Presidential aide Francis Mphepo has come under fire from The Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) for claiming that people from the North are ungrateful and that the President Peter Mutharika administration will withdraw all projects in the region.
In a statement, AFORD through its publicity secretary Khumbo Mwawungulu has demanded an apology from Mphepo, President Mutharika and the Democratic Progressive Party.
Mwawungulu said in the statement on Saturday that the remarks are filled with hatred and nepotism and are also insulting to people in the North.
He added that Mphepo has shown that he does not understand that government revenue does not belongs to Mutharika.
“We would like to educate Mr. Mphepo, the President and his fellow DPP sycophants that government revenue does not belong to any of them and that they have no right to deprive any region of its constitutional right for government service.
“We would like to remind Mr. Mphepo that people of northern region are bona fide citizens of Malawi and do pay tax handsomely to this state. In short, there is no reason for the people of the northern region to be grateful to president Mutharika or DPP party for the said development,” said Mwawungulu.
The AFORD spokesperson further said that, under Mutharika’s government, people in the North are suffering as they have been recipients of the vices of nepotism, discrimination and segregation.
According to Mwawungulu, despite the region being endowed with enormous natural resources and a strategic Songwe border that contributes immensely to the government’s pocket, the North has been deliberately and systematically sidelined in as far as development is concerned.
“Under DPP, the North has seen unstated and unfinished projects, e.g. Nyika road, Euthini road, Kafukule road, Mbilima road, Nthalire road, Mombera University, Mzuzu airport, e. t. c. It is indeed fair to say that under the leadership of Mutharika, the north has been reduced to nothing but a revenue collection zone to be used in developing a tribal belt in the southern region,” he said.
“As if that is not enough, the leadership of DPP has waged an education war against the north since 2009 through quota system of education.”
In a leaked audio from a recent meeting with Democratic Progressive Party Members of Parliament, Mphepo who is Mutharika’s advisor on political affairs warned that Mutharika will withdraw development projects from the North if they continue to be ungrateful.
