By Richard Chirombo
Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe has dismissed fears government may conduct half-hearted budget consultation sessions with various stakeholders as uncertainty over the outcome of the May 19, 2009 parliamentary and presidential elections rooms in.
Said Gondwe: "We are pretending that the elections are not taking place on May 19. (And) that, too, is the spirit at the Ministry of Finance."
He said the ministry would go ahead to conduct exhaustive consultations as the financial ability of the government to carry our various social-economic programmes could not be left at the mercy of any impending elections- whether at national, regional or district level.
According to Gondwe, some people may wish to misinform voters by saying government officials who owe their allegiance to the DPP would try to sabotage economic programmes- a ploy he dismissed before hand, as the present government wished the best for its people.
"Elections or no elections this is our country. We love it and will strive to get views and contributions from as many people as possible. We are not worried about the polls," said Gondwe.
In a related development. The Ministry's Public Relations Consultant, Ephraim Munthali, has announced that a consultative meeting with private sector players (the Malawi Economic Justice Network, Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Economic Consultative Association of Malawi, among others) has been postponed from Thursday April 30 and would now take place in Lilongwe on May 8.
This means consultations that were to take place in Mzuzu and Blantyre to hear from the private sector have been shifted to Friday next week.
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