Mutharika appeals for $81m humanitarian aid: Malawi spends K23.9bnto help flood victims
Malawian President Peter Mutharika said on Tuesday that the current floods which hit 15 district early this year has cost the Malawi economy at least K23.9 billion and that his government was seeking $81 million to support floods survivors.
President Mutharika said in a State of the Nation address that K23.9 billion excludes the cost of the relief programmes that are currently underway by government and other organizations and individuals.
“On the basis of available information so far, K5.6 billion worth of maize, K1.5 billion worth of rice, K320 million worth of groundnuts, K728 million worthy of cotton, and K51.8 million worth of fish has been lost,” revealed President Mutharika.
“It is also estimated that a total of K2.9 billion worth of livestock has been lost,” said the Malawi leader, pointing out that the loss of these assets had aggravated national food security.
Mutharika noted that the floods have caused “a lot of damage and will bring many negative socio-economic effects to the Malawian economy.”
“The growth for the country is largely driven by the agriculture, manufacturing, electricity, water and mining sectors, among others,” he noted.
“These have been adversely affected by the floods, to the extent that the country is likely to achieve economic growth lower than the 5.8 percent projected earlier for 2015,” said Mutharika.
Malawi’s Department of Surveys estimated that, as of Jan. 13, 63,531 hectares of land had been inundated by floodwater.
It is estimated that around 116,000 of the nation’s farmers – and some 35,000 hectares of cropland – have been affected.
“In this respect, the floods will have a huge impact on household food security during the 2015/16 consumption season,” he said.
In terms of a long-term response, the President said the government was finalizing a new national disaster management policy that would guide the government and other stakeholders on the implementation of programs and activities.
He said the policy was aimed at addressing disaster threats and reducing the impact of disasters in local communities.
Meanwhile, Mutharika will Wednesday leave the country for Ethiopia for an African Union summit where among other things he will brief the summit on the devastating floods which fallen the Malawi nation.
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Questionable!.Why bloting figures frm 500m to such billions mwathandizira anthu ake ati?. Koma apa ndiye mwai wabwera okha, kulemera kosowa poyambira kulipo. Ayi tamabani.
Please it is not acceptable to include corporate entities in the fund distributions or compesations as the latter should seek cover from their insurers.
Citizen
Mr Mutharika try to help Malawi, although am not thr, Anthu antundu wanga thy suffering.
Peter please musatikulunge nalo boza companies, nations as well as world as a whole donated overmuch funds which is more than the cost of the disaster in MALAWI please may you supply the full report of the funds that your government has received and then we can see the balance that is needed because we are scared for ( CASHGATE ii). as your surname is MUTHARIKA as the way your late brother Bingu Mutharika abuse and took public funds and Malawi is still getting poor and poor as we don’t know where the money is going as i can see… Read more »
But what I wonder with this nonsense state of national address is that the president is only able to outline what has been lost but he doesn’t tell us how much the government has received in the name of aid because there has been an enormous response to the flood incident government have given in so much which is not mentioned here so that we can know how much is the balance required to meet the needed amount instead all we hear is the total needed amount does it mean that all the aid governments, companies and individuals have poured… Read more »
Too early to expect a detailed report of the aid contributed so far as this will be prepared at a later stage after the last drop of the contribution made.
Ok Mr nalindila l get your point but l do expect the government to come up with a detailed preliminary report and there after an overall report is expected because without doing so we will always suspect mismanagement of the aid which would erode confidence from the well-wishers to be so pls Mr don’t sow irresponsibility in our leaders and don’t be too lazy of holding our leaders accountable.
Muntharika is up to something……..not just saying.
Uyisova iwe Mathanyula.Zero Aid Floods Support bwaaaaaaaa? Hehedeeeeeee!
Malawi Population= 16,000000
Each person to contribute K5000 regadless(Kamuzu Style)
Therefore we do not need aid.
Nthawi ya kamuzu anthu amazipeza kuti zodulila khadi. Bring back Kamuzu Leadership style. Malawi needs discipline. We are also loosing our dignity.
But masamu apangidwawo, why then we still need donor support?????????????
Are you mentally sound? A normal reasonable person could have commented such stupidity. You are sick; go and see a psychiatric surgeon.
Dziko Munabetsa ili Kwa agalu, really …really…are u serious Mr. President, So where is other billions?
Guys is this breakdown correct. The figures seem to be too high…….