Jumbe says Malawi economy surviving by chance
New Labour Party president and 2014 presidential hopeful Friday Jumbe assessment on the state of the Malawi economy was rife with full of contradiction through the remarks he made on Zodiak Broadcasting Service Tiuzeni Zoona interview programme on Sunday.
Jumbe, an economist who served as finance minister in the United Democratic Front (UDF) led government, decried the state of the country’s economy, saying it’s surviving by chance.
“Our economy is surviving by chance. The Economic Recovery Plan (ERP) is mere rhetoric simply aimed at blindfolding the people of Malawi to think that government is doing something. But as an economist I know there’s nothing.
“There is price instability. Our exchange rates are unpredictable. The economy is simply in a mess and once our party gets to power in next year’s elections we’ll fix this,” said Jumbe in the interview which Nyasa Times monitored.
Jumbe, who faced a number of corruption allegation charges at the onset of the Bingu wa Mutharika leadership, said he is ready to declare his assets, arguing that he is a man with a credible integrity record.
He said that once his party takes over government they will work towards a universal subsidy programme for all Malawians who need it.
“We can’t lie that we’ll reduce the price of fertilizer to below K500. That’s a joke. But we’ll make the fertilizer available at an affordable price, lets say, K2, 500 or K3, 500.”
But Jumbe, who founded his own party immediately after the UDF indaba elected Atupele Muluzi as its 2014 presidential candidate, later contradicted himself that the Malawi economy is “progressing but at a very slow pace.”
“She [Joyce Banda] found the economy in a mess and it will take time to recover. As of now the economy is progressing at a very small pace which isn’t healthy,” he said.
He said New Labour Party will bring about zero tolerance on corruption so that there’s fiscal discipline in the country.
“As New Labour Party we feel like the money we collect as taxes within is enough and that we don’t really need donors to do almost everything for us,” he said.
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