CisaNet condemns politicians on relief food distribution

The Civil Society Agriculture Network (CisaNet) has described politicians who distribute food on behalf of government as greedy and selfish.

Speaking recently on the sidelines of a two-day briefing with civil society organisations operating in Nkhata Bay, CisaNet programme manager Alfred Kambwiri condemned the tendency describing it as retarding development .

“This affects our efforts to foster citizen’s right to food as politicians in most cases favour party loyalists, neglecting more vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens,” he said.

Kambwiri called on stakeholders to join hands to advocate for balanced and equitable access to food among the citizenry. He said the nation should put in place legal mechanisms barring politicians from taking part in relief distribution.

“We need to have [a law] which should check such acts by greedy and power-hungry politicians,” said Kambwiri.

This comes at a time the Catholic Development Commission in Malawi, (Cadecom) is running a six-month Community Empowerment For Sustainable Food project in the district, aimed at changing community’s perceptions towards nutrition. This will be achieved through a series of trainings in basic good nutritional feeding habits as well as their rights to access basic food and nutrition.