… vows to restore electricity in 100 days
Former President Joyce Banda says she wants the presidency in 2019 in order to complete her development agenda that will see people in rural areas getting out of poverty.
Speaking during a People’s Party (PP) rally on Sunday at Thundu Primary School Ground in Zomba, Banda said it is possible to for poor people in rural areas to change their situation and get out of poverty.
She added that if elected she will complete phase 2 of her development agenda which she started implementing when she was president of Malawi from 2012 to 2014.
The second phase will see Banda focusing on restoring electricity for Malawians in the first 100 days of her presidency, increasing power to the grid by 3000 megawatts in three years and improving access to electricity.
On agriculture, Banda will introduce universal farm input subsidy, fight for better prices for farmers and encourage mechanized and commercialized agriculture.
She will also revive the health sector infrastructure, train community midwives and improve availability of drugs.
During her two years in power, Banda took bold steps – such as devaluing the Kwacha by 49 percent – to reform the economy.
The results included an improved economy that grew by 6.3 percent while companies which were retrenching workers before she took power started recruiting.
She also revived the agriculture sector and her government’s good management of the Farm Input Subsidy Program led to a bumper harvest of maize of 3.9 million metric tons.
Banda also focused on maternal health as she reduced maternal death from 675 women dying giving birth per 100,000 live births to 460 women dying. A reduction of 30 percent in two years.
