Nankhumwa tells Mwanza: ‘Don’t gamble with Malawi’s future, vote Mutharika and DPP’
In a complete display of political muscle to protect the party’s territory, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) vice-president for the South, Kondwani Nankhumwa invaded Mwanza district, along the Malawi-Mozambique border, on Wednesday, March 27 2019, to mobilize support around the party’s untiring vision.
Nankhumwa pulled a mammoth crowd at Thawale CDSS in Mwanza West where he told cheering party supporters about the importance of voting on May 21 to retain DPP and President Peter Mutharika in government so that the area continues to experience life-changing social and economic development.
He informed the people that he had brought them a message of “sincere gratitude” from President Mutharika “for unreservedly supporting him and the DPP over the years”.
Nankhumwa assured them the President would soon be visiting Mwanza to personally thank them for their loyalty.
“The President has assigned me to deliver a message of appreciation for the continued cordial relationship between the people here and DPP and its leadership. Since the birth of DPP, you have overwhelmingly voted for us in every election.
“President Mutharika wishes to encourage all voters to come out in large numbers on May 21 and vote for Joyce Chitsulo as your MP, DPP Councillors for Mpandazi and Thambani and most importantly, President Mutharika.
“The reason why you must vote for DPP is that it has an impeccable record regarding social and economic development in this country,” said Nankhumwa, who is also Minister of Local Government and Rural Development.
He said the DPP has improved the social and economic status of Malawians through a comprehensive improvement in all sectors of the economy.
The minister informed the gathering that there has been remarkable development across all sectors of the economy such as education, health, infrastructure development, energy development and youths and women empowerment.
However, he said challenges remain but President Mutharika is committed to addressing the challenges with utmost zeal and seriousness.
“The President sent me to inform you that he is aware of the many challenges that you are facing, especially in the light of the recent devastating floods. You have lost homes, food and other personal belongings. Government has already donated some relief items but government would continue to donate food and other relief items here until the situation normalizes,” he said.
Apart from the recent floods, Nankhumwa also cited the poor roads across the constituency and said government would soon be upgrading all strategic roads and feeder roads so that people easily travel to access medical care, sell the farm produce and children easily access education.
He said that President Mutharika has directed that construction of a new tarmac road from Mwanza Police through the constituency via Thambani to Chikwawa must commence as soon as possible because it is the shortest road that connects Mwanza and Chikwawa and the rest of Shire Valley.
“Farmers rely on this road to ferry their produce to markets in Mwanza and at Thambani. In its present state, patients sometimes die on the way to hospital because of bumpy state of the road while some pregnant mothers give birth on the way to hospital at Mwanza Boma.
“Once constructed, this road may become a ‘by-pass’ route from Chikwawa to Mwanza into Mozambique, especially for articulated trucks, which carry sugar from Illovo Sugar at Nchalo in Chikwawa. This would ease traffic in Blantyre City,” said, adding that Mwanza Bridge on the same road, a few kilometers from the Mwanza main road, is a death trap because many people, especially cyclists, have fallen into the river because there are no protective bars on one side of the bridge.
“Government will immediately erect the protective bars to prevent further accidents,” he said.
He said government would also ensure that poor education standards in the area are improved. He cited challenges such as inadequate school blocks, learning and teaching materials, poor boarding facilities and inadequate teachers’ accommodation as being looked into seriously by government.
Nankhumwa was accompanied by Homeland Security Minister Nicholas Dausi and Southern Region Governor, Charles Mchacha, among other officials.
On Thursday, March 28, 2019, Nankhumwa heads to Neno South and North constituencies on this DPP campaign trail.
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