The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has faulted President Lazarus Chakwera for running what it calls counterfeit government mirrored through state–sponsored corruption with impunity and arrogance.
In a statement released Monday, CDEDI executive director Sylvester Namiwa says the Chakwera’s government has mastered the art of creating crises to benefit under the guise of solving such bottle necks.
Reads the statement in part: “CDEDI hereby urges Chakwera and his Tonse Alliance administration to stop insulting the intelligence of Malawians by creating unnecessary crises in order to gain cheap popularity and monetary benefits for trying to ‘solve’ the same.
“The President should be reminded that he ascended to leadership on his promise that he would fix the country; therefore, his leadership should be seen to be built on integrity in order to earn and sustain the trust of the electorate.”
Namiwa has cited the upward adjustment of a 50-kilogram bag of fertilizer under the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) from K4, 500 to K15, 000 as a failed campaign promise.
“The President should be reminded that he promised AIP beneficiaries that they would part with no more than MK4,500 to access a 50-kilogramme bag of fertilizer, but the AIP task force has announced that this year these needy Malawians will have to top up each bag with K15,000.
“With the writing clearly on the wall that incomes of these Malawians have remained stagnant, if not worsened, in the past two years, where will they get the extra K10,500?” questioned Namiwa.
He said President Chakwera needs to come out and address Malawians on the current social-economic challenges rocking the nation.
Both State House and government officials are yet to comment on the matter.
