The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa has described President Lazarus Chakwera’s SONA delivered on Friday as empty.
In his response tittles ‘Talk is cheap, lies have short legs,’ Nankhumwa said Chakwera’s speech did not come any close to a SONA.
“SONA is a yearly tradition when the President of a nation comes to report on the status of the country whilst unveiling the government’s agenda for the coming year including proposing certain legislative measures to Parliament.
“It is clear that the speech that President Lazarus Chakwera delivered in this August House lacked these key characteristics. Most likely, the President himself does not have a clue on the status of this nation.
“No wonder, the President failed to outline a clear agenda for his government in the coming year. That is not surprising, because you cannot provide a prescription without diagnosis. You diagnose first before prescription,” he said
Nankhumwa further said that there was no progress report in the speech by the President as to what exactly has been achieved between what was said last year and the not surprising statement being considered as SONA this year.
“There is a total disconnect between the 2022/23 SONA and the 2023//24 SONA. Let me pick one example to illustrate my assertion on the failure and emptiness of this so-called SONA. The President emphatically talked of “fixing the broken systems”. The simple question is “what broken systems have been fixed to this day”? Is that too much to ask from the President?
“What we witnessed on Friday last week is a man who is lost and does not know what direction to take and what options are available for him as President of this country.
“We witnessed a man, who lacks self awareness; who cannot differentiate between a State President that he is and someone aspiring to be a State President. He is a President who is still promising three years down the line.
Here is a President who, instead of giving Malawians a status update of the country, is busy hallucinating what he thinks he will do. He is clearly stuck in the la-la land of speeches forgetting that he has a country to lead.
“Madam Speaker, Malawians are now used to their President being absent on critical issues; of being told that their President did not know anything when serious decisions on national matters were made.I am now left with no doubt that President Chakwera does not know the pain that Malawians are going through under his leadership. Let me tell President Chakwera what Malawians are going through,” he said
