By Wezzie Gausi:
Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (Cost) has said there is no need to attribute the damage that floods have inflicted on the country to poor engineering or planning.
This comes at a time flash floods have created a disaster in five districts across the country.
Cost Chairperson Joe Ching’ani said floods have also hit the so-called developed countries, citing the United States, United Kingdom, India and Canada.
He said this is despite that these countries have top notch engineering and are ahead of Malawi, in terms of development planning.
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“We need to reflect on how we are conducting our land management, cultivation practices and mining activities. The way we have allowed and smiled at everybody hauling sand everywhere necessitates the need for reflection.
“How much attention are we giving to water catchment areas and river banks and shorelines? Water harvesting, rather than being mere academic rhetoric, should be embarked on in earnest because while we have these floods in many places, we still have arid areas where this extra water could be useful, cases being Balaka, Msamala, Senzani, Phalula, Likudzi, Kasungu National Park, Njonja, Mayani, Chitekwere [among others],” Ching’ani said.
Meanwhile, conservationist Sosten Chiotha has said there are myriad factors that have led to flooding in Malawi as well as other countries.
He said what is happening is a wakeup call on how to manage the environment and take action to avoid a recurrence of the problems being faced now.
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“There has been a change in water levels in Lake Malawi and other lakes across Africa and these have sparked these floods. It is high time we, as a nation, came together and found ways and means of handling such occurrences. But this is not the fault of anybody else,” Chiotha said.
