Getting rid of DPP is a duty – Chakwera

Leader of Opposition Lazarus Chakwera has said voting the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) out of government is a duty for Malawians.

Speaking in Parliament on Monday when responding to President Peter Mutharika’s address, Chakwera urged Malawians to get rid of the DPP administration in 2019 if they think it has failed to deliver.

“President Mutharika stood here and said that the economy Malawians are living under has been fixed; he stood here and said that the confidence of Malawians has been regained; he came in here and said publicly that after four years of his leadership, the hope of Malawians is on the rise.

“We as Malawians must decide if the country the DPP have created around us and the country the DPP president was describing as fixed, confident, and risen are one and the same. If they are complete opposites, then getting rid of the entire DPP disease is not a political choice. It is a civic and moral duty,” said Chakwera.

He warned Malawians that they cannot keep choosing the same party to be in power and expect a different result.

In his speech, Chakwera described the DPP as a party of untruths saying it has not done what it promised Malawians in 2019.

He mentioned promises to provide security, to ensure prosperity for all, to make Malawi a food basket of the region and to provide health insurance for civil servants, all of which he said have not been done.

“The DPP promised to end drug shortages in our hospitals. I ask you, are all our hospitals adequately resourced today? It is not true.

“The DPP promised to construct a state of the art Judicial Complex right next to this very House. I ask you, have you seen this beautiful building? It is not true.

“The DPP promised to only borrow for production and never for consumption, and yet it borrows millions to build stadiums to entertain young people and nothing to build factories to employ them. I ask you, is this production? It is not true.

“The DPP promised to remove from the Presidency the power to appoint or remove the Governor of the Reserve Bank, the Director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Auditor General, the Director of Public Prosecution, the Clerk of Parliament, the Malawi Law Commissioner, the Director General of the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, the Director General of MACRA. I ask you, have you seen the President relinquish these powers? It is not true,” said Chakwera.

He also criticised the Mutharika administration for failing to double Malawi’s exports as promised saying between 2013 and the end of 2017 Malawi’s exports have shrunk by $400 million.