By Lily Kampani
Malawi President Peter Mutharika has urged the nation to develop a spirit of patriotism, integrity and hard work as one way of driving collective efforts to create wealth and make Malawi a middle income economy.
The President made the remarks in Lilongwe on Thursday at a meeting with the National Planning Commission (NPC) members to discuss its first annual report and highlight the commission’s immediate priorities.
“For a long time, this country has always had good ideas but implementation has often been our problem, there is no point in planning if we can’t implement what we plan.
“By the end of the day, the most important things in life are things that get done” he explained.
Mutharika emphasised that the ultimate goal for the country is to create wealth and improve the quality of life for Malawians.
“We need to create new capital for most Malawians, which is why we encourage foreign direct investment.
“Locally we have the resources, we have the assets, what we need is to turn our resources and assets into capital,” he stated.
NPC Director General, Dr Thomas Chataghalala Munthali disclosed that the commission is concentrating on wealth creation by focusing on agriculture commercialization, resource based industrialisation and urbanization.
“As the envisioning process starts for the proposed National Transformation 2063 (successor to vision 2020), the commission is confident that the aspiration of Malawians can be met through a positive mindset approach about the need to create jobs by promoting a vibrant private sector and entrepreneurship,” said Munthali.
He further stated that the hope is to change the negative image of just reducing poverty levels and of eliminating it, to a more positive and hopeful one of wealth creation and self-reliance.
The NCP was established in 2017 through an Act of Parliament as part of public sector reforms.