National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust has expressed concern over failure by communities to benefit from the agreements signed between countries in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) region.
The development has moved Nice to embark on a campaign in the Lower Shire Valley district of Nsanje where they are popularising Sadc regional Integration to help the locals know the procedures they can follow to access the benefits in question.
Speaking on Sunday in Nsanje during the campaign meeting, Nsanje Nice district civic education officer Kondwani Malunga observed that despite member States such as Malawi investing a lot of money into the operations of Sadc, many people are not aware of such agreements.
“As a member State, Malawi has been pumping a lot of resources towards the operations of the same, but it has been established that information on the agreements that are made between the countries in the region does not trickle down to the rural populace,” he said.
Malunga said Nice has since embarked on a Sadc regional integration popularisation campaign in the lower Shire districts.
A member of the community, Diva Billy, from Chief Tengani in the district, admitted to have had no knowledge on Sadc issues and what Malawi benefits from the agreements.
“I have just been hearing that there is this grouping called Sadc but I am yet to know what Malawi as a country is benefiting,” he said. n
