Malawi President Joyce Banda launched her party’s manifesto on Sunday ahead of May 20 tripartite elections appealing for full term.
Mrs Banda will be contesting for presidency for the first time since her ascension to power following the death of the then president Bingu wa Mutharika in April 2012.
Addressing her party supporters, Mrs Banda presented steps that she dubbed as ‘the beginning of a transformation agenda’ that her People’s Party will implement once elected.
“A Transformation Agenda that places Integrated Rural Development as a centre-piece of our development agenda. A transformation that seeks to transform our country’s rural and urban areas into vibrant hub’s of agri-business and industrial activity.
A transformation that expands access to social services that meet minimum standards of quality of life regardless of location; that reduces inequality: spatial or gender; and that accelerates progress towards an inclusive community and national development,” she said.
President Banda said the transformation agenda would get rid of a hoe as a tool of choice in agriculture, remove grass-thatched house from rural and urban areas and improve quality of drinking water.
“Through this transformation I see the establishment of the Malawi Agricultural Transformation Agency to catalyse structural reforms and sustainable change in the agriculture sector. I see the establishment of an Agricultural Bank. I see our farming families being mobilized into farm clubs and cooperatives. I see our agriculture practices move from subsistence to commercial and mechanized farming,” she said.
Mrs Banda said her party once voted into government would prioritise animal and fish farming through innovative programmes and decentralise tobacco marketing and licensing systems to ensure broad-based participation by rural farmers.
She added that her government would also improve education facilities and infrastructure, teacher’s development, provision of adequate teaching and learning materials and better conditions of services for teachers.
“This manifesto is offering new hope to our youth; to our women; to our people with disabilities and to our elderly. This manifesto is saying that you are the people and therefore the owners of the People’s Party. You are the reason for the People’s Party’s existence.
We want a Government that is motivated, efficient and able to deliver on its mandate. We want an open, transparent and accountable government. This lies at the heart of the agenda we set forth in this manifesto,” she stated.
NMG
Leave a Reply