I am no puppet for donors – Joyce Banda

Malawi President Joyce Banda on Thursday dismissed allegations that she is a puppet of the west and running government under the dictates of donors.

Banda returned from the United Kingdom and United States of America on Thursday and told reporters that economically Malawi was on the sick bed and that therefore it was inevitable to that the nation would seek out donors.

“We allowed ourselves as a country to reach a point where 40 percent of the budget was donor dependent. There are few countries whose budget support reached this level but we allowed ourselves to do that,” said Banda.

Banda also revealed that the report on finance minister Ken Lipenga is ready and she will be handed the report on Friday and will make a decision soon thereafter.

Ken Lipenga was under investigation on whether he wilfully lied to the nation in the MRA revenue bloating scandal.

Muhara the MRA chief has already been fired for his role in the revenue reporting trickery where MRA borrowed money from banks and reported it as revenue to support Mutharika’s self-reliance theories including the zero-deficit-budget.