LILONGWE, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The State of Nation Address made by Malawian President Peter Mutharika on Friday during the opening of the 2018/19 Budget session of Parliament has received mixed reactions from commentators including opposition and international dignitaries.
In his 30-page State of the Nation Address, titled Delivering Sustainable Development, President Mutharika mentioned diverse issues including economy, mining, energy, health, education, rural development, tourism and culture, gender and women development amongst other things.
But reacting to the statement in an interview with local media at the New Parliament Building in Malawi capital, Lilongwe, leader of opposition in Parliament and President for Malawi Congress Party, Lazarus Chakwera, has described Mutharika's address as "dreamy and illusionary" saying it shows the Malawian leader "has lost touch with the reality on the ground where the majority of Malawians are suffering."
Chakwera said Mutharika's address does not cleary instill hope in Malawians and explain how the leadership plans to bail Malawians out of poverty.
But the U.S. ambassador to Malawi, Virginia Palmer said the president's massages on issues of corruption, about Malawians having national Identity Cards and moving forward with development are important for the nation.
She, however, expressed worries over issues of drug theft in public hospitals saying it is a sign of corruption as the drugs are found at the open markets.
She said ordinary Malawian in the village needs to be vigilant enough to know when the supplies are available in public hospitals and when they have finished and be able to stand up when things have gone wrong.
According to President Mutharika his Cabinet has already approved the Pharmacy and Medicines Regulation Bill, 2018, which provides stiffer penalties for offenders in drug supplies.
Norwegian Ambassador to Malawi Kikkan Haugen, who is also the dean of the diplomatic corps and heads of diplomatic missions in Malawi observed that Mutharika touched on important areas including corruption and economic growth which is at 4 percent and expected to be at 6 percent next year.
"The president also mentioned the issue of women participating in politics which we fully support, we launched the 50-50 campaign just yesterday and it's our hope that the 2019 election will be better from gender perspective than the 2014 elections," said Haugen.
Emily Banda of the (Malawi) Professional Women Board said while the message is clear on the issue of women empowerment from the president, it will be nothing if the political parties in the country will not put deliberate strategies to ensure that women participate in politics.
During his speech President Mutharika said his government is taking necessary steps to ensure increased participation of women in the 2019 tripartite elections.
"We have mounted the 50-50 campaign in line with our aspirations and international agreements on gender equality and we have adequate legal and policy framework to guide implementation of gender programs and safeguard the rights of women," said Mutharika.
Currently the Malawi Parliament has 32 women parliamentarians out of 193 parliamentarians.
