President Mutharika made the remarks on Friday 5th August 2016 when he graced the fundraising dinner for Mulhako wa Alhomwe, one of the major ethnic groupings in Malawi.

“As you might be aware, my government recognizes the pivotal role culture and all cultural groupings play on our socio-economic development,” said Mutharika.

At the fundraising dinner, Professor Mutharika also took the opportunity to encourage Malawians of all cultural groupings to be self-assertive and confident as opposed to being pompous and feeling more important than others.

“My brother and I found Mulhako wa Alhomwe to enhance the identity of Lhomwe people and instill confidence and humility in them. Long before us, there were also great men like Lewis Mataka Bandawe who in 1910 began strengthening the Lhomwe identity and founded the Lhomwe Tribal Society,” explained Mutharika.

“In the same spirit, let me encourage again all Malawians to be confident and not suffer any stigma of inferiority; we cannot progress as a nation if we look down upon ourselves. Let us remember to be patriotic, disciplined and hardworking,” added Mutharika.

The President, however, called on Malawians to be proud of their culture.

“And let’s support all our cultural groupings without suppressing or thinking we are better than others. As a nation, we are stronger together, and together we shall build and develop our country”, said the President.

Mulhako wa Alhomwe organized the dinner to raise funds for its annual cultural festival on 30th October at Chonde in Mulanje district.