By Noel MKWAILA–BLANTYRE
Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Kondwani Nankhumwa has taken President Lazarus Chakwera head-on; saying he is lost in deep slumber with zero knowledge of his job description as he captains the Malawi ship.
During the opening of the two-day-National Conference on Separation of Powers in Lilongwe on Monday, Chakwera faulted some citizens for wrongly equating his duties as that of a driver; arguing the reality is that he is closer to a traffic officer responsible for controlling how state affairs should be running.
“I was deeply disturbed to hear the State President accusing Malawians of distorting his job description. President Chakwera unashamedly said his job is not to run the government,” says Nankhumwa.
He also finds Chakwera’s reasoning that he is not the driver as flawed.
“The President is the Chief Executive Officer of Malawi. He is the Head of State and Head of Government of Malawi, and Commander-In-Chief of the Malawi Defence Forces. He is the First Citizen responsible for the running of the affairs of this country. He is driver,” adds Nankhumwa in a statement.
Nankhumwa argues the president’s reasoning shows he has no clue on what it means to be a leader of 20 million Malawians. He says it is therefore not surprising that the country is currently trapped in various challenges including forex woes and endless fertilizer scandals.
“It is most frightening that our president understands his job as that of not steering the nation forward; but standing by ad it steers itself forward. In short, we have no one on the steering wheel. The nation is heading towards a precipice,” continues Nankhumwa.
Meanwhile, opposition Democratic Progressive Party-DPP maintains Chakwera must step down now or face vote of no confidence during the 2025 general elections.
“The DPP has always maintained that this country is on autopilot. There is nobody in charge. That is why everything is going wrong, and Chakwera administration does not seem to care,” says the party’s spokesperson, Shadric Namalomba.
Meanwhile, social and political commentator, Wonderful Mkhutche also thinks the president should not run away from responsibility; saying he is wrong to think he is not the driver.
“The President, especially in a developing country like ours, needs to be hands on and get involved in the smaller detail of administration. This is practical as well as constitutional,” argues Mkhutche.
Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu was not available for a comment on the matter. But previously the Tonse-led administration said the DPP had no moral ground on good governance including fighting corruption. It further argues the current regime is busy fixing the broken systems the party left while in power
