By Linda Kwanjana
Malawi President Dr Lazarus MacCarthy Chakwera says Malawi needs urgent support in order to heal from adverse effects of a myriad of shocks that has rocked the country over the past years.
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Chakwera said what Malawi needs currently is urgent support to build resilience to inoculate the economy which is in bad state.
He said in the twelve months since the last time he addressed the assembly, Malawi has had the worst cholera outbreak in its history, killing more people than Covid19, a consequence of the contamination of water bodies and systems suffered when Cyclones Ana and Gombe hit the country early this year.
He said in that time, Malawi has also had a drought in its northern region, resulting in the loss of half of the maize and eighty percent of rice in one of the most productive districts in the country.
“In that time, Malawi has also come under assault by the worst Cyclone on record, as Freddy made landfall twice and left a trail of death and destruction like you wouldnt believe, killing over a thousand, displacing over half a million, and washing away homes, roads, bridges, businesses, and fields of crops that are a source of livelihood for over two million people. So, when I say that our SDGs are under threat, the threat is real and is already here.”
Chakwera emphasized that what Malawi needs most under the circumstance is decision and action.
“What Malawi needs, therefore, is decision and action. We need decision and action on the climate financing that has thus far been nothing more than a promissory note from the developed countries responsible for resourcing our efforts for mitigation, adaptation, and most urgently, loss and damage,” he said.
