{"id":58882,"date":"2024-02-17T23:42:44","date_gmt":"2024-02-17T23:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/lazarus-chakweras-state-of-the-nation-address-draws-mixed-reactions"},"modified":"2024-02-18T22:48:29","modified_gmt":"2024-02-18T22:48:29","slug":"lazarus-chakweras-state-of-the-nation-address-draws-mixed-reactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/lazarus-chakweras-state-of-the-nation-address-draws-mixed-reactions","title":{"rendered":"Lazarus Chakwera\u2019s State of the Nation Address draws mixed reactions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. <\/strong><\/span>President Lazarus Chakwera\u2019s State of the Nation Address (Sona) has drawn mixed reactions from analysts and opposition Democratic Progress Party (DPP).<\/p>\n

Deputy American ambassador to Malawi Amy Diaz has described it as a good statement that offers hope. Diaz said America supports the reforms as stated by the President.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reforms he plans to implement on Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (Ifmis) are a good step towards public finance management and as US we support that. These are good reforms that we hope will be implemented quickly, since this is one of requirements for IMF\u2019s Extended Credit Facility (ECF).<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has also laid out good plans on food security and agricultural commercialization through mega farms, good plans if they are implemented quickly,\u201d said Diaz.<\/p>\n

Maziko Matemba<\/b>Health and Rights Programme (HREP) Executive Director Maziko Matemba said plans to have the new cancer centre opened in April 2024 are good and hoped that this is implemented.<\/p>\n

However, Matemba said the Sona has missed some important issues such as commitment to increase the domestic resource on health budget as per the 2019 African Union renewal commitments and health financing reform agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sona is silent on this issue and this is sad. We hope the Minister of Finance will consider this as he will be presenting his budget plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 900 health posts construction is also silent in the Sona and issues of climate change and pandemic impacts resource allocation commitments made at the recent Sadc emergency summit on cholera prevention are also missing,\u201d Matemba said.<\/p>\n

Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) chairperson Gift Trapence said the statement touched on critical issues especially on access to maize to address hunger that has affected many Malawians.<\/p>\n

However, HRDC feels the cash transfer and the Affordable Input Programme (AIP) need to be sanitized, saying selection of beneficiaries in the two programmes is questionable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAIP has always faced challenges in late distribution of farm inputs and abuse. Government needs to resolve the many challenges that AIP has faced and also think of how Malawi will graduate from AIP. After so many years of implementing such programs we needed to be doing much better.<\/p>\n

\u201cMalawians want radical shift from rhetoric to action. They want to see the President taking radical actions in addressing economic and food insecurity challenges that this country is going through. Malawians\u2019 aspirations are on development on the ground that has been retarded for quite long,\u201d Trapence said.<\/p>\n

A good governance expert working with Transparency Initiative, Nicholas Mwisama, said the Sona inspires hope but corruption levels are haunting. \u201cMalawians can only get excited with caution. Look, we are talking about a country whose corruption levels are getting worse by each passing day, a country whose governance systems and institutions are weakened at will.<\/p>\n

\u201cThus, it requires radical reforms where among other key elements, institutions must be run by the right people, people who are selfless and love this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

DPP has described the Sona as just a repetition of the previous statements that has failed to offer solutions to the challenges Malawians are facing. The party\u2019s appointed Leader of Opposition Mary Navicha said the Sona was empty and full of the same previous lies.<\/p>\n

\u201cMalawians are facing challenges and they want solutions. He has failed to provide solutions and he hasn\u2019t given any hope. So in summary the DPP is saying the Sona was empty and full of the same lies we have heard before,\u201d Navicha said. Political party leaders in Parliament are expected to respond to the Sona next week.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Malawi<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. President Lazarus Chakwera\u2019s State of the Nation Address (Sona) has drawn mixed reactions from analysts and opposition Democratic Progress Party (DPP). Deputy American ambassador to Malawi Amy Diaz has described it as a good statement that offers hope. Diaz said America supports the reforms as stated by the President. \u201cThe reforms he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":58881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,371,234],"class_list":["post-58882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-malawi","tag-malawi"],"yoast_head":"\nLazarus Chakwera\u2019s State of the Nation Address draws mixed reactions - Malawi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Lazarus Chakwera\u2019s State of the Nation Address (Sona) has drawn mixed reactions from analysts and opposition D ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/lazarus-chakweras-state-of-the-nation-address-draws-mixed-reactions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lazarus Chakwera\u2019s State of the Nation Address draws mixed reactions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Lazarus Chakwera\u2019s State of the Nation Address (Sona) has drawn mixed reactions from analysts and opposition D ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/lazarus-chakweras-state-of-the-nation-address-draws-mixed-reactions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-17T23:42:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-18T22:48:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/02\/sm_1708201220.412321.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/lazarus-chakweras-state-of-the-nation-address-draws-mixed-reactions#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/lazarus-chakweras-state-of-the-nation-address-draws-mixed-reactions\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Lazarus Chakwera\u2019s State of the Nation Address draws mixed reactions\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-17T23:42:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-18T22:48:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/lazarus-chakweras-state-of-the-nation-address-draws-mixed-reactions\"},\"wordCount\":612,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/lazarus-chakweras-state-of-the-nation-address-draws-mixed-reactions#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/02\/sm_1708201220.412321.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Malawi\",\"Malawi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/lazarus-chakweras-state-of-the-nation-address-draws-mixed-reactions#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/lazarus-chakweras-state-of-the-nation-address-draws-mixed-reactions\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/lazarus-chakweras-state-of-the-nation-address-draws-mixed-reactions\",\"name\":\"Lazarus Chakwera\u2019s State of the Nation Address draws mixed reactions - 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