BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—Mbakuwaku Movement for Development (MMD) president Peter Kuwani has become the first presidential candidate to accommodate the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in his manifesto ahead of the fresh presidential election.
In an interview with The Nation, Kuwani said their manifesto has to be changed to align itself to the current economic challenges that have arisen due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I would say the skeleton and spine of the manifesto are almost the same. But we have to be mindful that what we promised in 2019 may not be of great importance now that we are facing a Covid-19 induced depression,” he said as quoted by The Nation, 22nd June edition.
Kuwani said the manifesto will highlight such challenges and how the party will address them.
“For example, in 2019 I might have promised to say I will raise the minimum wage from K35 000 to K50 000, but this time around, it might not look appealing,” he said.
Kuwani added that his party is ready to pull a surprise in the forthcoming fresh poll, having amassed 20 369 votes in the disputed May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections.
Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has since confirmed three candidates for the fresh presidential election, namely President Peter Mutharika of the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and United Democratic Front (UDF) Alliance; Lazarus Chakwera, who is leading the Tonse Alliance and Kuwani.
But both Tonse Alliance and DPP-UDF Alliance have not come out clearly on how they are going to handle the aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic. They are also accused by different quarters of conducting campaign rallies with no regard to covid-19 preventive measures.
Running mate for Tonse Alliance, Saulos Klaus Chilima, is on record to have said there is no coronavirus in the country during one of his campaign rallies.
