BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—Malawi president Lazarus Chakwera has dispelled allegations that his 31-member cabinet is gender insensitive, arguing he is the first president ever to include more women in the cabinet.
Chakwera has included 11 women in his 31-member cabinet but 7 are deputies, a move that has angered some quarters.
Speaking during a swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed ministers in Lilongwe, Chakwera said the philosophy of Tonse Alliance is not to pay lip services to women but to alleviate that plight.
“It has been said that this Cabinet does not empower women or persons with disabilities, because there appear to be no ministries dedicated to these. However, these are only absent in name, not in fact. While it may have been the practice of the previous Administration to neglect any areas not appearing on the cabinet list by name, that kind of tokenism is not part of the Tonse Philosophy.
“As a case in point, the previous Administration indeed had a Ministry of Gender, but among its many failures was the failure to condemn and investigate the rape of women in a village outside the capital despite having a cabinet portfolio. A name is not as important as outcomes,” said Chakwera.
He added: “Our approach is to place issues of gender and disability within the Ministry of Community Development and Social Welfare with a fully empowered and resourced Principal Secretary solely dedicated to address them with a view to reaching specific measurable benchmarks. This is because our Tonse Philosophy compels us to move away from paying lip service to the plight of women, children, and persons with disability as a publicity stunt, and to instead focus on alleviating that plight.
“Our commitment is to tackle these issues as a collective responsibility, not the responsibility of a single ministry. That is why I wanted to lead by example by having a greater percentage of women in my Cabinet than any President in recent memory. Notwithstanding, for avoidance of any doubt about my commitment, I have directed the Chief Secretary to rename the Ministry accordingly in response to an appeal from stakeholders.”
The female ministers include UTM Secretary General Patricia Kaliati who is appointed Minister of Community Development and Social Welfare, Educationist Agness Nyalonje of UTM is now Minister of Education, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) lawmaker Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda is appointed key ministerial position of Minister of Health.
Another female Cabinet minister is legislator Nancy Tembo who has been given the portfolio of Forestry and Natural Resources.
Seven women have been appointed deputy ministers.
The deputy ministers are Jean Muonaowauza Sendeza as deputy minister of defence, Agness Nkusa Nkhoma as deputy minister of agriculture, Nancy Mdooko as deputy minister of transport and Chrissie Kalamula Kanyashi as deputy minister of health.
Other deputy ministers are Madalitso Wirima Kambauwa of education, Halima Daud of local government and Abida Sidik Mia of lands.
Chakwera, though boasting of having included a good percentage of women in the cabinet, people have criticized him for roping in more women as deputies. However, he has made a commitment to address the ‘anomaly’ during a performance-based reshuffle in five months time.
“Additionally, I have taken note of the observation that the women who are on my Cabinet are mostly there as deputies and will increase the number of women who are full Ministers when I restructure my Administration at the end of the five-month transition as I planned,” he said.
His predecessor Peter Mutharika also attracted a barrage of criticisms from different quarters in 2019 when he appointed only three women in his 20-member cabinet.
During reshuffle this year, Mutharika increased the number of women to five; two full female cabinet ministers plus three deputy ministers, and all the women were new to the cabinet.