Nnesa tells JB to stop blaming former govt, complete Malawi University of Science and Nsanje Port

Member of Parliament for Balaka South and president of Mafunde, George Nnesa has said Malawi President Joyce Banda’s government should stop blaming the former administration and take the responsibility of running the country.

Nnesa aid this in Parliament when responding to the State of-the-national Address on the opening of the budget session of Parliament by President Joyce Banda on Friday May 17.

“Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have problems in us continuing to put blame on somebody who cannot defend himself.  After 12 months, the government should take full responsibility of issues at present and focus on where we are going rather than looking backwards,” said Nnesa attracting applause from the lawmakers.

He commended the Banda government for “listening “and giving commercialisation of agriculture” some attention.”

Nnesa: It's tobacco sales not recovery plan
Nnesa: It’s tobacco sales not recovery plan

Nnesa called for the enactment of the Land Law, saying it will enable the farmers to invest on their land and the peasant farmers will have commercial value for their land, which they may decide to either release to commercial farmers and get employment or do otherwise.

He also expressed concern on long outstanding infrastructural projects.

“We hope that the Thyolo-Bangula Road, the Machinga-Naminga Road and others will be completed as carryover projects,” said Nnesa.

He noted that President Banda in her speech committed to continue with the programmes of the previous DPP government.

However, Nnesa observed that “when she talked about water transport, the Nsanje Port was not mentioned at all.  That is a major investment that Malawi has spent money on.

“The Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) was also not mentioned.  Mr. Speaker, Sir, these are important projects and if we ignore them while we are spending a lot of money maintaining them, then they will remain white elephants.”

On recognising the 20,000 chiefs throughout the country and putting them on the government payroll, he advised that they need to be given clear job descriptions.

“However, Mr. Speaker Sir, we are concerned that putting all the chiefs under total control of the government, makes them subjected to the government and not their subjects. We hope that the chiefs’ council will be properly consulted in this project.”

Nnesa also commented on reports that the Malawi Revenue Authority performed above target.

“We should not get excited with these over collection because these high revenues have been achieved on the back of the hiked salaries, and the collection from the Pay as You Earn (PAYE) plus the exchange rates that have enabled the border taxes to go up.

“Malawi Revenue Authority has got a big challenge to broaden each tax base to ensure that there are no tax rejects as well. “

Nnesa said his Mafunde party “wishes this government all the best in its attempts to maintain the economic stability that is now showing.  In economics we say crises are crewed going up but sticky going down. “

DPP, UDF and MCP) have all responded to the President’s State of the Nation Address in which they unanimously argued that the speech has left out important issues currently affecting the country.

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