By Kondanani Chilimunthaka
Malawi President, Lazarus Chakwera has called on the UN members states to put their efforts together with the aim of curbing the global crises locking the countries especially those in the Least Developed Countries zone.
President Chakwera made the call on Thursday, September 22,2022 during his address to the United Nations General Assembly currently underway in New York, USA.
Chakwera told the assembly that as UN family there is a need to hold hands and leave no one behind, saying other countries have been left behind, and feel much farther behind than before, regardless of the UN assurance of leaving no one behind.
“And we all know that food shortage is a global problem that will never be solved until all nations solve it together, yet in the allocation of international facilities for agro-based and debt-distressed economies, we have been left behind.
But if we are truly one UN family, then leaving no one behind has to be practiced not just preached. If we are truly one UN family, we must reject any attempts to politicise human suffering by lobbying us to refuse the help of those some find politically offensive.
If we are truly one UN family, we must get out of political posturing and welcome more helping hands in resolving the problems the permanent UN Security Council members have sometimes created and which they have failed to solve alone, namely the failure to stop environmental degradation, the failure to prevent unjust wars, the failure to lift unsustainable debt burdens, the failure to prevent food insecurity, and failure to contain pandemics.” Added President Chakwera.
In his 10 minutes speech at the UN General Assembly, Malawi leader articulated a number of issues including those affecting his country, such as Cyclones, Climate-change, and Covid-19 effects, saying Malawi stands ready to do its part in using any new support it gets to make up for the lost ground and catch up.
He said; “On addressing the current global food crisis, Malawi is ready to catch up, having just joined the Feed and Future initiative, giving us access to new financing in the next few years to use Malawi’s vast arable land and large volumes of fresh water to develop mega-farms that will feed the world and lift millions of our farmers out of subsistence living.
And we are delighted that many private sector investors are flocking to us to join the agricultural revolution that is coming to Malawi, as well as investors in mining, who know that the recent discovery in Malawi of the largest deposit of rutile in the world means that Malawi’s economic rose is imminent.
President Chakwera then called for action on the pledges already made towards the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) on climate-change mitigation and adaptation aiming at building resilience to climate-change induced events like floods, drought, pests, and cyclones which have been projected to become more frequent and more severe.
