Vice president 90 days to conduct a review then sit on the report,” said Nankhumwa.
According to Nankhumwa, Chakwera is resisting the change and he is a broken system himself.
He said currently, Malawi has a leader who doesn’t sit in the office, who makes beautiful speeches without any action, who takes ages to make a decision and that who travels all over the world.
Nankhumwa said soon Chakwera will blame Cyclone Ana for his failures.
Nankhumwa is asking government to clarify on the over nine hundred thousand jobs President Lazarus Chakwera said have been created.
He said he is happy that Malawians have descended on this telling the President that he is lying.
He has again expressed worry with the rising cost of living saying now a 5 litre cooking oil is being sold at K10,000, he says a dollar for the first time is being sold at K1000.
Nankhumwa has also faulted the President for failing to trim his cabinet and on top of that appointing those denting his name back into the cabinet.
But Leader of the House, Richard Chimwendo Banda censored Nankhumwa.
He stood on a point asking the Speaker to give a direction on what he called unparliamentary word said by Leader of the Opposition.
According to Chimwendo, calling the President “the broken system, a liar” is unparliamentary according to the House’s standing orders.
Speaker of the National Assembly Catherine Gotani Hara agreed with Chimwendo on that and called Nankhumwa to withdraw the word liar.
She said the word broken system will have to be looked at first.
But Nankhumwa said he would want to replace the word with “he did not tell the truth” but the Speaker insisted he should withdraw it which he did.
On Health, Nankhumwa said the Health sector is on the verge of collapsing.
Struggling of some public hospitals, shortage of drugs in hospitals and corruption in the health sector are some of the signs according to Nankhumwa.
On Affordabke Input Program, Nankhumwa said the AIP this year is a waste as compared to the other years.
According to Nankhumwa this is because the suppliers were offered contracts late and most of the suppliers are just scanning the IDs and not selling fertilizer.
Nankhumwa also told the House that it is not true that the country had a bumper yield last year when the same government is failing to support Cyclone Ana victims with maize.
Nankhumwa has reminded Chakwera that he is presiding over a nation which is frustrated by his failed promises.
He said he should remember he is not in the offices to please few individuals or keep friendships and family bonds.
He adds that the broken system will not be fixed if Chakwera still keeps corrupt ministers in his cabinet.
