Chimwendo insists Chakwera will implement passport fee reduction pledge
Minister of Homeland Security Richard Chimwendo Banda has insisted that the election campaign promise of non-renewable passport at K14 000 will still be implemented but that government has delayed because the new administration found a passport deal worth $60 billion (K90 billion) which the DPP administration signed with a passport supplier; hence, is waiting for the expiry of the agreement.
Chimwendo Banda, Leader of the House, said this on a point of order in Parliament when DPP spokesperson on finance in Parliament Joseph Mwanamvekha in his official response to Minister of Finance Felix Mlusu’s Mid-Year Budget Review Statement, highlighted a number of campaign promises he said were not delivered.
He mentioned the K15 000 monthly allowance for citizens aged 65 and above, non-renewable passport at K14 000, a duty-free week, mega farms in every constituency and one million jobs during the first 12 months.
But Chimwendo Banda said Malawi Congress Party (MCP) led government failing to slash fees for passports to K14,000 because the DPP administration entered into a deal with a company he did not disclose to supply 800,000 passports at $60 million.
This, according to Chimwendo Banda, commits the new administration to the deal and makes the implementation of the K14,000 passport fee extremely difficult under the current circumstances.
“There is an outstanding contract they signed before they went out of government… that does not mean we will not reduce the fees,” he said.
Mwanamvekha, who was the last minister of Finance in the DPP administration booted out through the court-sanctioned fresh presidential election held on June 23 2020, said he was not aware of the said agreement and wondered why the new administration was not terminating the contract to deliver its promise.
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There is no way they can blame it on the contract being the reason for failure to reduce the price. Every procurement contract should have a very important clause: exit clause which allows both parties to exit.. Penalties can be paid as long the cost of the penalty justifies the cost of exit in this regard: fulfillment of the promise. You might find out that the contract will expire in 2024 or 2025 and therefore trigger the price to K14,000 will be too late for the people who already would have lost hope by then. Failure to meet this promise… Read more »
DPP this DPP that nanga za 15 thousand kwa magogo DPP ndiyomwe ikulepheretsa. You also promised 400 hundred modern roads across the country within the first eight months pano kuli zii. One million job creation in every year nde simuyiyankhula nkomwe and we dont even know how many people has get the job with this intiative. This defensive measure you are taking will hurt you one day remember we always say DPP is a system so dont defend your self with this so called system ikutembenuzani
Dont forget to give all of us diplomatic passports also. Mene anaphwekela mpakana kupasa wina aliyense, inenso ndikuyifuna. Am a head of state of my family, minister of finance in my house. Ikhalenso 14 pin.
Pena munthu ukanama kumavomeleza. Tonse promises were gargantuan lies, blue elephant on a tree type of lies. Zosatheka, ndipo sizidzatheka, no donor can smile at government subsidy on passports. Anthuwa ankanama kapena mwina governance sadziwa.
If it costs K75,000 to buy a passport from the supplier why would the Malawi Government wish to subsidize a passport to a reduced price of K14,000. If people can afford to travel why should they be subsidized for leaving the country. Passport is valid 10 years small price to pay to leave the country to gain wealth in another country. Improper subsidies should end concentrate on assisting the most in need.
The answer is simple. Because they promised. That was their main pillar and one of the major reason people supported and voted them into power. They promised free water and electricity connection, hospitals/dispensary every 7km, reduced passport fee pegged at k14000, universal farm inputs programme, social welfare fund and topped all this off with the touted yet now defunct 1million jobs in their first year regardless of Covid. We are not wrong to demand what’s due to us the electorate!!!!
Nobody forced them to promise
Does it mean mupeza ma supplier oti they will provide passports for less than the 14,000? We were meant to believe kuti you will subsidise the passports? What about the expiry dates? Is it also DPP?
Tonse is full of excuses. Minister should explain exactly how they intend(ed) to bring that passport price down instead of feeding us more lies.
02, March,2021 9 months into being led by idiots, liars and a cabal of thieves. Does anyone have hope that we are going somewhere? From where I seat, things are getting worse by the day. It feels like we are losing our destiny as a country. Tidatsankha dzifwamba.
Kodi mmene mfana oganiza bho amati adzasitsa ma passport fees anali asanadziwe izizi? nanga za tax breaks zija tipanga liti?
Izizi zomangoti DPP this, DPP that, zatikwana. Just do the needful. Dunderheads.
mhu pitala anasiya pa tebulo akukana kutambasula dzanja lija kusaina za DUAL CITIZENSHIP.. PZomwe DAUSI anacipeleka kuti zithandiza azimai okwatilana ndi ma folena. kuganiza uko.
Anyway bola angosainila a Tonsewa. cifukwa nkhani imeneiso ndi nfutso omwe ananena Bakili mpaka lelo.
no wonder miyala inayamba kuzikidwa nthawiyo mpaka awa anatulukamo miyala ena anangophwanya kuipanga kwale basi.
koma kupezeka kuti secured spaces ya ku mangochi ndi pa bunda turn off pamangidwa. KOMA IWOWAS SAZISAZA?