Only Chakwera can stop this mayhem on maize

 This week, I thought a lot about food. Not because I enjoy eating, no. Eating to me these days has become a boring ritual, only meant to keep my body and its metabolic processes up and running. Fullstop. Nothing else.

How does one enjoy food amid the dehumanising socio-economic suffering the Tonse Alliance administration is subjecting us to? The pain of the soaring prices of basic commodities has made breadwinners in all corners of the country lose weight, and I am no exception.

But what triggered my thoughts about food are the soaring prices of maize on the market. As I file this piece, many households are struggling to access maize because its prices have risen beyond their reach.

A 50-kilogramme bag of maize is now selling at more than K15 000. As a poor agricultural economy, whose staple food is maize, the amount is too much, especially for the poor households both in urban and rural areas.

You see, when I talk about hunger, I personally know what it means. I spent my formative years at Mahoria Village nestled between Machemba Mountain and the southern tip of Mulanje Mountain (Michesi). And, although my household was a bit better off than most homes around us, from time to time I would get the feel of the pangs of hunger, especially during years of severe drought or floods. Faces of my classmates spoke volumes of worse scenarios.

Later, we migrated to town and dwelt in the not-so-privileged townships where hunger and despair are the order of the day.

So, when I read in the local press about the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which said that from October this year to March 2023 3.8 million people will face hunger, my heart sunk.

I thought about the less-privileged families in Nthalire, Fatima, Mchinji and Nkhotakota. How will they survive?

So far, there has been some drama and mayhem when it comes to maize management in the country under the Tonse Alliance administration. For instance, this year Admarc is not buying maize. It is the NFRA which has been given the task to fill its strategic grain reserves (SGRs). This is a complete departure from what has been happening in the past, where only Admarc was allowed to buy maize for the SGRs.

Earlier, Admarc, led by my good old friend Alexander Kusamba Dzonzi planned to sell maize, 100 000 metric tonnes to be precise, to Zimbabwe, a move that was stopped following an outcry by Parliament.

Although government through the Ministry of Agriculture is insisting that the country has a lot of maize, therefore, food-secure, Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture chairperson Sameer Suleman recently told Malawians that Admarc does not have maize as most of its stock is forfeited to commercial banks as collateral for loans.

My Last Comment is: I am tired of listening to government spin-doctors labouring to convince us that we have food and Parliament doubting such assertions. What I want to see is government agents putting their boots on the ground in all corners of the country distributing free maize to people who have no tambala and regulating the price for households with a bit of income. Above all, President Lazarus Chakwera must come in and stop this mayhem to ensure everyone has food.

EPILOGUE

Stop unnecessary appointments

This week, President Chakwera appointed more senior officers into public positions. What is fascinating is how the President is ignoring his own austerity measures to balloon the public service with more tax-draining positions.

As I write, the Ministry of Agriculture has three Principal Secretaries instead of one. What a waste of resources!

And, then, there is this fascination with appointing old and retired people back into public service. I don’t understand this about the Chakwera administration. I simply can’t understand