An audio clip of the outspoken Father Bonifance Tamani of the Catholic Church that went viral on the social media criticising President Lazarus Chakwera of mismanaging the Malawi economy, among other things, for engaging in many foreign trips thereby depleting forex in the country has been responded to by the Minister of Finance Simplex Chithyola.
Without necessarily mentioning the name of the Father, the Finance Minister told Malawi Parliament that most of the foreign trips undertaken by President Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera are fully funded by organizations that invite him. The Minister also lectured the Leader of Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa who asked the government to cut off presidential trips as a cost cutting measure.
“Most of the trips by the president are not financed using public funds,” Chithyola explained to the House.
Chithyola stressed that the current condition of the country’s economy is a result of significant economic errors made by the prior DPP administration. He pointed out that the previous government consistently overvalued the Kwacha, while the present administration under President Chakwera is taking corrective measures to appropriately value the currency.
On Monday, the Chakwera-led government introduced several economic measures aimed at alleviating the hardships faced by Malawians due to the consequences of the devaluation.
