Malawians are dying of hunger, says MP Kayembe 

Dowa West member of Parliament (MP) Abel Kayembe (Malawi Congress Party (MCP) gave a ‘point-of-order’ query in parliament to remarks made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Mulanje South West MP George Chaponda that President Peter Mutharika continue to live to his billing that that no person has died of hunger under his regime, saying  people are dying of hunger in his constituency and medical reports are confirming such deaths.

Chaponda told the House while contributing to the 2019/20 budget statement on Monday that President Mutharika has categorically said that no one will die of hunger.

“I am glad to see that in the 2016/2017 financial year, when we had the worst climatic situation in the country under his leadership, no one did in fact die of hunger.

“I am pleased that in this budget, a lot of money has gone to the agriculture sector; K167 billion and this will indeed address the issue of hunger and food shortage,” said Chaponda.

The former minister of agriculture said he was also glad especially that fertilizer subsidy under the Farm Input Subsidy Programme is continuing.

“About K35.5 billion funding has been provided in order to reach 900,000 farmers.  We have seen how this programme has done so well in alleviating poverty to the people,” he said.

But Kayembe rising on a point of order asked Chaponda to withdraw his statement that Mutharika has lived up to his promise of ensuring no one will die of hunger.

Kayembe said some people are dying of hunger in his constituency/

“I wanted to indicate right here that my people in T.A. Kayembe and Dzoole are dying of hunger. So, I wanted to ask the member to withdraw the statement because this is the time for us to look for food and distribute to all constituencies equally and not targeting a few areas,” said Kayembe.

In an interview later, Kayembe insisted that people are dying of hunger and called on government to distribute food to his constituency.