By Cedric Nkungula
President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera says Malawi needs urgent support in building resilience to inoculate its economy against the impact of natural shocks.
Addressing the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Conference on Thursday 21st September 2023 in New York, United States of America, Chakwera explained that fulfilment of Social Development Goals (SDGs) is under threat due to the natural disasters that hit the country hard the past few months.
“In the twelve months since the last time I stood here, Malawi has had the worst cholera outbreak in its history, killing more people than Covid, a consequence of the contamination our water bodies and systems suffered when Cyclones Ana and Gombe hit us six months before. In that time, Malawi has also had a drought in its northern region, resulting in the loss of half of our maize and eighty percent of our rice in one of the most productive districts in our country,” said the Malawi leader.
“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 wouldn’t 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 and nothing more.
“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.
