Acting president of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Peter Mutharika on Sunday poked fun at some of the perceived failures of the People’s Party (PP) government.
Mutharika was speaking on Sunday at Magwero Primary School an hour after arriving at Kamuzu International Airport on his return from his two-month sojourn to the United States and Europe.
But the PP has challenged that the DPP will never rule this country again.
In his 10-minute speech to the crowd, Mutharika expressed shock at the shortage of drugs and failures of this year’s farm input subsidy.
“When I was abroad, I was hearing many reports from here. Is it true that the University of Malawi may be closed because of lack of money? Was this happening during Bingu’s time? Is it true that you were buying fertiliser which was mixed with sand? When we win 2014 elections, we will bring real fertiliser,” Mutharika said.
He also expressed surprise at President Joyce Banda’s distribution of solar-powered lamps, instead of providing electricity to the people.
“I also heard that people are receiving lamps instead of electrifying their areas. Is it true? Is this the age of lamps? This is the age of electricity. Giving people lamps is a thing of the past. We are moving forward. We will give people electricity,” Mutharika said.
He said very soon he will meet all DPP MPs to strategise on how they will benefit from a programme of installing solar-powered electricity to four schools in each of the constituencies of all DPP legislators.
But in an interview yesterday, PP Publicity Secretary Hophmally Makande said DPP will never rule this country again.
“DPP failed to run this country. The problems they are talking about, like the issue of drugs, started during their time. That party will never rule this country again. As long as Mutharika is their leader, that party will die. DPP can’t take over from PP. It will never rule this country again,” Makande said.
