By Feston Malekezo
Some councillors in Mzuzu City have agreed to temporarily stop receiving relief maize, which is being distributed under the Lean Season Response Programme.
The councillors claim that this follows a drastic reduction in the number of beneficiary households.
According to the councillors, about 12,000 households benefitted from the programme last year.
This year, they claim, the figure has dropped to around 1,000 households.
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Zolozolo West Ward Councillor Hilwet Mkandawire said only 75 households in his ward were earmarked to receive maize this season, compared to about 1,200 households last year.
Mkandawire expressed concern over the sharp reduction, saying maize production last season was relatively better than this year, making the figures difficult to understand.
“There is pressure in our wards because the number of those that need support is much bigger than the quantity of maize available. This may cause chaos. Some of our friends [councillors] wanted to start receiving the maize but we have agreed that we should stop the process until proper direction is given,” he said.
Another councillor, Isaac Chawinga from Zolozolo East Ward, said they had already consulted block leaders, who have agreed with them not to receive the maize for now.
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“Ours is a plea to the government to consider adjusting upwards the numbers. We have been told that they use figures from research that was conducted but we feel the findings are faulty. We cannot have only 1000 beneficiaries in the whole of Mzuzu. Perhaps let us do that study again; otherwise, a lot of people will suffer,” he said.
Mzuzu City Mayor Chiyembekezo Moses said the council would convene an emergency meeting to deliberate on the issue.
“I have seen [information related to] the matter circulating on social media but it is not accurate to say all councillors have agreed to stop the exercise. Since I was away, we will meet to discuss the way forward,” Moses said.
Responding to the concerns, Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) spokesperson Chipiliro Khamula described the decision to halt the distribution as unfortunate, noting that councillors could have raised the matter formally through the council.
“Secondly, we, as Dodma, do not do assessments of the numbers of beneficiaries; it is the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee [that does that and] we just come up with a response plan. So, it’s an unfortunate because people are suffering. They could have used formal channels,” he said.
During the 2024-25 lean season response programme, a total of 12,661 households in Mzuzu benefitted from the programme as part of the 5.7 million people who were food insecure nationwide. The current lean season response programme, which started in October 2025, will run until March 2026 and is targeting about four million people across the country.
