Cyclone Freddy cash donations hit K2.7bn
Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) says the cash donations towards Cyclone Freddy response hit K2.7 billion and that K1.8 billion was spent for various activities.
Dodma Commissioner Charles Kalemba told the Budget and Finance Committee of Parliament yesterday in Lilongwe that the department is using the K889 656 556 balance for procurement of foodstuff for survivors.
“As you know that we are decommissioning the camps, we are providing the survivors who are returning to their homes with packages and we are using this balance to procure that package,” he said.
Kalemba said K23 470 747 of the total expenditure was used for accommodation of military personnel from Tanzania and Zambia while K53 730 000 was spent on decommissioning the camps.
He said: “K270 207 792 was used for packaging and handling, procurement of foodstuff cost K199 836 902 while K215 741 682 was used for temporary rehabilitation of roads.
“The search and rescue operation consumed K27 577 120, K52 500 000 was transferred to councils while K946 767 092 was used for transportation of relief items to where they were needed.”
Kalemba further said an assessment conducted in March 2023 projected that the amount needed for implementation of recovery for three months from March to June is K147.8 billion but only K37.3 billion had been mobilised through government and various partners.
This meant that government had a deficit of K110.6 billion, but Kalemba said the deficit should be covered with the support pledges from World Bank and European Union (EU).
“Government has been providing resources such as maize and other supplies and with the announcement of $180 million [by the World Bank] and a K7 billion pledge by the European Union, I don’t think the deficit still stands at K110.6 billion,” he said.
As a disaster response focal point, Dodma is supposed to account for every support rendered but Kalemba said direct donations to beneficiaries by some agencies posed a challenge on data compilation.
Among other challenges, he said impassable roads and bridges created a tough time for the relief providers to reach certain areas with relief items but efforts were made to ensure that relief reached such places.
Apart from cash donations, government and its partners both local and international also made donations in kind such as provision of food, clothes, sanitation facilities, medical supplies and search and rescue resources.
In the middle of rescue operations, the government was caught in a dilemma when it discovered that it did not have functional aircraft to assist in the search for missing people.
Committee vice-chairperson Ismail Mkumba said they will engage the Defence and Security Committee of Parliament to facilitate maintenance of the malfunctioning aircrafts for future possible response.
The disaster killed 676 and displaced over 600 000 people.
