Government to deploy graders in all districts

Minister of Information and Civic Education Moses Kunkuyu says government will deploy graders in all districts across the country to ensure that all roads are maintained and left in good condition throughout the year.

The minister made the remarks on Saturday during a development mass rally he addressed at Kapando Primary School ground in Mzimba Central Constituency.

He was responding to concerns raised by Member of Parliament for the constituency Mabvuto Joseph Kachali about pathetic road conditions especially in Inkosi Chindi’s area.

“Buses that used to come in Chindi area stopped from plying this route because  the roads are in bad condition.

“People who want to travel to Mzuzu  wake up between 2 am and 3am to catch few buses that operate from Euthini,” he lamented.

In response, Kunkuyu said government has made a provision in the next financial year, which starts from 1 July 2013, to allocate a grader to every district for maintaining feeder roads to make them passable throughout the year.

“Each district will be allocated a grader that will be maintaining the roads. The idea is to have the roads in good condition and usable throughout the year,” the minister said.

He also justified government’s decision to introduce a parallel subsidy programme which has come under fire from certain quarters who are branding it as duplication of Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) currently being implemented by Ministry of Agriculture. The critics say it will be open to abuse by ruling party officials.

Kunkuyu said the government proposed a parallel subsidy program because Fisp is fraught by challenges where some needy are left out.

“The current coupon programme has a lot of challenges; In some scenarios you would have three people ending up sharing a single bag of fertiliser.

“Under the proposed parallel programme, we will work with chiefs to identify the neediest families. The proposed beneficiaries will be given fertiliser on loan which will be repaid from portion of harvested crops,” he said.

He said such arrangement was there during the time of founding President Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda where farmers were given fertiliser loans and repaid back in form of a portion of   harvested crops.

Earlier, Kachali appealed to government to supply Admarc markets with maize as the area is at risk of hunger following poor rains in the last growing season.—Mana