Opposition leader Nankhumwa in scathing response to Chakwera, says Malawi leader has gone overboard in decrees
Leader of Opposition Kondwani Nankhumwa has launched a scathing attack on President Lazarus Chakwera accusing him of plotting to slide Malawi back to the three decades of dictatorship and political tyranny where membership to the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) was compulsory.
Nankhumwa has said this in response to the President’s Thursday address in which he challenged boards of government parastatals to flush out partisan, political operatives and nonproductive individuals from the institutions.
The opposition leader said Chakwera should abide by the rule of law in his quest to clear the rubble of corruption in the country.
Nankhumwa, who is Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) vice- president (South) said the President’s warning shots on politically compromised officers are a threat to people’s freedom of conscience and political pluralism.
“I wish to state that while the President, like every Malawian, does not want to condone mediocrity, he has gone overboard by making these orders, which are clearly in violation of the rule of law and good governance,” Nankhumwa says in a statement.
He then challenged the presidency to work on uniting Malawi instead of fomenting divisions through alleged decrees and ultimatums.
“During that Dark Age, anyone who was perceived to be disloyal to MCP and the ‘Messiah’ Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda lost their jobs, businesses and their children were expelled from school. Many sons and daughters of the nation were thrown into prison without trial. Others were either forced into exile or killed,’’ Nankhumwa pointed out.
He said Chakwera’s ‘anguish address’ on Thursday rekindled in Malawians the sad memories of that atrocious MCP regime.
“The speech contained some peculiar presidential orders or decrees such as directing a parastatal board to fire an Acting CEO based on her perceived DPP political affiliation,” said Nankhumwa.
He continued that, in an apparent response to social media sentiments, the President, without batting an eye, said “Malawians across the country have raised a loud outcry over the board’s decision to appoint the Deputy CEO as the Acting CEO, on account of the fact that the person in question is a known operative of the Democratic Progressive Party…I have directed the Secretary to the President and Cabinet, who chairs the board of NOCMA, to address this anomaly within two weeks, and I am confident that this will be done”.
Nankhumwa wondered: “Which Malawians, Mr. President? What a shame!”
The President also ordered the Malawi National Examinations Board to “remove the top management of MANEB on account of this gross failure, and replace it with a new team that will conduct the most credible examinations Malawi has ever had, which must be done no later than January”.
This follows the cancellation of the 2020 Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examinations, which were under way across the country following massive leakage of examination papers.
“I wish to state that while the President, like every Malawian, does not want to condone mediocrity; he has gone overboard by making these orders, which are clearly in violation of the rule of law and good governance.
“These presidential decrees are both illegal and without any merit,” said Nankhumwa.
Nankhumwa said Malawi need an above-board leadership that must prioritize unity.
“The President should take deliberate action to unite the country after an election that was bitterly fought on regional lines. He should not allow his cheerleaders to foment divisions,’’ said Nankhumwa.
The opposition leader said President Chakwera must exercise caution in his quest to “clear the rubble”, saying he must search for a Nelson Mandela in him and reach out to his perceived enemies for the sake of unity and development.
“Indeed, if President Chakwera or anyone in the Tonse administration strongly believes that the DPP failed to unite the country, the right thing to do is not to foment further divisions. Is there not a saying that two wrongs do not make a right?”
But when asked to comment on the Leader of Opposition reactiongovernment spokesperson Gospel Kazako, who is also Minister of Information, said there is no need to regulate how the President reacts to issues that have potential to kill the future of the country, adding nothing, not even corruption, is stopping Chakwera from putting Malawi on the right path to development.
“If an individual is not part of the rubble, there should not be cause for fear. It is those that know they are particles of the rubble that indeed must be afraid. The guilty are afraid. We have public servants that have served several governments and continue to serve this government. Ask those that are afraid what they have done or did to be afraid,” Kazako said.
Meanwhile, a University of Malawi’s Chancellor College political science lecturer Mustafa Hussein said by critiquing Chakwera’s address, the DPP is only playing its opposition role.
