President Lazarus Chakwera has expressed optimism that the saturation of maize on the market may help stabilise prices amid cries from people that they are facing hunger.
He made the remarks when he made a quick stop at Zingwangwa Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) depot after touring security personnel housing projects in Chikwawa and Blantyre.
At Zingwangwa, the President was welcomed by sombre faces, with some people openly saying that they have not benefitted from the Social Cash Transfer Programme.
However, Chakwera remained optimistic, saying things are falling into place.
“Prices will go down. I know that there are some people who take advantage of situations and want to benefit when their friends are struggling. The international community is also helping us and, through this, we have added a number of people in the Social Cash Transfer Programme.
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“All this is [being done] to ensure that everyone is able to buy maize. Not long ago, we were hit by the worst disaster in the history of the nation, which has led to looming hunger because many people did not plant maize. However, I want to assure Malawians everywhere that food is available and food will be available and prices will go down because of this,” he said.
At Bangwe Police Station in Blantyre, Chakwera said he was pleased with progress and quality of the houses being constructed.
He said the construction of 10,000 houses is doable.
“I am absolutely impressed by the standardisation of the houses despite that it is various contractors building these houses. I commend this and I am happy that even though construction is at 85 percent, I have been assured that everything will be done. By the time we start the new fiscal year, phase 2 will kick off. This was our vision. We want our men and women in uniform to be well taken care of so that they can give all of their spirit to work,” he said.
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Lands Minister Deus Gumba said his ministry would continue to monitor projects so that the work can be completed in time.
Government launched construction of 10,000 houses for security agencies across the country in December 2020.
The initiative is being funded by government, Opec Fund for International Development and Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa.
Under the project, Malawi Defence Force and Malawi Police Service are each expected to get 4,000 houses while Malawi Prison Service and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services are allocated 1,000 houses each.
