CDEDI calls upon Malawians to liberate their country from destruction

The Centre for Democracy and Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has called upon concerned Malawians to join hands to liberate Malawi-the only country they call it home from destruction regretting that the current regime has become a sure threat to the survival of the very same people it was supposed to serve and protect.

The CDEDI says it has noted with a great concern that President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera and his administration continue to show no remorse for the deliberate pain and suffering they are inflicting on the citizenry especially the poor majority whose only crime was to vote them into power.

The organization has expressed fears that given that 91 percent of the employable Malawian are unemployed, 4.4 million Malawians are facing life-threatening hunger according to the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC), 650,000 people lost everything to Cyclone Freddy, and most of the employed earn K50,000 monthly minimum wage.

In a statement dated 14th November, 2023 signed by its Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa, the CDEDI has lamented that in the spirit of transparency and accountability, the much-talked about 57 percent increment in Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) is far from buying anything impactful given that most of the beneficiaries were receiving money in the ranges of K4,000 to K20,000 per month which cannot afford them a 50 Kilogram bag of maize.

The CDEDI says the Kwacha devaluation will bring nothing but more harm to Malawians observing that a caring government protects its people from any harm challenging the Minister of Finance Simplex Chithyola Banda to justify the 44 percent devaluation.

The organization has further challenged Chithyola Banda to rise above party politics and give tangible evidence of what Malawians have gained from President Chakwera’s 48 international trips amid forex shortages in the country.

“President Chakwera’s international trips costs do not require anyone to go into class to understand that they are partly the reason there is shortage of forex in the country,” reads the statement in part.

The CDEDI says it has also learnt with shock the much- touted press conference Chithyola Banda addressed on Monday 13th November, 2023 to outline measures to cushion vulnerable Malawians from the devastating devaluation that it failed to provide the desired hope.

The organization has advised Chithyola Banda to stop insulting the intelligence of Malawians by justifying devaluation which has pushed millions of Malawians into misery and pushing public debt hurting generations to come to haunting levels overnight.

It has claimed that Chithyola Banda by not allowing journalists to ask him questions after the briefing was made, he has sent a clear message that he did not know what he read out in his prepared statement describing this as an insult to Malawians especially the rural masses.