By Isaac Salima:
The governing Malawi Congress Party (MCP) has said people whose livelihoods have been transformed under the current administration can attest that the current government has performed better than the previous one.
Speaking yesterday in a special programme called ‘Mulimba’ on Times Radio, MCP secretary general Richard Chimwendo Banda said the Lazarus Chakwera administration was on track on its promises.
“Go and ask teachers who have not been promoted before and they will tell you which government is better. Go and ask health workers, 5,000 of whom have been promoted. Go and ask police officers who have benefitted from over 4,000 houses that have been constructed for them.
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“Go and ask smallholder farmers who have been benefitting from loans. Do not be cheated by what others are saying. We are facing challenges but going back to the DPP [Democratic Progressive Party] is not a solution because it will bring Malawians backwards,” he said.
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Chimwendo Banda started his response by commenting on some promises that his party— then under the Tonse Alliance— made to Malawians in the runup to the June 23, 2020 court-ordered presidential election.
He said despite climate change-related and exogenous shocks the country was facing, the government was fulfilling promises it made.
“We, indeed, told Malawians that they will be eating three times a day but for one to eat, he has to do farming. That is why we have focused on irrigation, where people can plant their crops any time of the year so that they can eat anytime they want. So, I can admit that people are not eating thrice a day but we have put in place structures so that those promises can be fulfilled,” Chimwendo Banda said.
He said this year over 400,000 smallholder farmers will benefit from government loans, which are being provided by the National Economic Empowerment Fund.
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He said the current administration had put its focus on agriculture by, among other things, ensuring that farmers are selling their produce at good prices so that they can be buying inputs.
On the issue of the increase in prices of commodities on the market, Chimwendo Banda, who lamented inflation, said Malawians should also accept that prices of goods cannot be static.
“We cannot expect the price of sugar to be where it was during the Kamuzu Banda regime. We should not cheat Malawians. What we should be talking about is measures which are being taken to ensure that people have good income so that they should be able to buy the goods,” he said.
Chimwendo Banda, who is also the Leader of the House in Parliament, also said the government had not overborrowed, saying depreciation of the local currency has ballooned the amount.
“We are not borrowing much, as the DPP wants people to believe. In fact, we have not borrowed more than what DPP borrowed. The true meaning is that the money that DPP borrowed in dollars now looks huge because of the devaluation of the Kwacha,” he said.
On the issue of political violence, Chimwendo Banda said the party was against the vice.
He said it was the responsibility of the Malawi Police Service to arrest perpetrators of violence.
The programme, which is sponsored by Oxfam and Women Legal Resource Centre, has been bringing together officials of political parties that are competing in the September 16, 2025 Local Government, Parliamentary and Presidential Elections.
Last week, the programme featured DPP secretary general Peter Mukhito.
