Government seeks US $25 million for resettlement

The Malawi government plans to ask donors to provide US $25 million to purchase land for a resettlement programme to cater for 21,000 landless peasants, news reports said on Wednesday. Henry Juwa, principal secretary at the lands ministry was quoted as saying that at least 14,000 hectares were required for the resettlement programme once a land reform policy becomes law in October. “I am sure we will get the US $25 million from donors,” he was quoted as saying. Analysts said Malawi wanted to quickly distribute idle land to the landless to avoid the Zimbabwe-style land invasions. Lands Minister Thengo Maloya said the land distribution exercise would begin immediately after Parliament passed the country’s land reform policy. About 60 percent of Malawi’s 10 million people do not have access to land, and Maloya said the land issue could easily become a “breeding place for violence”.