Nice deplores abuse of relief items

The National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust has appealed to authorities tasked to distribute relief items to flood victims to exercise impartiality to ensure that only deserving persons get the support.

Nice Trust regional civic education officer, Enock Chinkhuntha, made the appeal in an interview following reports that some victims are still starving in camps in spite of efforts by government and its cooperating partners to ensure every victim is reached with support.

In Chikwawa, for instance, victims at Sammy’s and Sekeni Camps expressed fears in an interview with journalists on Tuesday that they may soon lose lives to hunger after being saved from the jaws of raging floods.

A seemingly hungry and frail 90-year old granny, Geoffina Gilisoni of Kutulo 1 Village, T/A Lundu in Chikwawa, said victims in the camps continue to suffer inadequacy or outright lack of basic necessities thereby making life [in the camp] unbearable.

“We just hear the media reporting that such and such organisations have donated food items. But honestly speaking, those items don’t reach us as the intended beneficiaries. So, in whose hands do these items end?” she asked.

A lactating mother at Sekeni Camp, Maria Tembo, said she could not produce milk for her child because “we do not regularly have food to eat”.

But Chikwawa District Commissioner (DC), Alex Mdooko, dismissed the claims as outright lies in an interview last Tuesday.

But while commending government for ensuring proper coordination of the relief aid, Chinkhuntha emphasised the need for investigations into the matter.

“Nice believes there can be no smoke without fire. Hence, we ask authorities to investigate as a matter of urgency. We don’t want a situation where victims could be suffering because someone is abusing the resources,” he said. n