Members of Parliament (MPs) Monday spent the whole afternoon showering praises on the State of the Nation Address (Sona) presented by President Lazarus Chakwera on February 9, 2024.
Even opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) MP for Chitipa South Werani Chilenga praised the Sona, saying time for the opposition to just oppose for the sake of opposing is gone.
According to Chilenga, there was nothing to oppose in the Sona.
He told the House that the people of Chitipa South are confident that Chakwera would deliver on their infrastructure development needs.
Chilenga took a swipe at what he called lack of democracy in some political parties despite having the word ‘democratic’ in their name.
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He was apparently referring to his own DPP which is mired in intra-party wrangles.
“We had the genuine Leader of Opposition responding to the Sona in the House while the other one responded outside,” Chilenga said.
Dedza South lawmaker Ismail Onani praised Chakwera for “the numerous developments projects” in his area, which he said have been made possible due to the increase in the Constituency Development Fund two years ago from K40 million to K100 million per year.
Tourism Minister Vera Kamtukule hailed Chakwera for removing visa requirements for about 79 countries.
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According to Kamtukule, this will help in increasing tourist inflows into Malawi.
She added that Chakwera also announced tourism agreements with a number of countries and airlines to ensure direct flights into Malawi.
Kamtukule said the increase in the number of direct flights into Malawi would help to bring down the cost of air transport in the country.
Chikwawa West lawmaker Susan Dossi said the people of Chikwawa West fully support the Sona.
Dossi said her constituents believe in development and not politics as “politics does not put food on the table”.
She said the people believe in “one president at a time” and that they believe that Chakwera will deliver on development.
But Zomba Central lawmaker Bester Awali faulted the move by government to move the headquarters of “all the government agencies” to Lilongwe.
Awali said this will retard development in other areas.
