Kamlepo told to shut up on Mutharika’s resignation

Recent calls by opposition People’s Party Vice President Kamlepo Kalua that President Peter Mutharika should step down over failure to fire seven serving ministers involved in looting of MK236 billion public funds have been slammed.

Kalua has been calling on Mutharika to fire the ministers but the Malawi leader took to the podium and asked Kalua to give him the names in 24 hours – a thing Kalua has not done having sworn not to take the matter to the media in the August House.

But the legislator took to Facebook to express his rage over Mutharika’s calls, saying he can ‘not be told what to do’ by the President but rather people from his constituency in Rumphi.

Several Malawians on social media argue that the President should not have responded to Kalua saying that the president seemed like suppressing Kalua who was also dressed down by Minister of Information at a rally in Thyolo on Thursday.

But do the calls by Kalua for Mutharika to step down hold any water? Lilongwe based political analyst Laudon Malingamoyo believes Mutharika does not have to step down since the files do not implicate him and there has not been any evidence that the said ministers stole the money.

According to Malingamoyo, it remains mere speculation that the ministers stole the money and as such it stands as no guarantee for Mutharika to call it quits.

‘’There is no basis for the argument here; In the first place it has not been proven that the president was involved in the issue.

‘’Secondly, the matter of the ministers is still speculation until the whole investigation has been completed; and when they would be found guilty, Malawians should see the decision the president should take. It is until this has been done, there is no way anyone would demand the stepping down of the leader,’’ Malingamoyo Phiri told this reporter in an email response on Friday.