Leader of Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa has faulted President Lazarus Chakwera for “losing track” in running the country’s affairs.

Nankhumwa made the remarks in Parliament upon the winding up of forth meeting of the 49th Session of the National Assembly.

According to Nankhumwa, Chakwera has failed to provide the critical leadership that Malawians need in times the country is going through serious economic challenges due to a surge in cost of living.

He said: “As a Man of God, President Chakwera should be the first to know that he is a servant and not master of the people. Let him emulate Jesus Christ and serve the people with honesty and dedication.”

He blamed Covid-19 and global trends as reasons why Malawi is facing social and economic challenges.

Mankhumwa observed that instead of creating one million jobs, the economy has comprehensively tanked and jobs have been lost tenfold.

Fuel prices have gone up so too have the prices of basic commodities such as edible cooking oil, soap, sugar, salt, bread, and matches, among others.

But responding to Nankhumwa’s remarks, Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda has attributed to the rise in cost of living as a recent of the Coronavirus pandemic.

“Covid-19 has hit the whole global economy and countries even those surrounding are actually facing tough times and we are relatively doing well with the SADC Region, people are crossing from Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique to buy commodities in Malawi,” he said.

“We are talking about a global crisis, because the cost of living has not been adjusted because of Value Added Tax (VAT), people must understand, we are importing oil from South Africa.”