Malawi launches K13.2bn public works, social cash transfer programme

Malawi government Wednesday released K13.2bn for public works and social cash transfer programme.

Joint press briefing organised by Minister of Finance and Economic planning Goodal Gondwe and the minister of Local government rural development Kondwani Nakhumwa at COI in Lilongwe (C)Stanley Makuti
Joint press briefing organised by Minister of Finance and Economic planning Goodal Gondwe and the minister of Local government rural development Kondwani Nakhumwa at COI in Lilongwe (C)Stanley Makuti
Joint press briefing organised by Minister of Finance and Economic planning Goodal Gondwe and the minister of Local government rural development Kondwani Nakhumwa at COI in Lilongwe (C)Stanley Makuti
Joint press briefing organised by Minister of Finance and Economic planning Goodal Gondwe and the minister of Local government rural development Kondwani Nakhumwa at COI in Lilongwe (C)Stanley Makuti

Speaking during the launch of the programme in Lilongwe Minister of Finance, Goodall Gondwe said the money would help those people affected with drought in the country to purchase food during the period of July to august 2016.

“This money has been made available through public works and the social cash transfer programmes. Out of the funds, K11bn is for the public works programme and K2.2bn is for social cash transfers,” said Gondwe.

He told journalists that the President had further directed that the funding should be done again in around October and November 2016 to help more beneficiaries buy subsidized farm inputs and improve their production in the next growing season.

Gondwe said, “A total of 3.4million people or 676,500 households are expected to benefit from the public works programme and 589,000 people, or 170,150 households will benefit from social cash transfers.

“This means a total of 66 percent of the 6.5 million people that require food assistance this year will receive cash transfers to enable them buy the food.”

He explained that poor households that were not covered by the programme would be assisted with free food handouts under the humanitarian assistance programmes that the government was managing through the department of disaster management affairs.

According to Gondwe, each household will receive K14, 400.00 at the end of 24 days’ work through the public works and an average of K6, 500 per month under the social cash transfer programme.

In his remarks, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Kondwani Nankhumwa, thanked the president for making funds available for the programme.

He said it was important that the money reached the intended beneficiaries in time and that it should be used for the intended purposes.

The minister said his ministry had invested a lot of money in training and capacity building of technical staff in all departments on catchment management, which is one of the main focuses of the current public works programme, in order to mitigate the negative effects of climate change.

“We have trained accounting personnel in all the councils to enhance their ability to capture record, file and report financial transactions,” said Nankhumwa.

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