In his routine appearance in Parliament to answer public questions carried by the constituency representatives, President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera, staunchly defended the integrity of his recent State of the Nation Address (SONA) that he delivered on February 14 last week.
The Malawi leader addressed a flurry of allegations claiming that his speech was riddled with falsehoods. This appearance marked what the President described as a distinctive moment in his tenure, emphasizing that he stood “not merely as one accountable, but also as one accused.”
“Madam Speaker, from following the debate on my State of the Nation Address in this House closely, it has become clear to me that this Presidential Question Time is distinct from all the others I have done before. Its uniqueness is in the fact that I stand here today not merely as one accountable, but also as one accused, and both legal and natural justice demand that I face and answer my accusers”, said the President further highlighting that:
“The accusation leveled against me is that the State of the Nation Address that I delivered before this House was a total lie designed to deceive Malawians and resulting from a chorus of Ministers and Senior officials who feed me with lies”. The President said before laying out the SONA gathering processes and acknowledging 2% output data containing queries that, the President said, have since been followed up.
President Chakwera’s remarks came in response to serious accusations suggesting that his SONA was a deliberate deception aimed at the Malawian public, allegedly arising from a conspiracy involving ministers and senior officials within his administration. He firmly rejected these claims, stating unequivocally, “I am not guilty, my Ministers are not guilty, and my Senior officials are not guilty.”
The President utilized this platform to educate his critics about the meticulous process that underlies the formulation of the SONA, which incorporates the work of over seventy-five technocrats. He highlighted that the development of the address goes through nine distinct stages, including framework development, data compilation, review, verification of data with actuals on the ground, and the integration of verified data into a unified data matrix. The head of State explained that the queries surrounding two percent of the reported data were due to an inadvertent error made by a team of five analysts, who mistakenly categorized verified data.
“This does not mean that the errors made by my team of data analysts do not matter,” he acknowledged, revealing that disciplinary actions had already been taken, including the dismissal of the team leader from his leading role, further submitting to the august House leadership to mutilate, out of the SONA body, the 2% query-laden data from the Parliament’s Hansard.
President Chakwera emphasized that he would not tolerate the branding of his Ministers and officials as liars or the scapegoating of those uninvolved in the data errors, asserting that such actions contradict his oath of service: “Now, Madam Speaker, this does not mean that the errors made by my team of data analysts do not matter. Rather, what it means is that I cannot and will not condone the attempts by the opposition in this House and some in the media to brand them as liars or to demonize Ministers and other officials in my Government who were not even part of that team, because that would be a violation of the oath I took to do right by all”, the President said.
The President expressed a deep concern over what he termed as a “culture of false accusations” prevalent in Malawian politics, recounting instances where he has been falsely accused of serious misconduct in the past, including allegations of bribery in 2022, ordering arrest of former ACB Director in 2023, allegation that he assassinated his Vice President and even claims of his death just five months ago. Chakwera underscored that these baseless allegations reflect a persistent habit of disinformation from his political opponents, particularly highlighting a specific opposition party responsible for the repeated attacks.
“For instance”, the President remarked, “it is that same culture from which one opposition party in this House spread the false accusation that I had received bribes in exchange for MDF contracts in 2022, when I did not. It is that same culture from which this same party spread the false accusation that I ordered the arrest of the former Director General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau in 2023, when I did not. It is that same culture from which this same party spread the false accusation that I had assassinated my own Vice President in 2024, when I did not. And of course it is that same culture from which this party even spread the false story that I had died just five months ago, which I certainly hope I did not. And so, Madam Speaker, this latest accusation that my State of the Nation Address was “all lies”, to quote the Honourable Leader of Opposition, or that it was “full of lies”, to quote the Honourable Member for Blantyre City South, comes out of this culture and is no surprise”.
In closing, Chakwera called for greater unity among lawmakers to confront real challenges facing the nation, such as economic instability and hunger exacerbated by drought. He expressed frustration at the opposition’s focus on personal attacks rather than collaboratively addressing critical issues affecting ordinary Malawians. “If we are to move forward, we must prioritize the people we represent,” he urged.
