Lazarus Chakwera for equitable distribution of wealth

Tom Sangala January 21, 2019

477 1 minute read

By Jameson Chauluka:

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president, Lazarus Chakwera, has pledged to form a government that will ensure equitable distribution of wealth in the country, saying under the Democratic Progressive Party administration, few people are getting filthy rich while the majority are living in abject poverty.

Chakwera was speaking in Zomba on Saturday during a political rally he addressed at Gymkhana Club Ground where he expounded on a third point in his Chakwera High 5 plan of national development ‘Prospering Together’.

“It’s like a curse that selfish politicians make people poor and forever dependent so that they can bully and toss them around.
“Currently, just a few Malawians in the ruling class are rich while the majority are poor. We want equitable distribution of wealth and that is why we are championing ‘Prospering Together’,” he said.

Chakwera promised to revamp the education sector from tertiary education, secondary, primary and most critically, early childhood development.

“By the time a child goes to primary school at five or six years old, his/ her brain is almost fully developed. That is why we are saying we must revamp early childhood development as a matter of priority. We want well-trained and paid caretakers. The ones we have are working on voluntary basis. They are doing a good job but we want them empowered with education and benefits,” he said.

Before the rally, thousands of youths held a youth conference at Chikupira Primary School in the outskirts of Zomba.

MCP Director of youth, Richard Chimwendo-Banda, told the conference that the main opposition party is the only party which has the welfare of youths at heart, saying they have lined up a number of projects to empower the youths economically.

“We know that the youth make up 65 percent of the country’s population which is about 12 million people. Most of them are young farmers who do not have capital. They are unemployed and need soft loans for them to do their businesses. MCP will give them that without looking at where the youth are coming from,” he said.

The youth then marched from the conference to Gymkhana Club Ground where Chakwera and his vice and running-mate, Sidik Mia, addressed the rally.