UDF’s Clement Chiwaya hits at JB over hunger

United Democratic Front (UDF) Chief Whip Clement Chiwaya yesterday criticised President Joyce Banda and her administration for their stance on the food situation in the country, saying there is no hunger as alleged by the President.

Chiwaya told the House that the country has enough food at the Strategic Grain Reserves, but blamed the government for deliberately bringing chaos to the food distribution process to earn political mileage.

He said the President was using her food relief distribution exercise to campaign with the maize which is readily available in the country.

“The government is using food distribution initiative to gain cheap political scores when all evidence on the contrary shows that there is enough maize in this country.

“Can government tell us where they are importing this maize from if there is no maize in this country?” said Chiwaya, earning applause from the opposition and angry interjections from the government side.

However, standing on a point of order, Gender Minister Anita Kalinde reacted angrily over the remarks, describing Chiwaya’s speech as “bitter” and stemming from frustration.

“He has been refusing to speak in this House throughout the week and today we are not surprised that when he decided to speak, his speech is full of bitterness and frustration. Malawians are not foolish, they know some people in this House are angry because of the allowance issue,” Kalinde said.

Contributing to the mid-term budget review, Chiwaya further attacked Banda’s recently launched crop inspection tours as a waste of resources, adding that the government is spending billions of kwacha on huge payouts of fired senior government officials.

He said the President was travelling a lot, saying she has visited Mangochi alone over six times in less than six months.

He said this was not surprising as the same ministers who failed Bingu are at the helm today, adding that the country is suffering because of “political prostitution.”

Chiwaya also blamed Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its founder the late president Bingu wa Mutharika for the economic problems the country is currently facing.

He said Mutharika died a sad man deserted by his cabinet even before burial, but praised him for at least being knowledgeable about economics and standing up to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over monetary policies