I caused fuel woes—Bingu

President Bingu wa Mutharika says he rejected advice from the international community on solutions to fuel and forex shortages the country is experiencing, hence Malawi is being punished with a freeze of a credit line for fuel importation.

He told religious leaders from the central and northern regions on Thursday last week that the cause of the economic problems the country is facing is his refusal to be dictated on what to do to solve the problems.

“Some countries are getting fuel on credit, but we are not because of my stand [on how to solve the problems].

“I said my people and I know our problems and how to solve them. Others should just come to assist us on how best to implement our suggested solutions.

“But they said ‘who are you, black man? What do you know? We have to tell you what to do. If we tell you to sit down, you have to comply.’

“But I said ‘no’. As long as I am head of a sovereign state, I will do what is best for my people, whatever it costs. That’s where the war started,” said Mutharika to the attentive religious leaders.

The Daily Times monitored a rebroadcast of the president’s meeting with the religious leaders on state-controlled Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) Television on Friday.

In the past three years, the country has been facing chronic fuel shortage, which has largely been attributed to scarcity of foreign exchange.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) advised government to devalue the kwacha as one way of solving the forex problem.

However, Mutharika has vowed not to bow down to pressure from ‘people from Washington DC’.

“They are saying I should bend on my knees. They want to be dictating. I have refused to say ‘yes sir’, I’ve never said ‘yes sir’ and I will never say ‘yes sir’ because I know this is our country,” Mutharika told the religious leaders.

He said the organizations that will come to assist in solving the country’s problems should listen to the country’s problems and take into consideration suggested solutions from the country, not just imposing the solutions.

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