Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda will this morning inspect the incineration of Covid-19 vaccines at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe.
Chiponda is expected to be guest of honour at the event where about 19,000 doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses will be destroyed.
According to programme for the ceremony, Chiponda will make a speech at the ceremony. The vaccine batches and amounts will then be verified and loaded into the incinerator.
Ministry of Health Spokesperson Joshua Malango has defended the Minister’s attendance saying it is an important event which has attracted international organisations.
However, Malawians on social media have argued that the event does not require the presence of the minister.
“It’s a big joke,” said one person on Facebook.
Some social media users have accused the minister of just looking to draw allowances from the K17.5 billion government released earlier this year.
One social commentator has argued that the event is evidence that most if not all ministerial positions are useless.
“If anything, they are tokens of appreciation to loyalists and, of course, tribal and otherwise enclaves that facilitate state capture. That we had 31 of them always shocks me. That newspapers and here we pretend to worry about their formation just ascertains our avoidance of real issues for petty nothings,” the commentator said.
