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.

President Lazarus Chakwera last month declared a State of Disaster in 23 out of the 28 district in the country.

Robert Kalindiza, OPC spokesperson, while not clearly mentioning what has been the response so far, said commitment is there.

According to reports from Dodma (Department of Disasters Management Affairs), there has been a positive response from development partners.

Kalindiza said, the President pleaded for support on food production and humanitarian aid and. All these, there is commitment for support.

The president told the nation that 749, 113 hectares of land were affected by disasters.

He added that the country requires about 600,000 metric tonnes of maize as part of response to the disaster, adding that this would require about K357 billion.

Sammer Suleman Chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture said parliament did not do enough to discuss the issue of hunger during the just-ended meeting.

Suleman said they have,failed Malawians because they did not tackle the issue of hunger as they could. When some of them raised the issue of hunger, telling the House that the country does not have enough stock of maize, they were chased out of the House.

He added that maybe those on the government side felt that if they dwelt much on the hunger situation, they would be exposing them, in terms of how they are failing the country.

Suleman further faulted the President for failing to state clear measure that they put in place to address the problem after declaring a State of Disaster.

He concluded that what they noticed was that the declaration was done out of pressure. As Parliament, can be called upon on how to assist. Immediately after he made the declaration, the President could have come up with measure to take to address the problem. Government should have started saving money to go towards supporting hunger –stricken people.

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.

Kunkuyu added that government is distributing maize and money through the Mtukula Pakhomo initiative, saying this meant to support households that are, or are at risk of, facing hunger.

Source:Times