Government says jobs where a person worked for an hour and gained income have been recorded as part of the 997,423 new jobs created under the Tonse Alliance administration.
Minister of Labour Vera Kamtukule revealed this at a press briefing today held after President Lazarus Chakwera on Thursday claimed in Parliament that his government has created 997,423 jobs in the 2020/21 financial year.
The President’s speech sparked debate as many people claimed that he was presenting cooked figures.
Kamtukule today said they recorded every income generating activity created, even one-hour jobs as long as they helped a person make money.
“Whatever the case might be; permanent or temporary even if it’s just for an hour it’s still considered a job as long as that person was able to gain an income as some will be temporary or permanently employed they’ll still be recorded as jobs anyway,” said Kamtukule.
According to data Kamtukule presented, the Tonse Alliance administration has created over 30,000 jobs in the Education sector, over 13,000 in security institutions, over 88,000 in the construction sector (Transport and Infrastructure), 12, 360 in health, 19,019 in Local Government and 160,000 through the National Economic Empowerment Fund (NEEF) which provides loans to businesses.
The minister added that some of the jobs were created leveraging on the Covid-19 pandemic.
She further said that government is expected to launch a Job Creation Strategy which will act as a blueprint for job creation.
The Tonse Alliance during the run up to the 2020 Fresh Presidential Elections promised to create one million jobs in its first year.
Last year in July, President Chakwera said his government had created 300,000 jobs in its first year. His claim last week that over 900,000 new jobs have been created shocked Malawians and many people on social media accused the president of lying.
