The Programme’s Desk Officer at Mulanje District Council Newton Sodala said this is part of Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP) and is implemented by National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC).

He says each person will receive K150, 000 for a period of three months; that’s K50, 000 per month.

“Mulanje is one of districts that were affected by the Cyclone Freddy and to date some families are yet to recover from the disaster, so government decided to assist its people by giving them this cash to help them buy food and farm inputs,” said Sodala.

He said it is the expectation of government to see the beneficiaries utilizing this money for intended purpose.

“We are all seeing the consequences of deforestation. Drought is here, there are no rains until now and to counter this, we need to restore all the degraded forests and rivers in the district and in our homes,” said Sodala, who is also the District Forestry Officer.

59 year old Edward Ngongonda from Nyezelera village in Traditional Authority Chikumbu was all smiles after receiving his K150, 000.

He said this is the first time for him to have such a huge sum of money in his life.

“I will buy food and fertilizers but woe to those who will squander this money,” said Ngongonda who has family of twenty people.

Another beneficiary, Eluby Malenga from Wasiya village in Traditional Authority Sunganinzeru said she has been cooking green mangoes and eat with her children and grandchildren following hunger that hit hard her family and with this money, she will buy food and eat at home.

“I thank government for assisting us with this money and I ask my fellow beneficiaries to use the cash wisely,” said Malenga.

Village head Hankey of T/A Chikumbu said he always encourages his subjects to plant trees in their homes and on his own he has four forests.

He said over 100 families in his village were affected by the cyclone.

Government is implementing the SSRLP with financial support from the World Bank.