Green Belt Initiative delays anger MPs
Members of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources have expressed reservations at the low funding levels for the Green Belt Initiative (GBI) since its inception in 2012.
Members of Parliament (MPs) expressed their sentiments during a tour of some projects launched by former president the late Bingu wa Mutharika to complement rain-fed agriculture in the wake of climate change and make Malawi a regional food basket.
In an interview on the sidelines of the tour, committee vice-chairperson Joseph Chidanti-Malunga confessed that MPs were not doing the nation justice by merely passing the National Budget then leave it there.
He said: “There is a need to thoroughly follow through just to ensure the funds reach their intended targets. Otherwise, why starting projects we can’t finalise? With this trend, it is just a matter of time before this GBI dream becomes another white elephant.”
During a visit to the Chikwawa Sugar Cane Project under the GBI in Salima on Wednesday, the MPs found that the project was still stalling despite reaching an 80 percent completion rate. The delay has been attributed to erratic funding.
In the current 2014/15 financial year ending this June 30, the sugar cane project was given K400 million (US$888 889 million) against the K2 billion (US$4.4 million) approved by Parliament whereas in the 2012/13 fiscal year, K1 billion (US$2.2 million) was allocated but only K500 million (US$1.1 million) found its way to the GBI secretariat.
In the 2015/16 National Budget currently under scrutiny in Parliament, the GBI vote has been allocated K1.3 billion.
But GBI acting national coordinator Reynold Njoloma said in an interview the allocation would not make a difference, warning the trend of underfunding is only leaving the multi-million kwacha project on the verge of collapse.
Speaking on the Salima project, Njoloma said the project needs about K2.5 billion (US$5.6 million) to be operational.
He said: “We just need at least K2.5 billion to finalise everything including repaying the contractor who unfortunately tooled down late last year due to our failure to pay him as per the contractual demands.”
The contractor, a consortium of engineering companies that includes Plem Construction, is owed about K800 million (US$1.8 million), according to Njoloma who hinted that the figure could rise to K1.3 billion (US$2.9 million) with interest.
Chidanti-Malunga, who is also Nsanje South MP, lamented: “Unless we change our mindset as a people, Malawi will remain a joke. I mean, how can we be allocating K8.5 billion to purchase staple maize from elsewhere today when we could have easily avoided the hunger now looming had we got our priorities right in the first place?
“Think of it, we are stuck with just over K2 billion (US$4.4 million) when we continue to fund other projects that we hardly need. We have to get serious about tackling the country’s food and nutrition security.”
The committee has since pledged to probe government further on the issue in the hope that the initiative, said to be key to growing the country’s socio-economic sector, gets adequate funding “once and for all”.
