Dear judge Mbadwa,

The recovery process following the Cyclone Freddy tragedy will take a long time, my lord, but there is something we can do better in making lives of the victims bearable.

My lord, I heard the director of the Nyasaland Department of Disaster Mismanagement saying that they are going to allow displaced people to stay in camps for three months before they are relocated, probably to some more temporary structures.

This is where I have a problem, my lord, because the camps we are talking about are mostly school structures or school grounds where in some cases tents have also been erected.

And you know what this means? My lord, classes in most areas will continue being disrupted or affected for the next three months, yet the school structures can be freed now if we plan properly.

Unfortunately, the Department of Disaster Mismanagement, with all its bureaucracy, will take ages instead of the said three months to make proper intervention to ease the suffering of the displaced people.

But if you have noted how citizens-led interventions are working wonders, then you would agree with me, my lord, that we should allow the capable Build-on Canaan to manage the funds and Sangalalani Kafodya to lead the reconstruction process.

I was elated to see Kafodya, with a budget of K1.7 million, managing to build a low cost strong house within eight days that would accommodate victims of Cyclone Freddy.

Kafodya has demonstrated that you don’t need a lot of money to build a decent house for the poor.

My lord, if Lazaro’s administration would empower the likes of Kafodya by giving them say half a billion meant for reallocation of displaced people, I can assure you they would deliver at least 500 units of low cost houses, something the Department of Mismanagement would not achieve.

In case some donors would doubt whether their money will be put to better use, my lord, I propose that we let Build-on Canaan, who seems to know the direction to the promised land of frugality, handle its disbursement.

I was also amazed at how Build-on Canaan and Thandizo have put every effort to account for the money that has passed through their hands to help displaced people instead of considering it as some Christmas.

I can assure you by the time the auditors’ report on the Department of Disaster Mismanagement’s handling of interventions in Cyclone Freddy disaster arrives next year; most of the information, money and resources will have disappeared.

We learnt our lessons about the folly of trusting the Department of Disaster Mismanagement.

But the citizens, my lord, have demonstrated that it is possible to implement a large-scale initiative without inflating bills and costs.

Let the citizens handle the rebuilding exercise if we want prudence.

Regards,

John Citizen.

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