Main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has reiterated that the Tonse Alliance government made a “serious fiscal blunder” to cancel the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), warning the repercussions will affect innocent Malawians.

DPP National Publicity Secretary, Shadric Namalomba, was reacting to the warning t United States (US) Government sounded in Lilongwe on Friday that Malawi will lose out on the second tranche of ECF unless the country takes take additional measures to keep itself in the right economic trajectory.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Treasury – Africa and the Middle East, Eric Meyer, observed that Malawi may not be able to meet the commitments necessary to receive the second tranche.

Meyer said Lilongwe needs to control ballooning expenditures and ensure speedy full implementation of the Integrated Financial Management and Information System (IFMIS).

He made the sentiments after staying in Malawi for a week where he met government officials to discuss U.S government’s concerns about Malawi’s current economic trajectory.

Meyer recommended for urgent leadership and action at all levels of government.

In his reaction, Namalomba said this confirms what DPP has been saying all along that the Malawi Congress Party-led coalition government erred in cancelling the ECF with the IMF.

“DPP left a functioning economy and successfully implemented an ECF program. However, the new government led by Chakwera deliberately cancelled the program. The reason for this is clear – Chakwera and MCP had an insatiable appetite for money and wanted to spend recklessly, leading to reckless borrowing,” he said.

Added Namalomba, “This raises the question – what did they want to spend the money on? And yet, there is nothing to show for it on the ground, as the money disappeared into the pockets of senior MCP leaders. This reckless spending and borrowing has resulted in staggering debt of over Mk18 trillion, compared to only Mk4.1 trillion within the four years of Chakwera’s government. In contrast, the DPP government, in six years, only borrowed Mk2.5 trillion and had numerous projects to show for it, such as the Nkhata Bay Mzuzu Road and various technical colleges and irrigation schemes.”

The DPP spokesperson said it was not fair to hold the DPP responsible for the current debt crisis, arguing the DPP regime was prudent in its spending.

“Our President His Excellency Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, who is loved and respected by many, has always said that Malawi has a president, but not a leader. This sentiment is echoed by Eric Meyer, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Treasury Africa and Middle East, who agrees that the MCP government is a zero government – knowing nothing, seeing nothing, and doing nothing. It is time for a change, and the people have spoken – they want His Excellency Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika back to restore this nation,” said Namalomba.