APM warns against abuse of disaster relief

Malawi President Peter Mutharika has cautioned people against abusing relief items meant for flood victims, saying he will not tolerate corruption.

Mutharika issued the warning on Friday at Makawa Primary School in the area of Traditional Aujthority (T/A) Mponda in Mangochi after visiting flood victims.

Persistent rains from last week culminated in flash floods in 15 districts, including Mangochi, which caused 176 deaths and rendered 174 114 people homeless besides destroying property and infrastructure.

The scale of the damage prompted the President to declare a State of Disaster and appeal for local and international assistance to the situation.

Said the President: “Since I declared the flood-hit districts a disaster, there has been overwhelming response from within and outside the country. We have countries such as Botswana, South Africa, United States of America, Sweden, UN agencies among others; assisting us in cash, food items and other non-food items.

“This is excellent as the materials received will be channelled to the right beneficiaries whom some are being accommodated in schools, churches and mosques.”

Mutharika said it is sad to note that when plagues of this nature happen, some people want to take advantage of the situation by diverting or looting items meant for the victims.

“Let me warn all of you—whether you are a DC [district commissioner], chief, delegated government officials, faith leaders and anybody who may be tasked to donate relief items to the victims—that you do your work diligently as any attempts to pilfer the items will warrant prosecution.”

He added that the floods are ‘national disasters’ and he cannot allow selfish people masquerading  as sympathisers, but their aim is to reap out of the displaced people.

Speaking earlier at the function, Mangochi DC Bester Mandere asked the President to consider providing the victims with maize seeds and drought-tolerant crops such as cassava and potato, saying people will need to replant.

He said over 3 781 farmers have been affected with 666.7 hectares of their land washed away by the floods.