By George Mponda

Karonga, September 28, Mana: Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) has warned politicians to stop allocating beneficiaries of mobilised resources for the implementation of recovery and resilience after a disaster or any related emergency along political party lines.

DoDMA Chief Disaster Resilience Officer, Sam Gama, issued the warning Friday in Karonga during an orientation of council members on the Disaster Risk Management Act which was organised by the Catholic Development Commission in Malawi.

Gama said: "Councillors and Members of Parliament have a mandate so that people in their wards and constituencies receive adequate and quality national services such as security, electricity and relief in major disasters.

"According to section 50 of the Disaster Risk Management Act, anyone found guilty of deploying equipment being used in search and rescue operations or provision of relief assistance to other tasks shall, upon conviction, be liable to a fine of K10,000,000 and imprisonment for three years."

Karonga District Council Chairperson, Bellium Msukwa, said there is need for proper coordination between politicians and the council secretariat when responding to disasters.

"Politicians should not interfere in the distribution of relief items but instead, we should act as watchdogs to ensure those who are affected by disasters are benefitting from the resources mobilised despite their political affiliation," Msukwa said.

Paramount Chief Kyungu said eversince Malawi became a democratic nation in 1994, alot of politicians became very corrupt and are derailing development.

"We have tolerated corruption for too long and in the process government has lost alot of money. We need to stop being selfish and change our mindset inorder to develop our districts," Kyungu said.