APM responds to Chakwera
President Peter Mutharika has said he did not lie to the nation on the issue of generators that are being hired to ease power outages the country is currently experiencing.
Mutharika has expressed optimism that the problem will ease by next month. He said the generators are currently on their way to the country.
“I never said they were in the country. I said they were coming. I am told they are being shipped. That is the information I have from the technical people. But as I have said earlier, Islam and Christianity talk about respect for each other. The behaviour, therefore, of somebody who wants to be a leader of this country, talking about the president being a pathological liar, I think it is very, very pathetic,” Mutharika said.
He spoke yesterday in Lilongwe during the official opening of 2017 Ijtimah.
At a press conference in Lilongwe on Thursday where he raised issues of blackouts and the lifting of maize export ban, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) President and Leader of Opposition, Lazarus Chakwera, said on Sunday last week, during Mlakho wa Alhomwe annual festival, Mutharika lied that one generator is already in the country.
Chakwera also said Mutharika lied by saying that another one was being shipped into the country and would be in by December 1, 2017.
Mutharika said he did not lie.
“The president is not a liar. A liar is somebody, who claims to have earned a degree in America, a PhD, when he actually received an honorary degree from an unaccredited Bible school and calls himself a professor. That’s a liar. That’s a pathological liar. Not me. I know to call the president a liar is a violation of the law. He is pushing me to arrest him so that he becomes a martyr,” he said.
He added: “I am not going to bite the bait. All I am asking him, if he wants to be president is to behave responsibly and maybe he needs to go to Bwaila [Hospital] for examination of his head. I think there is something wrong with his brain.”
Mutharika started commenting on the issue of power outages when he acknowledged that business people, who he said some are Muslims are being affected by the persistent power outages.
The President also assured the Muslims that he will make sure there is freedom of worship in the country. He also said people should respect each other at all times.
“We are all God’s children. We were all created in God’s images. We shouldn’t despise one another. Despising each other does not build a nation. If there are problems, let us discuss in a respectful way. We sit down and discuss solutions to the problems. Let’s live in peace, as Muslims, as Christians in this country,” he said.
But he urged people to exercise the freedoms with responsibilities.
In his remarks, National Chairman of Muslim Association of Malawi (Mam) Sheikh Idrissah Muhammad, said he was happy with efforts that are being done by government in recognition of Islam in Malawi.
He cited government’s provision of land to Mam in Mangochi, and strides that are being made for banks to start recognising Islamic beliefs.
He also pledged support to Mutharika.
“We cannot be hypocrites. We are behind you. As a country, all cannot be alright. There are times we pass through problems. But we cannot advise our leader in public. We do that in private,” Muhammad said.
The 2017 Ijtmah is being held under the theme “The role of Muslims in Economic and Educational Development in Malawi”.
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