The government has come under fire over a K250 million allocation in the 2019/20 budget for construction of 10,000 Malawi Police and Malawi Army houses.
Government has been accused of lying as Malawians are concerned that the houses will not be built.
In the 2019/20 budget, the Minister of Finance Joseph Mwanamvekha has allocated K250 million for preparatory works and designs for the houses.
Government will issue a long-term financial instrument to raise resources for the construction of 10,000 houses for all security institutions, Mwanamvekha said yesterday.
He added that the houses will be of different sizes and construction will commence this fiscal year.
According to the minister, government expects to construct 4,000 houses for the Malawi Defence Force, 4,000 houses for the Malawi Police Service, 1,000 houses for the Immigration Department and another 1,000 houses for the Malawi Prison Service.
The target is to reach 10,000 houses in 5 years, he said.
However, one Malawian has noted that in 2016, the Malawi government obtained a MK328 billion loan from a bank in India to construct 10,000 houses for the police, the army, Department of Immigration and Malawi Prison.
“Every year since then, Mutharika and his finance minister come to parliament to tell Malawians they will build 10,000 houses. In reality they only build by word of mouth. I hear only 15 houses have been built, the Malawian said.
There is now concern that the funds obtained through the loan were abused since the houses were not constructed.
“Turns out today the finance minister built another 10,000 houses by word of mouth. Have they no shame, lying like this? Is thieving all they care about? Our survival as a nation at the hands of these thieves is the greatest miracle of our time, the Malawian added.
Other Malawians on Facebook have asked opposition members of parliament to question the government on the allocations while some say government should present an audit and report on the previous years budget outcomes in parliament.
The government must explain where they spent that money first before raising additional money in promissory notes, one Facebook user said.
Malawi is going nowhere forward. Instead, it is retrogressing to stone age, another person said.
This government is for parliament not for the pipo. I understand how thy defend there mistake and there president is just sitting on it, which is wrong. You forget how pipo suffer. Wait the bell will ring
This government is for parliament not for the pipo. I understand how thy defend there mistake and there president is just sitting on it, which is wrong. You forget how pipo suffer. Wait the bell will ring