By Brian Wasili
Mwanza, 23 April, Mana: Minister of Gender, Community development and social welfare, Jean Sendeza has called on Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) beneficiaries in Mwanza to buy maize to be in line with government's objective of addressing food insecurity among households that have no food in the district
The minister made the call at the launch of Vertical Expansion Lean Season Response and Horizontal Expansion Lean Season Response under SCTP at Mofati Village in the area of Inkosi Kanduku Maseko in Mwanza on Tuesday.
“This cash is not meant for beers or polygamy but to buy maize so that households should have some food and even multiply the money through some investments,” said Sendeza.
Among 8,443 households that are expected to benefit from the initiative, 1,858 are already on the SCTP and will receive K200, 000 cash with some top ups covering a period of four months under Vertical Expansion Lean Season Response.
The rest will receive K200, 000 for the same period under Horizontal Expansion Lean Season Response that is targeting non-members of SCTP who also received maize from Department of Disaster Management Affairs.
European Union (EU) Ambassador to Malawi, Rune Skinnebach commended the cordial relationship which exists between Malawi and EU on social protection and other development initiatives in the country.
“EU is committed to ensuring that Malawians are alleviated from poverty through our partnership,” said Skinnebach.
A SCTP beneficiary, Janet Sitiyanjana 46, from Tchereni Village at Inkosi Kanduku Maseko area hailed government for the intervention, saying this will improve her household food situation.
“I went to tailoring school using the money I received last time in order to sustain and expand source of income. This helped me to send my children to school,” said Sitiyanjana, a mother four children.
Member of Parliament for Mwanza Central Nicholas Dausi commended government for launching the initiative in the district saying this was a commitment to address hunger situation in the district.
