Barely hours after keeping a tight lid, State House yesterday revealed that President Lazarus Chakwera gave responses to Catholic bishops on governance concerns during their private meeting at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre on Monday.

Presidential press secretary Anthony Kasunda said through the meeting, the President wanted to convey responses to the clerics on issues they raised in earlier meetings and their Pastoral Letter issued on March 6 2022.

He said the bishops have in the past three months expressed specific concerns on governance and administrative issues they wanted the President and his Tonse Alliance to rectify.

The bishops last met Chakwera on January 13 this year at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe where they introduced their concerns before issuing the pastoral letter on March 6, which also mirrored the January 2022 views.

Kasunda: President gave his responses

Kasunda said the President during the meeting gave a point by point progress report on how his administration was addressing each of the concerns the bishops raised.

He said: “Some of the bishops’ major concerns were already addressed by President Chakwera before yesterday’s [Monday’s] meeting and these include reshuffling his Cabinet and firing those facing corruption charges.”

According to Kasunda, in responding to the concerns, Chakwera said he received a government report on the conduct of some Cabinet members nine days after his January 13 meeting with the bishops.

During the meeting, the President is said to have further clarified that despite a public outcry at the conduct of former minister of Lands Kezzie Msukwa, he decided to base his reaction on an evidence-based report by a credible institution rather than hearsay.

In response to another concern that some of his appointees are untouchable and exhibit impunity and arrogance, Chakwera told the bishops that he summoned and warned the suspects  some of whom have been dropped from his Cabinet or had them transferred, according to Kasunda.

“The President was quick to point out that upon reconfiguring his cabinet, he outlined before them, during swearing-in, the values he expects them to adhere to in line with his agenda,” he said.

Kasunda added that Chakwera also commented on the perceived discord with Vice-President Saulos Chilima, saying the issues that nourished the gossip mill were mere propaganda aimed at tainting their working relationship.

He said the President pointed out that he agreed with Chilima to internally use the report on the outcomes of the Public Sector Reforms Programme Task Force for decision-making on reforms. The explanation followed speculation that the report was kept under wraps to frustrate Chilima and his team.

Chakwera further told the bishops that only those recommendations collectively adopted by Cabinet should be made public to ensure mutual responsibility.

On why he merged Ministry of Finance with Economic Affairs and by implication taking away the latter portifolio from Chilima, the President informed the bishops that the decision was taken in compliance with a recommendation made by a special committee led by Chilima himself.

Kasunda said Chakwera also updated the bishops on some indicators of his administration’s commitment to fight corruption and the interventions he deployed, including firing those facing corruption charges and debarring companies that defrauded government in the past from conducting any further business with government.

Other interventions, included challenging all dubious claims against government through the Attorney General and fully funding and respecting the independence of the Anti-Corruption Bureau through legislative reinforcements.

Kasunda also said the bishops assured the President of their full support to fulfil his High 5 agenda, adding “they will continue offering counsel to him as and when they believe it is necessary.”

Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) secretary general Father Henry Saindi yesterday maintained that details of the meeting were “private and confidential”.

He said: “I can’t, therefore, comment beyond this. Since State House has said that the President was responding to to the issues raised by the bishops during their Jnaury 13 2022 private meeting, kindly check with State House to share you the issues the President responded to.

In an interview yesterday, political scientist Ernest Thindwa said the bishops met Chakwera not in his personal capacity, but as a Head of State, as such “State House will always be under public pressure, and legitimately, so to broadly divulge to the public contents of the discussion”.

He said: “The more the administration not only engages the public on issues raised in the scathing pastoral letter, but also demonstrates progress being made on concerns raised, the better for the administration’s relations with citizen and public trust.”

The private meeting on Monday between Chakwera and ECM was the fifth since he assumed office in June 2020.

Six Catholic bishops out of the seven available attended the engagement which started around 9am and finished just after 11am.

The opening up comes after both State House and the bishops through ECM confirmed the closed-door meeting, but kept a tight-lid on the agenda and the outcome of the two-hour session.

The meeting came three weeks after the bishops, in their 29th Pastoral Letter issued on March 6 this year titled ‘Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Living Our Faith’, deplored corruption and poor governance under the Chakwera administration as vices that have left Malawians stuck in the doldrums of poverty and underdevelopment.

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