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Nankhumwa, kukhala ku Opposition umakhala ndi nzeru heavy, but most of the time those ideas fell on the deaf ear!!! play your cards well boss
According to what MANEB has done, it shows that we need change fast and the president must act swiftly. Another area to look into is the AIP programme, In Kasungu party leaders have removed names of beneficiaries and replaced them with their own names (This is mainly in Maplot, Kasalika and Kasankha area). Vendors are busy buying the cheap fertiliser at K15,000.00 instead of people who can use it in their fields. My the government provide a means where the names of eligible beneficiaries can be open for anyone to see or just broadcast the names on radio stations and release PDF document so that we can confront those who are stealing.
I would like to thank the Police in Kasungu for apprehending workers at ETG in Kasungu who were involved in the malpractice of Affordable Farm Unputs. They were caught with IDs. Keep it up MPS. We hope you will catch more.
Chakwera ndi Nankhumwa George Malemia onsewo ndi mbuzi!!!
Mbuzi yaikulu ndiwe chifukwa ukudziwa umbuzi wa ena
That’s a president with hands on management. Nankhumwa has a handover of a sleepy president aka Peter who doesn’t tackle matters as they arise. Let chakwera do his style and let’s judge him in 2025
I wonder the south voted for tonse. Achewa sakuwelenga anyone from this region
Chakwera does not need to pay attention to such kind of advice in his quest to clear the rubble. Those who don’t share his vision and openly opposed his campaign don’t deserve to hold any strategic position in his government. The honourable thing these people could have done was to resign immediately power changed hands.
His vision not our visions as citizens
Chakwera is falling into Kamuzus shoes as Malawians we won’t allow that
He will follow Trump soon.
Cadet has nothing to say – let the president show his powers. We need NON-PARTISAN civil servants
Paja anayamba ndi Bwimpini ali ku Mangochi ukutuluka ku Sanjika.
Let the president do his job.Let him do some changes as we have new administration which may not palatable to their liking
I have to say from the outset that I hate DPP with passion because of what it did to this country. This is a party that drove the worst agenda of putting people from the same tribe (and a few from the same region) in positions of power. DPP is the worst party Malawi has ever had and the proof is everywhere for everyone to see. It will take years to correct the wrongs DPP inflicted on this nation. A party of hatred, corruption, embezzlement, cronyism, nepotism and darkness. That said the performance of both Chakwera and Chilima is below the expectations of many. Malawians don’t want the “angry presidenc” that is condoning the greatest vice for this nation, corruption.
1. Over 100 days into the new administration the traffic police are still stealing from the motorists with impunity and without fear. Ask your people Mr President to do sting operations and fire corrupt traffic police officers. People hated DPP with passion because of corruption and it is unconscionable that you are failing to do what Magufuli managed to do with ease in Tanzania. If you can’t manage to get on top of this malaise, Mr President, then why did you run for presidency in the first place? Corruption and fraud forced on the citizenry by corrupt people in positions of power is the easiest to deal with.
2. Over 100 days into the new administration business people are still involved in tax evasion. No compliance in issuing MRA receipts. Is this really a complicated problem for you Mr President to deal with? Ask your party to come up with new tough legislation. Those found in the wrong should bear tough consequences of their actions. Your people at MRA should be involved in sting operation to flush out rogue elements at MRA and businesses involved in fraud.
3. Yesterday I went to Phaloni and I was shocked to find that so many trading centers in Phalombe along the way from Jali to Phaloni have had no electricity for the past full one week. I was told that the ESCOM guys are demanding 10,000 from each business person to restore electricity. The people there were very critical of your administration Mr President because someone is tarnishing your name. Deal with corrupt elements decisively Mr President in all government agencies and parastatals.
4. When it comes to the issue of the boards you confused yourself Mr President and what we are seeing happening at NOCMA is the fruit of that confusion. Yes you were supposed to appoint professionals into the boards but not DPP professionals. You overlooked lots of neutral and Tonse alliance professionals in favour of DPP professionals. I personally know a couple of them in your boards.
