By Rick Dzida
One of the President Lazarus Chakwera’s Malawi Congress Party (MCP) Hi 5 slogan pillars is that we should be prospering together.
Two years down the line of MCP rule, are we really prospering together, Mr. President?
The rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. Some government officials and politicians are becoming billionaires within an unexplained short time.
Unfortunately, Chakwera’s government is clueless on how to create a middle class so as to minimise the gap existing between the rich and the poor.
- While President Chakwera’s Goverment has not honoured the monthly stipend to the elderly, hefty salaries, allowances and other fridge benefits were increased for the President himself, Vice president, Cabinet ministers, Members of Parliament and local Councillors. Is this the much touted servant leadership?
- Justice now is for the poor. For instance, a poor man caught stealing chicken will be clobbered and ultimately imprisoned while the likes of Kezzie Msukwa suspected of defrauding Goverment huge sums of money will be protected by the likes of Judge Zione Ntaba from being arrested. Henry Kachaje whose Masters degree is from a diploma mill is being protected by the court as well. Where is justice for all? Where is fairness for all?
- Poor Malawians are losing their lives due to unavailability of essential drugs in public hospitals while the elite can access better quality healthcare such as hair transplant in other countries. Where is equality for all?
- Kids of poor Malawians are dropping out of school and universities due to high school fees while children of politicians are getting better quality education from outside our country. Fresh in memory is the demise of a daughter of a prominent politician who was schooling in the USA but was shot dead over love wrangles.
- Well-connected politicians are awarded contracts to supply agricultural farm inputs such as bags of fertilizer which are usually mixed with sand. Kodi adalakwanji anthu osauka?
- Human rights activists such as Timothy Mtambo, MacDonald Sembereka, Billy Mayaya etc… were appeased with either diplomatic appointments or ministerial position . What appeasement did a voter get? How did President Chakwera appease the vegetable seller or any business person whose merchandise or goods were destroyed during the 2019-2020 violent demonstrations? Injustice is real.
- We hear that the daugher of President Chakwera and the mother in law of Vice President Chilima are now working in the foreign embassies. Why is nepotism practised by the current regime better than that of DPP? Why should certain families have more privileges than others? Are they more Malawian than the rest?
- Central region, Chewa tribe and Malawi Congress Party continue to enjoy a lion’s share in public appointments. Don’t people from the southern region, eastern region or from Lhomwe belt want to prosper together as well?
- The cost of living is getting tougher for the local citizen. Unfortunately, the socioeconomic recovery plan did not even target the poor either.
- At the end of the day, it is the poor, the nonentity, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged who feel duped by the empty campaign promises for such promises are the only hope of their survival.
It is therefore our profound hope that President Chakwera will take it seriously to bridge the widening gap between the poor and the rich.
Send feedback to Rick Dzida, email: rdzida@gmx.com
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are those of the author not necessarily of The Maravi Post or Editor