Mutharika declares disaster as food crisis deepens

Malawi's worsening food crisis has been seized on by opponents of President Bingu wa Mutharika, intent on forcing him out of office. Apparently bowing to opposition pressure, Mutharika on Saturday declared a state of disaster in all 28 districts of Malawi in response to widespread food shortages - an indication that the food crisis had become politicised, said Rafiq Hajat of the Blantyre-based Institute for Policy Interaction. Hajat noted that the declaration came several weeks after the UN launched its US $88 million Flash Appeal for Malawi and was tantamount to "closing the stable door after the horse has already bolted". "It's basically long overdue - some of us in civil society have been raising the alarm over the impending food crisis since December 2004 and January this year. The crisis was created by a combination of factors, such as the non-delivery of subsidised fertiliser last year and the erratic rainfall - it did not take a rocket scientist to figure out that we were going to face a food crisis this year," Hajat commented. Aid workers told IRIN the Flash Appeal had been out since the end of August and it was unlikely that a state of disaster would deliver significant new levels of funding. According to the Financial Tracking System of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, $28 million had so far been received towards the $88 million Malawi appeal. Mutharika has been fighting for his political survival since June, with the food crisis seemingly overshadowed as opposition parties forged ahead with plans to impeach him. The fight has pitted Mutharika against former president of the country and now chairman of the United Democratic Front (UDF), Bakili Muluzi, with the UDF proposing an impeachment motion after Mutharika left the party which had sponsored him in the national elections. On paper the opposition parties form the largest bloc in parliament, though Mutharika formed his own political organisation, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), it does not have any seats. Earlier this month, British High Commissioner to Malawi David Pearey said the ongoing political crisis was distracting government and had caused parliament to lose focus amid a worsening food crisis. He warned that the political imbroglio could also jeopardise foreign development assistance. "Certain quarters seem hell-bent on self-destruction. It's the old African adage: 'When the elephants fight the grass gets trampled underfoot'," Hajat remarked. The World Food Programme (WFP) spokeswoman in Malawi, Antonella D'Aprile, said the government - with donor backing - was already distributing food aid in the central and northern parts of the country, alongside WFP's efforts in the worst-affected southern districts. "The situation is, however, complex and we've been monitoring the maize price over the past six months, and we knew something big was coming [in terms of needs]," she said. The volume of food aid required was "much higher now, and we are now looking at five million people in need [of food aid]". Earlier estimates had put the number at 4.2 million.