{"id":5358,"date":"2011-09-26T09:22:43","date_gmt":"2011-09-26T09:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.faceofmalawi.com\/?p=5358"},"modified":"2011-09-26T09:22:43","modified_gmt":"2011-09-26T09:22:43","slug":"goodall-on-mutharikas-economic-mismanagement-nyasatimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/2011\/09\/26\/goodall-on-mutharikas-economic-mismanagement-nyasatimes\/","title":{"rendered":"GOODALL ON MUTHARIKA\u2019S ECONOMIC MISMANAGEMENT | NyasaTimes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minister Goodall Gondwe credited for Malawi\u2019s economic success during President Bingu wa Mutharika\u2019s first term, is said to have told US diplomat in Lilongwe that the head of state is making mistakes in his economic management, according to cables released by internet whistle-blower, Wikileaks.<\/p>\n

The cable exposes a report former US ambassador Peter Bodde sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in which he wrote that Gondwe at the Ambassador\u2019s Thanksgiving gathering quietly remarked that \u201cthe President is making a lot of mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He further confided that while at one time he had been able to temper the President\u2019s views and steer him in the right direction, he was no longer able to do so, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Gondwe noted that even the President\u2019s brother, Peter Mutharika (now minister of foreign affairs), \u201cfinds it difficult to moderate the President\u2019s sometimes extreme public statements.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report noted that a series of bad decisions and policies by Mutharika including Malawi\u2019s overly rigid exchange rate, rejection of World Bank support to join the Southern African electrical grid, overspending on fertilizer and frivolous government procurement, and clumsy intervention in agricultural markets.<\/p>\n

It also noted about Mutharika\u2019s \u201cthreads of populism, capriciousness, and even xenophobia run through the President\u2019s public pronouncements, and have some local commentators for the first time drawing comparisons with Robert Mugabe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report says Mutharika rather than reassessing his policies, preferred to blame the IMF, Asian traders, and other scapegoats for Malawi\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe IMF and World Bank have been forcing us to have a free market economy\u2026but now all foreign business operators externalize forex to Asia and the Middle East,\u201d the reported quote President Mutharika speech in a radio address.<\/p>\n

Chancellor Kaferapanjira, CEO of the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI), disagreed, instead blaming government interference in the market.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This IMF handout photo shows International Monetary Fund's Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn (L) as he greets Malawi's Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe at the Trancorp Hilton February 27, 2008 in Abuja, Nigeria. AFP PHOTO\/International Monetary Fund\/Stephen Jaffe\/ (Photo credit should read STEPHEN JAFFE\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cGovernment is controlling market prices too much. There are no indications that the market is failing, therefore government must not interfere with it. The market should be left to decide the prices. Too much control of prices does not work,\u201d Kaferapanjira said, according to the report.<\/p>\n

The report further noted: \u201cMany of [Mutharika] advisors know better, but are increasingly reluctant to challenge the President\u2019s views, even in private.\u201d<\/p>\n

US Embassy say they do not comment on antisecrecy website WikiLeaks in any frame or manner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minister Goodall Gondwe credited for Malawi\u2019s economic success during President Bingu wa Mutharika\u2019s first term, is said to have told […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[135,1207,1208,1209],"class_list":["post-5358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news","tag-ngwazi-bingu-wa-mutharika","tag-goodall-godwe","tag-nyasatimes","tag-reserve-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}