Delay angers Dausi

Minister of Homeland Security Nicholas Dausi yesterday expressed disappointment that nothing was being done on the section of the M1 cut off between Domasi and Dyeratu in Chikwawa.

The road has been impassable since Friday afternoon.

Dausi has since directed that a detour be made immediately on the road to allow flow of traffic.

He was reacting after waiting in vain for contractors for over two hours for a means of bypassing the section to distribute relief items to people on the Dyeratu side of the road.

The minister then distributed the items to people around Domasi in Traditional Authority (T/A) Mlilima.

Speaking to reporters, a visibly angry Dausi he was disappointed at a slow pace in efforts to normalise the situation.

“I am disappointed at the slow pace of the contractor (name withheld). This is a busy road and business must continue. They promised to be here in 30 minutes time but it’s two hours now; people have been stuck here and, apparently, the blame will be on government,” he said.

But the minister assured all affected people in the disaster that has claimed 23 lives, while 11 others are missing in the Southern and Central regions, that government will provide them with food, shelter, utensils and blankets.

Meanwhile, some men in Chikwawa are cashing in on the disaster by carrying on their backs those desperately wanting to cross the section at a fee of K500. But some motorists are braving to drive through the mud with assistance from villagers at a fee of K5 000.

However, some sections of the M1 are also posing danger to motorists because of boulders rolling down from Chikwawa hills.

Incessant rains this week have washed away crops, roads, destroyed buildings and killed about 23 people in nine districts of Blantyre, Thyolo, Mulanje, Phalombe, Salima, Nkhotakota, Karonga, Mangochi and Zomba.