By Solister Mogha

Zomba, July 26, Mana: They are weak and living in a dilapidated grass -thatched house in the outer skirt of Zomba district. Genazio Chinangwa 85 and Teleza Stanly 65 are just a sample of so many elderly persons battling it all, fighting for their lives even when their muscles have less to offer.

With difficulties in walking and hearing, the two never leave each other, day in and day out, they are either seated close to each other at their dusty veranda or in their field trying to prepare their land for the next growing season if not, caring for their already grown crops.

Of the eleven children they produced, seven are still alive but unable to care for them due to poverty. According to Chinangwa, sometimes, these children though in their separate marriages, look up to them for support.

“We are a starving family and have no proper support. This is the reason why, even at our old age, we still go to the field so that we have food for the rest of the family,” he says.

However, Chinangwa says despite numerous challenges facing the family, they find relief in the Social Cash Transfer (SCT) programme which they have been benefiting since its inception in 2015.

Through the programme, the family is able to use money received to buy food, fertilizer and pay school fees for their grandchildren.

Sometimes when their bodies are weak, they use the same money to employ other people to assist them in their farm.

This is not the only benefit they have managed to get from the programme, Chinangwa and his wife have also been saving and buying iron sheets for their house which they intend to roof some years to come if God allows to remain in the programme.

“Since 2015, I have been saving some little money and I have since bought 14 iron sheets out of 32 and I am hopeful that one day, I will roof my house with iron sheets,” he believes.

Chinangwa has since hailed government for introducing SCT programme which is one of the many social protection and safety net programs.

 He said without which, his life would have been a total mess and that at his age, he would have died of stress and poor health.

“How I wish this was a special package for the elderly and also accommodating many vulnerable groups. In addition, government should consider increasing the amount as the current value do not match with the cost of living,” Chinangwa suggests.

Government of Malawi with financial support from various partners including European Union (EU) introduced SCT programme as one of the social resilience and protection programme targeting the most vulnerable Malawians.

The idea is to ease sufferings of the less privileged through the provisional of monetary support to selected households. 

In Zomba, about 15, 556 households are benefiting from the program among whom includes the elderly persons like Chinangwa.

According to Paul Simfukwe, Principal Social Welfare Officer for Zomba, of the total beneficiaries, 7002 are the elderly.

Simfukwe described social cash transfer as a pivotal programme that provide an opportunity to every Malawian especially the vulnerable to rise above their statuses and start contributing to the economy of the country.

He said, initially the programme was designed to aid ultra-poor populations and graduate them to a much better level where they could stand on their own.

“Much as we talk about people benefiting from the programme, this is not a lifetime-all programme, people need to graduate. However, we are failing to graduate beneficiaries due to the absence of sustainable initiatives that could take up those graduation pathways,” Simfukwe said.

On increasing number of beneficiaries for the district, Simfukwe said during re-targeting, the figure may increase by 2 percent.

“Currently, the target beneficiaries are 10 percent of the total household population and after re-targeting, the percentage will increase by 2 percent making it 12 percent,” he said.

He agreed with Chinangwa that the amounts given to beneficiaries are too little to correspond economic demands and appealed authorities to consider revising.

Malawi Network of Eldery Persons Country Director, Andrew Kavala said much as the organizations appreciates that a proportion of the beneficiaries are the elder people, they would have loved if government rolled out a pure elderly scheme.

He said people like Chinagwa should not be allowed to sweat and work with their weak bodies.

“Elderly issues must be looked into critically, we will end up losing elderly persons due to pressure, unhealthy life and many more. Its high time government should take a bold step and improve the welfare of elderly persons,” said Kavala.

During their visit to the country, KFW a development bank through which European Union channels resources for the programme in Zomba, hailed the country for a successful progress made so far.

The Bank’s Head of Health, Education and Social Protection Division for south-reign Africa, Dr Marlis Sieburger said she was impressed to see that those benefiting are ultra-poor in very remote areas.

 Dr Sieburger also said including the elderly in the SCT was the much exciting thing about the programme.

She promised to lobby for more funds and also increasing the number of elderly benefiting from the programme.

“I am impressed to see elderly persons being considered. They are weak and cannot engage themselves in any hard labor. I pray that the programme continues so that more and more elder people benefit from it,” she said.

Social cash transfer programme was first introduced as a pilot in 2006 in Mchinji.

After a successful implementation, it spread out to other districts and in Zomba it was introduced in 2015.