The Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has asked government to act with urgency in resolving the hunger crisis and the continued rise in prices of goods, issues which the commission says are worsening and affecting Malawians.
The Commission has expressed the concern through a press release signed by the Chairperson for the Commission Chikondi Chijozi.
“The Commission is deeply concerned with the persistence hunger situation in Malawi with 3,000,000 people representing 15% of Malawi’s population experiencing high acute food shortage. In addition, 5.9 million people were classified as stressed with eleven districts from the Southern and Eastern Region classified as crisis.
“The humanitarian nature of the crisis has prompted the Commission to issue this release observing that government is not responding with urgency,” says the Commission.
MHRC has also expressed concern over the rising cost of living in the country as prices of basic needs have gone up.
The Commission says as of September 2023, the inflation rate stood at 27.80% and food inflation rate stands at 36.8% while the non-food inflation rate stands at 17.2%.
“Most Malawians have been rendered unable to afford basic needs such as food, housing, medication, education, transportation, electricity and water bills,” reads part of the statement.
MHRC has proposed that government should address the issue of hunger by regulating maize prices and ensuring the availability of maize in Admarc depots.
The commission has also indicated that government should address high inflation rate as well as the fuel scarcity to mitigate the high living costs among citizens.
