30 000 families to receive relief maize in Salima
Salima district commissioner (DC) Charles Mwawembe has announced that 30 252 families facing food shortage in the district will benefit from the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) relief maize distribution which starts this month.
He said this on Saturday at a full council meeting.
“In responding to the 2018/19 Malawi Vulnerability Assessment [MVAC] report, government has recommended that over 30 000 families facing food shortage across the district should receive relief maize for a period of five months from December to April,” he said.
He appealed to councillors, chiefs and members of Parliament (MPs) to ensure that all identified beneficiaries meet the criteria set by government.
“The key criteria for selection of beneficiaries is a state of food shortage.
We do not want people to be selected based on political, religious affiliation or other conditions apart from those set by government,” Mwawembe said.
He said the national launch of the relief food distribution would be done in Salima between December 21 and 22 this year.
In a separate interview, Salima South member of Parliament Uladi Mussa, who is also governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) vice-president for the Centre, said the Mvac report should have outlined the number of households facing food shortage in the district.
Oh her part, Salima North West MP Jessie Kabwila said it will be bad to see some households that qualify being left out just because the Mvac report underrepresented the extent of food shortage.
