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CfSC troubled by soaring cost of living

The Lilongwe-based Centre for Social Concern (CfSC) says it is troubled by the ever-souring cost of living gripping the country despite 50 years of self-governance after colonialists.

The centre has also said at fifty, Malawi’s social and macroeconomic situation ‘’still tells a story of poverty’ which portrays Malawi as a poor country when measured by almost all development indicators.

Poverty_malawi_childrenOn July 6 2014, Malawi will be clocking 50 years since gaining political independence after weaning itself from British colonialists.

“CfSC is troubled that after all these years of self-governance Malawians are still struggling to meet even the basic needs that a human being requires for survival and to live a dignified life,” said CfSC social conditions research programme officer Alex Nkosi yesterday.

He said most CfSC research reveals that most Malawians families are going to bed hungry fifty years after independence, because they cannot access food saying such a situation is not only deplorable but also a gross human right violation.

The 1948 United Nations declaration upheld the right to food as a basic human right stating that everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care.

“As we take stock of our 50 years of independence, we need to ask ourselves as a country why is it difficult to improve the food security situation of the poor and to operationalise their right to food. What needs to be done to ensure that the human right to food is realisable and that the social exclusion caused by hunger is effectively tackled?”

According to Nkosi, hunger and poverty have significant impact on people’s social position, economic standing and political participation and consequently on development.

He said for Malawi to achieve meaningful and holistic development there is need to foster people’s ability to meet their basic needs which will necessitate them to meaningfully participate in development endeavours.

The cost of the basic needs basket for the cities of Lilongwe, Zomba, Blantyre and Mzuzu is in the month of May 2014 was K125 893, K113 576, K127 272 and K110 821, respectively.

In January 2014, the cost of basic needs basket for Lilongwe was K126 925, Zomba (K114 213), Blantyre (K128 761) and Mzuzu (K107 974).

President Peter Mutharika said when he read the State of the Nation Address in parliament that almost fifty years of independence, Malawi remains a least developed country.

“Mr. Speaker, Sir, we will be celebrating our Golden Jubilee of independence on July 6, 2014. As a nation, we have come a long way through thick and thin. Although we have registered many successes, we have also encountered immense challenges,” said the president.

 

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