By Isaac Salima:
The Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) has indicated that there has been commitment from Malawi’s development partners for assistance following President Lazarus Chakwera’s declaration of a State of Disaster.
Last month, the President declared a State of Disaster in 23 out of the 28 districts in the country.
OPC spokesperson Robert Kalindiza, while not clearly mentioning what has been the response so far, said commitment is there.
“According to reports that we are getting from Dodma [Department of Disasters Management Affairs], there has been a positive response from development partners.
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The President pleaded for support on food production and humanitarian aid and, in all these, there is commitment for support,” Kalindiza said.
Chakwera told the nation that 749,113 hectares of land were affected by disasters.
He said the country requires about 600,000 metric tonnes of maize as part of the response to the disaster, adding that this would require about K357 billion.
Meanwhile, chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture Sameer Suleman has said Parliament did not do enough to discuss the issue of hunger during the just-ended meeting.
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“We have, indeed, failed Malawians because we did not tackle the issue of hunger as we could. When some of us raised the issue of hunger, telling the House that the country does not have enough stock of maize, we were chased out of the House.
“Maybe those on the government side felt that if we dwelt much on the hunger situation, we would be exposing them, in terms of how they are failing the country,” Suleman said.
Suleman further faulted the President for failing to state clear measures that were put in place to address the problem after declaring a State of Disaster.
“What we noticed was that the declaration was done out of pressure. I think we, as Parliament, can be called upon on how to assist. Immediately after he made the declaration, the President could have come up with measures to take to address the problem. Government should have started saving money to go towards supporting hunger-stricken people,” he said.
Recently, Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu said there are several measures that have been put in place to help people who are at risk of facing hunger.
He said the government is distributing maize and money through the Mtukula Pakhomo initiative, saying this is meant to support households that are, or are at risk of, facing hunger.
