Chief asks govt to dispatch food to Likoma

Traditional Authority Mkumpha III of Likoma and Chizumulu islands has asked government to dispatch food to the area, saying stocks at Admarc depots are low.

Mkumpha was speaking in an interview with The Nation on Saturday.

“We inspected our Admarc depots on both islands on Friday together with senior officials of various government departments and [we discovered that] we need maize as quickly as possible,” he said.

Likoma district agriculture development officer (Dado) Humpheys Gondwe also confirmed the development.

But Admarc regional manager (North) Boniface Masina dismissed the chief’s claims.

“Reports from my unit manager indicate that we have 281 metric tonnes of maize. So, it is not true,” said Masina.

He accused the media of raising a false alarm about the food situation on the islands.

However, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Professor Peter Mwanza said in an interview government is ready to send food to Likoma despite the MV Ilala being grounded.