BY UCHIZI MBANGE
President Lazarus Chakwera remains steadfast to his belief that the country can turn its economic tables for the better but has said this can only be achieved if all Malawians make “painful sacrifices” for the common good.
Chakwera said, when he inspected the Shire Valley Transformation Programme, that it was high time that the country weaned itself from donor dependence.
He said: “Investments like the Shire Vally Transformation Programme are key to doing away with donor dependence. Long-term sustainable investments which go beyond our life expectancies are key to the realisation of our aspirations.
“When completed, the Shire Valley Transformation Programme, which covers 43,570 and is the biggest in this side of Africa, will turn Malawi into a food basket and a real economic hub.”
He emphasized that this required “patriotism, [and] not putting personal selfish interest by stealing public resources allocated to investments like the Shire Valley Transformation Programme.”
During his Wednesday itinerary, Chakwera also checked progress of the reconstruction works at Kapichira Hydro Electricity Generation Plant which is expected to be up and running by this December.
“Nobody is, and in particular I am not, happy with these persistent electricity blackouts. At a time we are targeting 1,000 megawatts by 2025, we ended up losing the generation capacity we had due to Cyclone Ana. I specifically asked the Egenco [Electricity Generation Company] team [about] when the Kapichira plant will be up and running and I am convinced that it will be ready by December,” he said.
