Chakwera takes stock of first 100 days in office: Cdedi says crap

President Lazarus Chakwera will on Monday  October 5 2020  clock 100 days in office as the sixth President of the Republic of Malawi.

Presidential Press Secretary, Brian Banda said Chakwera will address the national at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe on Monday to outline some of his achievements within 100 days.

“President Lazarus Chakwera will address the nation and take questions from members of the press to mark his administration’s 100 days in office,” said Banda, adding that the address will kick-start at 11 O’clock

However, the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDED) Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa has given a brutual review  of Chakwera’s 100 days , saying it Th is the worst, least successful, first 100 days in office.

In evaluating Chakwera’s presidency, Namiwa said it has been a ‘waste’ as Chakwera does things by trial and error, lacking strategic planning.

While warning Malawians to embrace for another five years of petty political mechanization, Namiwa said President Chakwera and Tonse administration have failed to fulfill some of their campaign promises within 100 days.

“CDEDI would like to reiterate its stand that Malawians were sold a dummy on that chilly Tuesday, June 23, 2020 when they lined up to vote the Tonse Alliance into power.

“The only thing to write about has been the powerful speech President Chakwera made on July 6, 2020 at Kamuzu Barracks when he officially received a sword of command from the Malawi Defense Force (MDF).

The speech, coupled with the attractive Tonse Alliance campaign promises inspired a lot of well-meaning Malawians. Others felt that Malawi had finally found its economic independence messiah!,” said Namiwa

The 65-year-old President Chakwera gained the presidency after a Constitutional Court (reaffirmed on appeal by the Supreme Court) overturned the results of a controversial vote in May that had been ‘won’ by the incumbent Peter Mutharika.

This election was widely regarded to be fraudulent and it was the second time the corrupt Mutharika regime had been installed by a lapdog electoral commission that ignored the constitutional provision that the President required at least 50 per cent of the popular vote. This time Malawians had had enough and launched a campaign of relentless pressure on the streets and in the media to ensure the judiciary and security forces guaranteed their rights.

Chakwera and his Malawian Congress Party (MCP)  made common cause with Malawian economist Saulos Chilima – the State Vice-President  who leads  UTM Party – running for election together as the Tonse Alliance to ensure the opposition vote was not split as in 2019.

As a theologian and former head of the Malawian Assemblies of God, Chakwera employed the powerful cadence of a preacher in his remarkable acceptance speech, in which he called for an end to tribal nepotism and corruption.

He promised a new era of openness with trimmed presidential powers, greater transparency and replacing the kleptocracy that has plagued Malawi since the 30-year dictatorship of the brutal Hastings Banda, propped up by apartheid South Africa.

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