Controversy over Beautify Malawi milk donation: Disi irks ‘donor’ Aslam

Malawian businessman of Asian origin, Aslam Razzaq of Hafsa investment has protested that the a  tonne of condensed milk donation which First Lady Gertrude Mutharika received from Disi General Dealers were actually donated by him and not Disi.

The First Lady received the donation on Sunday at Kamuzu Palace from Torius Double, owner of the Disi Company.

But Razzaq told Nyasa Times that it was his donation, accusing Disi of “stealing the credit”.

“I made the donation to Beautify Malawi so that the milk can be distributed to young children living in camps in flood affected areas across the country,” Razzaq told Nyasa Times.

“If you ask Disi, they will have no papers to prove it’s their milk. I am yet to make more donations and that it should be properly credited,” he added.

State House press officer Chikondi Juma said indeed “DD General Dealers in collaboration with Hafsa [investments] made that donation.”

But Aslam said the condensed milk was “purely donated by Hafsa Investment only and not DD general dealers.”

“I  had donated 85 cartons of condensed milk and each carton consists of 48 tins. The weight of each tin is 390g which makes it 1.6 tonnes in total. Where did  the rest of the donation went,” he said.

The First Lady hailed the companies for responding to President Peter Mutharika’s call that every citizen must contribute something to assist fellow citizens hit by the disaster.

She said her Beautify Malawi trust was “grateful” that the companies had h so much confidence in them to donate the items to the people affected by floods.

Meanwhile, Lilongwe city central parliamentarian has also commended Hafsa for donating condensed milk to him to distribute in his constituency.