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| Opinion |
| Up Close |
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by
Ephraim Munthali, 10 January 2007
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06:47:32
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Why, Mr. President?
I want to hear from President Bingu wa Mutharika himself—not the bunch of spin doctors claiming to speak on his behalf—that it is not true that he intends to permanently operate from Sanjika in Blantyre.
I know his aides have refuted the story but the fact remains that the President has quietly been operating away from his base in Lilongwe for several weeks without any plausible explanation.
But what the officials conveniently forget to tell the nation is that jumping from one state residence to another is a costly exercise because Cabinet ministers, senior government officials and most of the presidential personnel have to follow the President for meetings and other government business.
These people have to be transported, fed, accommodated and given out-of-pocket allowances since they are working away from their offices in the capital. I shudder to think of the hole such expenses are digging into our lean budget which depends on donor handouts and revenue from struggling tax payers.
From my rudimentary understanding of the factors pushing the President to consider reneging on his inauguration promises of moving and setting up the presidency in the capital, politics is the major force behind the move.
Mutharika, worried that his Democratic Progressive Party could collapse under the weight of the in-fighting within the party, especially among heavy-weights in the Southern Region where arch-rival United Democratic Front’s Bakili Muluzi remains popular, wants to sort out the problems in the ruling party in the region.
This reasoning—if it is indeed true—is as faulty as it is damaging to the credentials of a man who promised to separate state from party activities. Such a policy reversal—whether permanent or temporary—is not in the interest of the nation and the economy.
I mean, this man literally booted Parliament out of the Lilongwe State House, spent millions to renovate it, is spending more renting new premises for the Legislature’s staff and coughing hard-earned cash to construct a new Parliament building.
What’s more, parliamentary committees have had to spend more tax payers’ money hiring conference rooms in hotels for their official businesses as they have no offices. All this for what? So much for prudent public finance management!
-Feedback:ephmunthali@yahoo.co.uk
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