Salima District Council through the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) has disbursed money to 385 households from traditional authorities (T/As) Kambalame and Ndindi in the district.

Speaking on Saturday during the exercise, Salima district commissioner Grace Chirwa Kanyimbiri urged the families to use the money to buy food.

“This money is meant for buying maize so that people should have food as they wait for their harvest,” she said.

Kanyimbiri said the beneficiaries were not obliged to share the money with anyone as a token of appreciation because the money came from the government.

Kanyimbiri gives a beneficiary money

Dodma deputy director of response Fyawupi Mwafongo also emphasised that beneficiaries should buy food.

“There are three months before people start harvesting maize. So, if you do not buy food, you will not help government to realise the purpose of implementing the cash transfers,” he said. 

One of the beneficiaries from T/A Kambalame, Agnes James, 75, said she will not misuse the money.

“As an old woman taking care of orphans, I need to have food for the family, but that was not possible. We usually slept on an empty stomach. Therefore, I thank Dodma for the assistance,” she said.

Each family received K50 000 for December and January. The beneficiaries are expected to receive another K50 000 each for February and March.

The cash transfers follow a 2022 Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee report that indicated that 3.8 Malawians would face food shortage during the 2022/23 lean season.

In response, Dodma rolled out the K74 billion Lean Season Food Security Response Programme to provide maize and money to food-insecure households in the country’s 27 district councils and four city councils.

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