AFRICA/MALAWI - Politics restarts a month after the election; "Transition towards normality is not easy", says a missionary

Friday, 27 June 2014

Lilongwe (Agenzia Fides) - "The elections were really chaotic also due to electoral fraud. The difficulties found were caused by a strong lack of preparation, by the difficulty to get the electoral apparatus to function, by the inability to transmit data", refers from Malawi to Fides Agency, Fr. Piergiorgio Gamba, a Monfortan missionary.
The parliamentary and presidential elections that were held on May 20 were troubled by delays in the delivery of election materials and by other incidents that forced the authorities to prolong the conduct of the vote, while in the Country suspicions of possible fraud were spreading (see Fides 05/22/2014). The presidential elections were won by Arthur Peter Mutharika.
"Political life has restarted – continues the missionary -. The parliament has rallied and the newly elected President has submitted his report on the State of the Nation. 'Dreams are not enough' he repeated, using the slogan that was his brother’s. The cardinal points of his program are: the need for macro-economic growth; more efficient distribution of resources and investment; mobilizing national and international resources".
On the economic front, Fr. Gamba reports that inflation has fallen by 1.3% and has stabilized at 24.1%. Financial law in Malawi is usually discussed and approved in June. But this year a mini-budget was voted, while in September the final draft is expected to be approved. "Government employees expect a pay increase of 50% and it will be difficult to get them to wait any longer, after many promises. It is not a war report, but not even an easy transition to normality", concludes the missionary. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 27/06/2014)


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