Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has asked President Lazarus Chakwera and Vice President Saulos Chilima stop local travels in the name of crop inspections and Public Sector Reforms respectively, saying they are squandering money belonging to Malawians who can no longer afford a decent meal a day due to high cost of living.
CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa told journalists on Thursday in Lilongwe that presidential travels are very costly because President alone is spending over 300 Million Kwacha visiting people that are suffering with hunger.
He demanded Chakwera to stop stop traveling and let Malawi envoys should represent the country during all the international events while the rest should be attended to the satisfaction of the majority of Malawians.
He added that President should trim his Cabinet from 32 to 20, chop his crowd advisors from 22 to 5 and cut their salaries by half to share with the masses who are suffering due to high cost of living.
“It is an open secret that the 2021/2022 Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) is total mess , what is it then that the President would like to see or hear from the people which he know already? Where is the morality of assembling a whole Executive motorcade to visit people whose suffering is already known, and are helplessly waiting for solutions and not lectures that leave them hopeless,” he said.
The CDEDI executive director then asked President Chakwera and his Vice President to stay in the office to devise mechanisms to cushion the masses from the problems like fuel increase that will worsen due to the global economic turmoil.
According to Namiwa, other leaders who are closer home, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda announced packages to protect his people from the external shocks as a result of the war in Ukraine, but here in Malawi the Tonse Alliance government is shamelessly making attempts to use the same war to cover up its cluelessness.
He then said that Malawians have suffered a lot yet they are the ones who voted those people on the position of president to rule and deliver what they promised them during campaign elections as such now is time for the leaders to fulfill their manifesto instead of focusing their pockets.
