President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera has urged Malawians to be vigilant against social and health threats that could potentially compromise the security of the country and its resources.
Chakwera mentioned the raging cholera outbreak as one of the public health threats that may disrupt the operations of the government.
“Chief among the threats you must all be vigilant against is the public health situation we are currently facing through the spread of cholera, which has infected over 16,000 people and claimed over 550 lives,” he said.
The President made the remarks during his New Year address delivered on Sunday evening.
Chakwera highlighted corruption as another threat Malawians must guard against. At this point, Chakwera said he has finished reviewing the report submitted by the Commission of Inquiry into the irregular arrest of the Director-General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau last month.
“I will make further orders to keep us on the winning side of this threat. Similarly, I urge you to be vigilant against the rising cases of human trafficking and illegal migration, the abuse of agricultural services like the Affordable Inputs Programme, and the smuggling of maize to neighbouring countries,” he said.
Meanwhile, President Chakwera has announced that he will make changes to his cabinet within January to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in public delivery systems.
He said the anticipated cabinet will be leaner and will be focused on maximizing the nation’s limited resources on improving public service delivery, fast-tracking public works projects under construction, and unlocking the sectors of our economy that have the greatest potential for inclusive growth and shared prosperity, especially agriculture, tourism, and mining.
“In short, what you will see is a Cabinet focused on delivery. This is because I believe that giving our energies and resources a renewed focus on delivery is necessary for us as a nation this year in order to sustain and expedite our progress on the path of economic recovery that we embarked on a year ago,” narrated Chakwera.
