By Cathy Maulidi:
The opposition and the government sides in Parliament Friday traded words over the State of the Nation Address (Sona) which President Lazarus Chakwera delivered on Friday last week.
While members of Parliament from the government side spoke in praise of the Sona, those on the opposition benches tore it apart, describing it as an empty statement that had untruthful statements.
For example, Member of Parliament for Mzimba North Yeremiah Chihana said the Sona failed to state the true state of affairs in Malawi today.
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“The President did not touch on the issue of the economy or what he was doing to restore it. Malawi is going through numerous economic challenges and I’m sorry to say, President Chakwera is the biggest cyclone that has fallen on the nation,” Chihana said.
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However, Minister of Higher Education Jessie Kabwila said it is the DPP [Democratic Progressive Party] that is responsible for Malawi’s current problems and the administration is working to fix the mess.
“You can’t call the President a cyclone. Malawi is in this situation because of the DPP. You people destroyed this nation and President Chakwera is working so hard to restore what you destroyed,” Kabwila said.
Leader of the Opposition George Chaponda said it is embarrassing on the part of MCP for it to keep blaming the opposition, almost five years later.
“It is an open secret that they have failed to govern. Nothing is working under this regime and because they have failed, they have chosen to continue blaming DPP,” Chaponda said.
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Regarding Chakwera’s appearance in Parliament next week to respond to questions, Chaponda said the opposition is not sending any questions for that activity.
“His Sona was empty, unconstitutional and full of dishonest statements; so why should we send him questions?” Chaponda said.
Commenting on how the first week of Parliament has progressed so far, Chaponda said the government side, especially the Leader of the House, Richard Chimwendo Banda, has been keen on suppressing opposition.
In his response to observations that the Sona had some incorrect details, Chimwendo Banda said there were indeed “few errors” in the President’s Sona but he said they were not enough for anyone to scrape off the whole statement.
“Just because there were one or two projects which were reported as if they have been completed when they haven’t should not erase what Dr Chakwera has done. We make a confession that indeed there was an error on one or two projects across the Sona but 97 percent of the details were accurate and they are there on the ground.
“The President acknowledged in the Sona that Malawians are going through pain and because the President was open, we should not abuse that,” he said.
He also disputed that the government side has been attempting to gag the opposition in the House.
“I’m saying ‘No’. Nobody is stopping them from criticising the government,” Chimwendo Banda said.
