The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) has faulted President Peter Mutharika for not consulting opposition politicians on the membership of the Covid-19 Presidential Taskforce which Mutharika announced yesterday.
Speaking at a press briefing today, MCP General Secretary Eisenhower Mkaka said the Malawi leader did not inform leaders of the opposition political parties over the formation of the taskforce.
On Tuesday, Mutharika announced the taskforce to replace the Special Cabinet Committee on Coronavirus. The Malawi leader thanked Leader of the Opposition Lobin Lowe for accepting to be part of the Taskforce on behalf of opposition parties.
But Mkaka said Lowe was never asked about the taskforce by Mutharika. According to Mkaka, Mr. Lowe only spoke with Democratic Progressive Party member Brown Mpinganjira on the need for an inclusive committee to lead the response to Covid-19.
He added that the party expected Mutharika to consult political leaders such as Lazarus Chakwera, Saulos Chilima, and Joyce Banda, and that through their discussions names of committee members would have been proposed.
“But what has happened is wrong. An inclusive committee is not formed this way. The intention was good but the way the committee has been formed, we think the president has politicized this issue,” said Mkaka.
He then said that the inclusion of opposition parties and health experts in the Covid-19 committee will ensure that money meant for the fight against the coronavirus is not used for allowances.
Mkaka said the party’s stand on allowances for Covid-19 committee members is that they should not receive any allowances and all the money should be used for protecting Malawians.
Speaking at the same press briefing, MCP leader Chakwera called for unity in the fight against the coronavirus which has killed three people out of the 36 cases recorded.
