Economist Milward Tobias has declared his interest to contest in the 2025 presidential elections, saying he is ready to manage the economy and he knows how to run the public sector.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lilongwe today, Tobias who is a former adviser to Vice President Saulos Chilima, said he will contest under Nzika Coalition.
“We will not be promising things that we cannot do because Malawians are tired of lies. We cannot bring a new version of the current pain that Malawians are currently experiencing as that would be irresponsible,” said Tobias.
Tobias noted that Malawi’s challenges have remained the same for decades because no leadership has addressed the country’s priorities exhaustively.
He said Malawi still discusses food security, unemployment, poor access to safe water, poor roads and lack of electricity.
He added that Malawi’s economy also remains weak and vulnerable to shocks.
Tobias said Malawi has capacity to develop but people who are elected to do this choose to further their interests rather than serving the interests of Malawians.
According to Tobias, he has come to offer genuine transformation and will do this by focusing on agriculture production, embarking on infrastructural transformation, supporting small businesses so that they grow, and encouraging Malawian large scale enterprises to become multinational corporations and these will anchor his job creation agenda.
“We will work to achieve macroeconomic stability with a relatively strong and stable currency to contain inflation.
“We will embark on an ambitious home ownership program in which Malawi Housing Corporation will be recapitalised to build houses of different sizes to suit your affordability.
“You will be paying monthly rent which will go towards purchase of the house. We will make home ownership easy for everyone,” said Tobias.
He added that his government will focus on improving living standards by controlling cost of living on one hand and increasing people’s income on the other hand.
He further said that his government will cut borrowing and will only borrow locally for legitimate reasons.
On corruption, Tobias said the vice is a political campaign issue. He promised to carry out a political campaign that will be free from handouts from businesspersons who usually sponsor candidates in exchange for government contracts.
“The main problem for Malawi is not inadequate resources but corruption and entitlements for public officers. Fighting corruption should be the top priority for a government but this is not the case unfortunately,” said Tobias.
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