Food scarcity demos on March 10

A grouping calling themselves Concerned Citizens has organised demonstrations on March 10, this year where they want to petition the government on the continued scarcity of food in the country.

One of the organisers, Billy Mayaya has confirmed the development claiming the decision to demonstrate is due to government’s continued misinformation and lies on availability of food.

“We are very perplexed at the sudden change. They [government] are saying maize is coming in, but they have been saying this for over four weeks. And we are not convinced with their action hence the demonstration, in order to demand greater accountability on the part of the government.

“We will match from Kamuzu Central round about to Parliament where the petition will be delivered to the parliamentary committee on agriculture, so that they take proper action on this matter. And we’ll continue to put pressure on government to have our concerns heard,” revealed Mayaya.

But government spokesperson, Jappie Mhango branded Mayaya as failed activist and he should join active politics so that they can play on the same field

“I think Mr Mayaya must join politics. He is no longer an activist and let him come out in the open and join politics … the country has got food available, [it] has been bought from Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi. So to demonstrate that there is food scarcity, it’s something that doesn’t make sense,” Mhango said.

Last time Mayaya organised the demos in October, 2015 that gave President Peter Mutharika 30 days to improve governance, only a few people attended.

However, Mayaya claimed the number does not matter saying they are only interested in delivering the message.

“People have died, people are still languishing in hunger. So how can you say it is too late to demonstrate? Malawi is undergoing economic crisis and we need to demand greater accountability and action on the part of government,” Mayaya said.

On Friday, Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe told Parliament that government had authorised Admarc to purchase another 50 metric tonnes from Tanzania. On Friday, 44 trucks carrying 500 metric tonnes arrived in the country.