Donors insist no return to Malawi budget support: Channel  humanitarian aid to agencies

International donors, who provide 40 percent of Malawi’s budget,  have said they  will not be able to resume aid support to the impoverished country and they are  channelling humanitarian aid to flood  victims through aid agencies.

Malawi lost up to 40 percent of the budget support it was receiving from foreign donors after the European Union, the World Bank and the United Kingdom decided to suspend aid pending the results of the government investigation into the alleged corruption scandal, popularly known as “Cashgate.”

This week the donors have said they won’t resume until the  “cashgate” puzzle has been resolved and until it has established better financial and management systems.

Norwegian Ambassador Kikkan Haugen  said his country will not return to budgetary support as confidence has not been restored.

“Despite stopping direct budget support, we did not stop supporting development programes in Malawi”, said  Haugen , as quoted in the press.

Britain has also ruled out immediate return to budget support and that its humanitarian aid for the flood victims is being channelled though non-governmental agencies .

According to published reports, the British High Commissioner Michael Nevin and head of its International development wing the Development for International Development (DfID), said they have  channelled through the United Nations (UN) some £3.8 million (about K2.5 billion) to support large scale food and cash assistance for vulnerable people nationwide.

Malawi Government has described the donors move to direct aid to the people as unfortunate, saying government had taken several measures to win back their confidence.

“We would have loved to have all funding to be dedicated to specific people. However, if they have decided that it would be best to help Malawians through NGOs and other agencies, that is their decision and
we will cooperate as far as possible” the Nation on Sunday quoted Ministry of finance and Economic planning and Development spokesperson Nations Msowoya as saying.

According to the paper, Msowoya  insisted Treasury and the whole government had undertaken enough reforms to win back donor support.