US vice president spouse in Malawi for humanitarian cause
US vice president’s spouse Jill Tracy Biden is in Malawi to drum up support for humanitarian causes as the country faces severe food shortages.
Dr Biden was expected to be joined by World Food Programme executive director.
Biden said Malawi needs assistance to avert the starvation of 8.5 million people who face acute food shortages due to El Nino weather phenomenon.
The unpredictable weather phenomenon has caused severe flooding in the north and severe drought in the south.
Biden said she will ensure that Malawi gets all the help it needs to combat the looming hunger.
A bag of maize is selling at K18000 instead of K7000 or down as it is just three months after harvest season.
Government officials say Malawi needs US$395 million for relief food for the 8.5 million but has managed to get US$65 million mainly from the US government.
Officials from the World Food Program say the distribution ofthe relief food is being hampered by lack of national registration ID system which could have easily helped know the exact number of people in need of relief food and where they might be.
President Peter Mutharika has said time and again that no one will die of hunger as long as he is president.
Mutharika told CCTV on Sunday that irrigation is the only way out of persistent food shortages that hit the country year in and year out.
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