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Joyce Banda mixes govt and party affairs, threatens to shame state coffers' looters

6 September 2012 Nation/Malawi Today

Some things change, some things remain the same.

Malawi President Joyce Banda decided to wear her Peoples Party mantle at the opening of the Mangochi market and needlessly and carelessly used the occasion to warn those who castigate her. She also threw several jabs at the former ruling party the DPP, where she once belonged.

Joyce Banda threatened to disclose those who looted State coffers before she assumed office on April 7.

Speaking at Mangochi Boma where she opened a K155 million market, Banda asked for Malawians’ patience, saying the decisions, including the devaluation of the kwacha, her administration took is a bitter pill to swallow.

“The coffers were dry. If they continue to castigate me, I will soon be left with no other option, but to mention names to shame them,” said Banda without making particular reference to individuals.

Here the president, again, showed she is falling into her predecessors trap. Instead of concentrating on the business at hand and treat this function as a government function she was full of political needless talk.

If some people committed crimes they should be brought to book and not be cowed into silence by presidential threats.

Banda also declared that Mangochi will be recognised as a town. She also elevated Traditional Authority Mponda to senior chief.

In the case of using chiefs for political gains, she is again following the footsteps of her predecessors despite Malawians wanting something else. Promoting chiefs should not be the presidents weekly duty. She was with Kadewere last week, and the other week, she was with Inkosi Gomani and the list goes on.

The President disclosed that her government system has discovered a racket by some civil servants who were creating ghost villages to benefit from the Farm Input Subsidy Programme.

We ask the president why are these civil servants not being taken to court?

UDF MP for Mangochi Central Clement Chiwaya, in whose area the market is located, asked government to upgrade Mangochi to a city because elsewhere cities are built near water bodies such as lakes.

The Mangochi market was gutted by fire in 2007.