By Vincent Gunde
The Public Affairs Committee (PAC) has repeated its words it made in January, 2022 that indecisiveness and slowness to respond to crucial issues remain a great enemy to President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera’s leadership legacy.
The PAC has advised President Chakwera on the need to seriously consider his approach saying the populace is becoming fade up observing that the law gives him all the powers to swiftly make decisions of the state.
The organization says Malawians are crying out there, the poor are starving, the country is lacking message of hope on the current economic terrain saying People cannot maintain the status quo or else they create room for civil strife.
In his remarks during an interface meeting with President Rev. Dr. Lazarus Chakwera at Kamuzu Palace-Lilongwe on Tuesday, PAC Chairperson Monsignor Dr. Patrick Thawale, said devaluation is a symptom of President Chakwera’s action, omissions and decisions pursued in the administration of state affairs.
MSGR Thawale said domestic borrowing for consumption, international trips, cabinet size and the entire size of civil service (including the unwarranted numbers in the embassies) as a result of recruitments, have been the driving factors to the current economic affairs of the country.
Thawale said the strategy to maintain all the Presidential Advisors on the job cannot work now, and runs counter to the austerity measures set soon after 44 percent devaluation advocating that Chakwera keep very few of them in critical areas.
He called on President Chakwera to move faster to dissolve the Cabinet and appoint 15 Ministers only assuring President Chakwera that they are not against the recent devaluation of 44 percent observing that previous governments devalued the Malawi Kwacha.
The Monsignor said their major concern is the negative impact on the livelihood of Malawians caused by the 44 percent noting that already when the government devalued currency by 25 percent last year, the impact on rural Malawians was big and now with 44 percent, more suffering is expected among majority of Malawians.
“Tough decisions should have been made earlier when you assumed office,” said MSGR Thawale.
He advised President Chakwera to appoint people based on merit rather than party affiliation giving a word to MCP Loyalists not to expect that everybody in their party can be offered a job in government and the Faith community to stand for the voiceless.
MSGR Thawale said PAC is advocating for an end of Affordable Input Programme (AIP) believing that the resources saved would be redirected to other productive sectors including Mega farms and medium productive farmers calling for a bold decision to be made to exiting from the programme noting that the programme has been dented with corrupt practices.
