Leader of opposition in parliament, Kondwani Nankhumwa, has given President Lazarus Chakwera a period of 14 days to make a public statement on how his government is intending to address the current challenges the country is going through.
Nankhumwa, who is also the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) vice president for the southern region, has threatened that if Chakwera fails to abide by the demand, he is prepared to mobilize the faith community, traditional leaders, Civil Society Organizations and the general citizenry to hold countrywide demonstrations.
He said this on Thursday at a press briefing in Blantyre.
He emphasized that the country’s leadership is lacking direction.
“There seems to be no figurehead to provide leadership and hope to Malawians at this very critical time when it is needed the most. Over the recent past, there have been disturbing events coming in rapid succession whose only impact has been to cause more pain to Malawians who are already suffering under the Tonse Alliance administration,” said Nankhumwa.
On the recent social media reports that government has been swindled K30 billion by a United Kingdom film in a fertilizer supply deal under the Affordable Inputs Program (AIP), Nankhumwa wondered how this happened when the ministry has a full Internal Procurement Committee (IPC).
“The questions that I am are asking are who was responsible for this particular procurement? Were all supplier audit procedures carried out? How could it happen that a supplier for such a big consignment manage to vanish without trace? Where is the physical location of this supplier, and how is it that procurement officers for such a big consignment do not know the physical address of the supplier? This is a national scandal, to say the least, and I cannot begin to imagine how the whole Ministry can be conned in such a manner,” he said.
He also claimed that he has reliably information that Morocco has given Malawi a grant of 10, 000 metric tons of fertilizer for this year’s farming season, but the government has chosen to be silent about it, hence suspecting a foul play.
Other matters that Nankhumwa challenged Chakwera and his Tonse administration to swiftly address include corruption, breaking silence on the future of this year’s AIP, Plunder at ADMARC, Gaming Board and Accountant General, fuel shortage, frequent blackouts, scarcity of forex and challenges being faced by university students.
“I wish to conclude by asking President Lazarus Chakwera to comprehensively attend to the issues raised herein within the next 14 days. If he does not do that, I wish to warn the President and his administration that I will lead national demonstrations, and I am prepared to mobilize the faith community, traditional leaders, Civil Society Organizations and the general citizenry to participate in such protests,” said Nankhumwa.
