Malawi Congress Party (MCP) President and Leader of Opposition in Parliament Lazarus Chakwera, who took a swipe and described President Peter Mutharika as a hypocrite, has maintained a vague position on whether his monthly take home has been raised by 163 percent effective October 1 2014.
Chakwera told The Nation that what matters to him is servant leadership, not monthly pay.
“Personally, I don’t care whether I am paid very little or nothing at all. But we are not talking about Chakwera, but an office that the Mutharika administration had demoted and which they now wanted to normalise,” said Chakwera, who could not deny or confirm his new package.
Chakwera’s vague position comes at a time when President Mutharika deferred implementation of his proposed salary increment and that of the deputy Saulos Klaus Chilima, until the country’s economy recovers.
According to a statement from the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) Mutharika made this decision in solidarity with Malawians, who are presently undergoing very tough economic hardship.
“President Mutharika and his Government pledge to continue working tirelessly to bring the confidence of the country’s development partners back into the economy and improve the living standards of ordinary Malawians,” reads the statement in part.
But on Monday Chakwera claimed that Mutharika made the decision to divert Malawians’ attention from real issues, describing Mutharika as a hypocrite.
Reacting to this, government spokesperson Kondwani Nankhumwa described Chakwera as a “Pharisee”, saying his remarks that Mutharika does not care about economic challenges Malawains are facing are baseless.
Nankhumwa said Mutharika is equally concerned about Malawians, “but he will not go on empty theatrical gestures, but act for a better Malawi”.
“Like a Pharisee of now, Hon. Reverend Chakwera would obviously have loved to see–as we have been instructed by his manner of effort, tone and mood, –President Mutharika and his government wear sackcloth and flagellate themselves to demonstrate that they care.
“The President inherited a country that was almost on a life support, and instead of dwelling on finger pointing, took responsibility to act decisively in meeting the challenges,” said Nankhumwa.
However, Chakwera whose salary has been increased by 168 percent effective October 1, 2014, claimed his assertions came from the people, he described as the grass roots.
He also admitted that Mutharika inherited a country on the verge of collapsing, but maintained that his sentiments were a “reflection of how angry Malawians are”.
