Sam Mpasu faults govt on proposed MSB sale
Former Speaker of the National Assembly Sam Mpasu has added his voice to criticisms various individuals and organisations have made against government’s decision to sell the state-owned Malawi Savings Bank (MSB).
Mpasu told The Daily Times Thursday that government’s take on the matter is a true reflection that it is ignorant of the importance of the bank to the nation.
Said Mpasu: “MSB was established to stimulate domestic savings so that government should reduce borrowing money from outside the country, but all the [regimes] have failed to adhere to this purpose up to this time the bank is collapsing.
“Other banks that government also introduced, including New Building Society and the Investment and Development Bank (Indebank), which was set up as government’s commercial entity, are also losing powers due to government’s carelessness.”
According to Mpasu, who is also president of the opposition New Labour Party, such tendencies to sell government-owned businesses could not have been there if governments had sound ideologies to develop the country.
He further said MSB still has the potential to help in the economic growth of the country.
Mpasu, therefore, urged government to rescind its decision and put in place mechanisms that can resuscitate the operations of the institution.
He added: “I still believe the bank can survive whilst in the hands of government. I want to urge government to reorganise the management of the bank to grow its operations.”
The Mutharika administration has come under heavy criticism from some quarters of the society for the decision to sell MSB.
To show their anger on the development, some civil society organisations earlier this month took to the streets to protest against the move.
The protesting activists also read out names of people believed to be debtors of the bank.
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