Activists have challenged President Lazarus Chakwera to reveal the expenses incurred during the four foreign trips he undertook last month and earlier this month.
The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) wants Chakwera to make the revelations, saying the president has not been coming out in the open to explain to Malawians on issues that are bordering on financial matters.
In a statement today, CDEDI executive director Sylvester Namiwa said Chakwera and the Tonse Alliance promise to transparent and accountable to Malawians on all financial matters hence the need to reveal the amount of money used during the foreign trips.
“The President used a chartered plane, and was accompanied by a contingent of government officials as well as some civilians. Malawians may recall that the Tonse Alliance spoke so passionately against using chartered planes and getting on board the whole village of escorts on foreign trips, arguing that such tendencies left taxpayers bleeding. On the contrary, we have seen President Chakwera doing exactly what he spoke against. CDEDI believes that Dr. Chakwera is being hypocritical, and we are challenging him to update the nation on how different the Tonse Alliance administration is from the previous administration, in as far as issues of prudent use of public resources is concerned,” said Namiwa.
He added that CDEDI is expecting to get this response in the President’s next weekly update which will be held on Monday next week.
Namiwa further demanded the president to speak on the scandal in which State House is accused of making dubious payments to Crossroads Hotel.
He said: “CDEDI is demanding Dr. Chakwera to keep his word on accountable leadership and give a statement in his next weekly update, on the action he has taken regarding the scandal involving the State House officials.”
