Joyce Banda vows to continue with ‘handouts’ for social protection
Former president and People’s Party (PP) leader Joyce Banda has said she will continue to champion social protection for women, children, the vulnerable and underprivileged people in Malawi.
Banda highlighted her pro-poor priorities which she promises to undertake to uplift lives of its citizens when elected to return to power in May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections.
She said this at Chibavi in Mzuzu where she addressed a political rally on Sunday.
The former Malawi leader said provision of loans for small scale businesses, rural housing project such as Mudzi Transformation Initiative as well as social cash transfer are some of policies and concepts her government will propagate once ushered into power.
The PP leader has always said social protection as stipulated in the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, is one of the pillars for social economic development.
“Empowered citizens have the potential to effectively contribute towards sustainable social economic development of the country,” said Banda.
“I will continue to help the needy and my policies will always prioritize those in rural areas and the underprivileged, they are always in my heart,” she said.
Banda was once at the helm of NABW (National Association of Business Women) and has been a champion of charity through her Joyce Banda Foundation International, JBFI.
Thousands of children have gone through secondary and tertiary education through Joyce Banda’s fees initiative.
On education, Banda said she will improve infrastructure and student’s welfare.
She observed that our university students are currently going through turbulent times and their learning environment ought to be improved.
The PP leader also hinted on rural electrification saying portable and accessible energy is the way to go in a quest to deal away with wanton cut down of trees, as a solution environmental degradation.
The former president said she has vision is to transform and free the people from the yoke of underdevelopment.
Banda, the second female head of state in Africa and the first to lose an election in 2014, is currently going around the country sharing what she has to offer for Malawians.
She has since asked people in Mzuzu and the northern region to register their names in the ongoing voter registration exercise.
Despite some good strides she made, Banda lost the 2014 presidency partly due to corruption scandal dubbed Cashgate, some of which she inherited and some that were of her own making.
Banda was an accidental president whose rise came suddenly in 2012 when the increasingly authoritarian rule of Peter Mutharika’s brother, Bingu wa Mutharika, was cut short by a fatal heart attack.
By constitutional rights she, as vice-president, was the successor but Mutharika’s allies conspired to block her but she became President as a constitutional requirement.
She came third behind MCP’s Lazarus Chakwera in 2014 elections and left the country immediately after Mutharika was sworn in May 2014.
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What happens when you run out of the handouts? You cannot develop a country and its people with handouts
We need a message of hope and empowerment and not of dependency on handouts
Four years later same old tired message!
Aaaaaaah still talking about handouts in 2018 campaign ????
Is she running the campaign on the same old tired message and handouts??? You mean the 4 years in exile didn’t help to move her mindset from dependency to self reliance? A good campaign strategy would be to unlock the potential of the citizenry and empower them
This bitch feels sorry for stealing from Malawians. Withdrawing K300 million a day , signed by one Kazombo and Mphwiyo. Mzondi Lungu naye was paid in cash a few thousand pounds, he collected from our offices the Malawi embassy in London. Mzondi ndikanetu!
Koma awanso awa….Abiti Kazhighetiiii…shaa! Does she know that social protection on its own will never develop this country? And that most of the social cash transfer currently in place is by donors….pajha she enjoys, in her own words, “kukaghwada kwa azungu”. She has no agenda for this country. Busy talking nonsense to gain access to state coffers for cashgate round 2, presidential pardon of Looteepo and aqcuital of Kalonga, Kasambava etc. Nambo mwejho Abiti Kazhigeti….you belong to the past, and not only that, but in the dustbin of history labeled Two Lost Years.
What is going on with the Halloween colors?????, you had this same old tired message in 2014, it did work, go back to the drawing board
Teach me how to fish and I will never be hungry again !…….. you tried handouts in 2014 it didn’t work, it did not change people’s lives at all …….you never learn’
Ayayaya no handouts please! …. ……. you need to change the mindset and unlock the market potential for those remote under served communities ……….handouts is not the answer empowerment is ! Handout is very oppressive and demeaning to people