From grass-thatched to iron sheets

It started as a dream. But amid public criticism that it is a parallel of LDF, Joyce Banda’s Mudzi Transformation Trust, as EPHRAIM NYONDO observed in some sites, is taking shape.

he definition of rural poverty in Malawi is evident on the face of shacks that are used as houses.

They are not just two-bedroomed, catering for an average family of eight. Their roofs are grass-thatched; walls cracked and dirty, without slits of ventilation.

Living in such a house, says Dora Sam from Group Village Head Kapyepye in Zomba, can be a pain in the eye.

“As the rainy season approaches, I worry. The leaking roofs make our nights uncomfortable. Our food gets wet and so does our clothing, and notebooks for the children,” says Sam, a married mother of four, whose house symbolises the worst of rural housing in Malawi.

She has a litany of worries of her poor housing. Yet she is not the only one.

A 2008 research by FinScope Malawi revealed that 66 percent of families in the country live in traditional housing with a grass-thatched roof, cracked mud walls or reed/straw walls.

Yet good shelter, notes United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is not just a human right but also an indicator of one’ s socio-economic situation.

“The quality of our shelter determines socioeconomic outcomes of our citizens. In situations where people live in poor housing, they are likely to suffer from poor health and other indicators,” says Anna Tibaijuka, executive director of UN-Habitat.

This explains why adequate shelter is fundamental to the attainment of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets.

However, trapped in subsistence farming and rooted to a small piece of customary land, the poor can hardly raise enough income or access a bank loan to build a basic, decent house—one that is spacious, three-bedroomed, has a toilet, is well-ventilated and is roofed with corrugated iron sheets.

In fact, even if the Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) could construct good houses in their villages, the poor such as Sam could not afford the rentals.

But after years of storm, the clouds have began to shine, at least, for Sam. A month from now, the married mother of four will no longer be part of the 66 percent of the population trapped in poor housing.

She is among the hundreds, across the country, who are beneficiaries of President Joyce Banda’s Mudzi Transformation Trust (MTT).

“I do not know how I made it to the list of beneficiaries. But I just thank God that I was a part of it. This is great shift in my life, something I thought I would have never have in my life-time,” she says.

But what exactly is MTT? According to executive director Maxwell Themba, MTT is one of the three initiatives being advanced by Banda.

“There is the Presidential Initiative on Hunger and Poverty; there is Presidential Initiative on Safe Motherhood; and MTT is another initiative,” he says.

With the President, as a patron, 13 board members responsible for identifying well-wishers, and a secretariat based in Zomba responsible for the planning and execution of the project, MTT’s objective, says Themba, is to address the serious country’s age-old socio-economic imbalances.

“Over 50 percent of Malawians still live below on less than $1.00 per day. Most of them lack decent shelter, have no access to potable water, most villages have poor (dilapidated) or no access roads, over 30 percent of the total Malawian population do not have adequate food throughout the year, and most Malawians do not have adequate financial resources to subsist on for a daily comfortable living. This is what MTT wants to address,” he says.

He adds: “Since poverty levels are too high across all sections of the society in the country, Mudzi Transformation Trust has started addressing poverty of the rural masses as well as those of the urban marginalised society (i.e. urban poverty). The initiative targets everyone who is socio-economically disadvantaged. This is regardless of age, sex, colour, tribe, religion, political affiliation and any other social and economic individual or group inclinations.”

But how does MTT, which in five years targets 20 000 Malawians, identify its beneficiaries?

“The beneficiary identification process starts at cluster level. Cluster means several villages under one headship, with the GVH chairing the cluster under MTT.

“The cluster identifies a poor section within its cluster, for purposes of piloting where housing units to be built or rehabilitated and points for provision of water services are identified.

“All the traditional authorities (paramount chiefs, senior chiefs, traditional authorities and sub-traditional authorities) for each district form a district MTT committee where an executive committee is elected among themselves.

“This committee liaises with the trust secretariat in terms of project appraisal, approval and funding for implementation.

“The trust support to Malawians is currently on pilot phase and does so on condition that the beneficiary individuals and communities provide their own local resources (bricks, sand and unskilled labour workforce). All other construction materials which are out of reach of the beneficiaries are provided by MTT. These are not grants, neither are they loans,” says Themba.

From Kameme in Chitipa to Chimombo in Nsanje, the project has to date 22 pilot sites. Themba adds that, so far, 90 percent of the pilot phase projects are at completion level.

However, despite MTT’s visible efforts of fighting poverty, some experts have argued that the project could have just be incorporated into Local Development Fund (LDF).

Political analyst Michael Jana wonders why government would come up with MTT, which seems to run parallel to the established local government.

“Why not strengthen the local government and introduce the housing project within the local government or come up with a better social protection policy? Why duplicate efforts and costs? This, to me, is one example of poor governance that seems to be necessitated by the need for mere political visibility given the 2014 elections,” he says.

Yet, above all these criticisms, Sam is very close to having her dream home.

“We moulded the bricks and I am sure in a month’s time, I will relocate into my new house. I can’t wait,” she says.