By Iommie Chiwalo
At a time some Malawians have resorted to eating wild tubers, some of which are poisonous and deadly, government’s inconsistency, conflicting, and back-and-forth actions regarding maize availability in the country is a cause of concern for which the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has urged President Lazarus Chakwera to weigh in and stop his Tonse Alliance administration from playing such dangerous games with people’s lives.
In a statement made available to this publication, CDEDI Executive Director, Sylvester Namiwa, has said that the current situation that is forcing the majority poor to risk their lives by eating anything including wild tubers and bitter maize husks (madeya) for survival.
He observed that apart from the tenuous supply of maize in Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) selling points, the prevailing maize prices have made the staple food a preserve of the well to do.
CDEDI has cautioned the President that his government’s hide-and-seek games
over maize is regrettable and not sitting well with his political ambitions and aspirations.
“Needless to remind the President that ‘a hungry man, is an angry man’.
Should the President continue to bury his head in the sand, and wishing away the situation, CDEDI will not hesitate to wear its governance robs and mobilise the hungry Malawians to storm relevant offices, notably district council offices, to demand their right to food,” he said.
Namiwa, therefore, said CDEDI would like to draw President Chakwera’s attention to media reports which indicated that ‘Admarc to close shops’, saying that is a clear confirmation that there is no hope of survival for the poor majority in both urban and rural areas of this
country.
“This is dehumanizing considering that everyone has constitutional right to food,” he said.
Namiwa has also asked authorities to come out clearly on mechanism it has put in place to ensure seamless flow of the staple grain given the setting in of the rainy season in the region that was heavily affected by the devastating Cyclone Freddy that recently washed away important roads and bridges.
He said is disheartening to note that government is creating a wrong impression that it will import maize from Zambia and Mozambique.
“This impression government is creating is wrong and a clear indication that the Tonse Alliance administration does not care a dime about the plight of the majority poor in as far as food security is concerned,” he said.
He added that for the sake of transparency and accountability, Malawians may wish to
know that Zambia is actually working on importing yellow maize to exchange with white maize that some of the country’s poultry farmers have earmarked for livestock feed production.
“In fact, currently Zambia’s Food Reserve Agency (FRA), the equivalent of our National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA), is looking for maize fit for human consumption to buy as it explores the yellow maize importation. It is, therefore, irresponsible for the Malawi Government to hoodwink its people into believing that Zanbia has offered to sell maize to Malawi,” Namiwa disclosed.
He added that importing maize from Mozambique is only an option for Malawi, but not feasible at the moment because reality on the ground is that most of the maize sold in the Southern Region of Malawi comes from Mozambique because annually the trend has been that during harvest time in Mozambique the grain moves into Malawi while during the lean period, such as now, Mozambicans also look up to Malawi for survival.
“But that only happens when there is maize here, which is not the case this year.
Again, Malawians may wish to know that the Mozambican government does not deal in maize, simply meaning that if we are to get the staple food from there, it will not be a government-to government business,” he said.
According to Namiwa, as it stands, it is wrong for Malawi Government to make Malawians believe that Mozambique has offered it maize for sale.
“Even if the offer was there, the powers that be would have to tell Malawians where government is going to get the forex for facilitating transaction. Nothing is making sense in these maize games the Malawi Government is playing,” he said.
Whatever government might say, it is already in public domain that the country does not have maize enough stocks in its strategic grain reserves, and that no efforts were being made to replenish the stocks.
Namiwa says that currently Tanzania is the only neighbour from whom Malawi can import maize albeit at cost of over K1,000 per kilogramme since they also used exorbitant farm-gate prices to procure it.
On a related development concerning an arrangement for the Malawi Government to
enter into a 20-year sovereign guarantee with a private company in Zambia, the CDEDI Chief has asked Malawians to stand firm and reject this arrangement and that they should be worried about this government’s anxiety with barter trade.
He said if barter trade is the way to go, then the field should be levelled for all private sector players to play on.
“It should not be a preserve of a cartel. Secondly, if Governmentnnwants to change Admarc’s mandate, it should do so through Parliament, because Admarc is a public entity. To make it clear, we have detailed information about the cartel that intends to hijack Admarc for selfish interests at the expense of the majority poor,” he said.
Recently, media reported government’s confession that it was difficult to transport maize to most parts of the country as the maize was in the Central Region, compelling CDEDI, on behalf of the hunger-stricken Malawians in the South, to question government
why does it believe that giving out cash through Mtukula Pakhomo and Social Cash Transfer is the solution and where will the targeted beneficiaries get the food from given that the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC) reports show that 4.4 million Malawians are on the verge of starvation?
Namiwa has since challenged what he called the seemingly clueless politicians to let technocrats and the Ministry of Agriculture, Admarc and NFRA to make independent and swift decisions that will save the nation from the current food crisis, saying politicising food is suicidal.
“Again, government should tell Malawians when the second phase of maize distribution will start in the Admarc selling points,”.
