By Chisomo Phiri
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-President Lazarus Chakwera’s Tonse government is under fire from the members of the general public and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) over the delayed release of the interim financial expenditure report on the 41st Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) summit held in the country in August, 2021.
The citizenry say they are shocked as to why the event that took place in 2021, the expenditure report is released in 2022.
Some believe that the figures of payments indicated on the report may not be that true and that they have just been guessed.
“You have brought up the figures that you cooked in a year and you come and tell us that it’s an interim report. Give us a proper report with a genuine breakdown from both our government and the SADC itself and what Malawi as a country has benefited as it was indicated we will benefit,” says Kapendo Junior.
Arthur Fleck says” The budget should have been released before the summit so as to compare with current figures”.
Another one Cosmas Wayiyatsa says” Activity ya August, lipoti kikutuluka lero for the why?”.
Journalist Winston Mwale says, “The SADC summit took place in August, 2021, and we are getting the so called interim financial report on the event in 2022!, Malawi must be a big joke!.”
A Civil Society Organization, Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency (CSAT) also sided with the general public criticizing the government on the matter.
CSAT wants government to investigate the reasons behind the delayed interim report.
In the interim financial expenditure report, the government is said to have spent MK2.9 billion of which MK85, 913, 386 was used for the event’s decorations.