Coming from the DPP regime which wanted people from one region to dominate our systems you should have avoided appointing people from the same tribe because they are already in multitude in government agencies and parastatals. DPP regime left lots of them in the system and the starting point in correcting what DPP did to our nation you should have avoided putting more of them into positions of power.
This Gospel Kazako should just shut his mouth. Everytime he speaks he his words are so wanting. Completely zero wisdom. I think he is good as a radio personality but not handling weightier issues of state information. And the points which Nankhumwa highlighted, much as it is strange to have those statements from a DPP guy, they are indeed so so valid. The country will by the President’s illogical and shameless misplaced anger devide the nation further. Whoever is feeding these lies to the President for sure is misleading him. Our civil service beginning with the Cabinet is grossly incompetent in some respects yet there are also excellent names there even from the Lomwe Belt.
You want the president to smile at mediocrity in the namè of not dividing the country? Everyone whose performance is below par must be shown the exit. Chakwera doesn’t even have to apologise for doing that.
If Chakwera’s anger shall not be tamed, we are creating a very pathetic dictator in him. Why does he believe that anymore MCP is holly but anyone perceived DPP is unholly? In fact Chakwera’s start is the most nepotistic ever. Nyansi zenizeni za president.
MMM inu nyasi zake zatuluka kwanukotu eti?
Mr Gospel Kadzako, what a stupid response. This rubble discourse your master is engaging in is silly and I didn’t expect an enlightened individual like you to join the silly wagon and begin to refer to other human beings as rubble. This is terminology your master is using in order to victimize perceived enemies.
I agree with you Nankhumwa. Chakwera needs to uproot all cadets silently and efficiently including arresting thieves like you Nankhumwa immediately.
Clearing the rubble.
Nankhumwa should be reminded that during DPP DARK YEARS anyone who was not pure Mulhankho, DDP royalists, perceived (imaginary) opposition sympathiser (in that order) would never be appointed to a any senior position in a government or parastatals. S/he would be sent to a POSTING/position of oblivion to silence or punish him for no crime at all. DPP thugs should be thankful to the kind-heartedness of HE Chakwera and the entire Tonse Alliance for still keeping them in senior positions. Unfortunately they are still doing damage to the Tonse Alliance government
So Chakwera wants to tell us that in all work places there are no partisan people who voted for one party or another. And he means everyone who voted for Tonse and is working on the parastatals is not partisan? Fool.
Possibly you remember some Organisations’ CEOs went flat out campaigning for DPP? That’s what it by Party CEOs. These are particles of the rubble thus needs flushing. Your sentiments won’t stop the clearing… Beware if you’re part of.
Nankhumwa should concentrate on his agenda in DPP and leave government running to ones that the people of Malawi have entrusted. Running an effective and efficient government is no mean business. It requires bold decisions that may not be pleasant to everybody but for the good of the country so that we can move forward from the stagnation since 1994.
What a stupid comment!
Super power is right, we are not in DPP leadership and we are not going to allow stupid lazy and thieves to work in the Government! so you and your friends here get lost! The Civil service were full of Lhomwes not because they know how to work, but because they are DPP! Its just because you are so ignorant you and your Leader of Opposition, unless you tell me that DPP will never even have a dream to come back into power then we are going to one Party system! Simunat ndipo mukodza magazi!
Dr. Chakwera’s is holy anger, ours is violent faith and hope…Big up a Biggie, si za ma rubbish za DPP zija.
Rubble particles kupsya mitima…. simunati.. more to come
Super Power mmutu mwako muli mamina okhaokha
Rubble particles kupsya mitima… simunati… muyadi zenizeni mbuyewanu ali ku NYEKHWE palace ku Mangochi
This is so foolish. The very shameless thinking which creates leadership fools
Rubble pariculates…. being seived others to prison etcetra