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| Opinion |
| Editorial |
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by
Editor, 11 December 2006
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07:15:47
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Fertiliser subsidy: no time for finger-pointing
That the fertiliser subsidy programme has started badly this year is no secret at all. All stakeholders including the President himself, the opposition and technocrats at the Ministry of Agriculture have admitted there are hiccups that need sorting out before the programme picks up as expected.
It is also accepted that between now and when the fertiliser is needed in the fields there is virtually no time—in areas where the rains have started—and little time in parts of the country where the rains are yet to come.
Which leaves one option as a solution—effective management—as some members of the opposition have advised government.
In other words, what needs to be done is to clean up the mess well and in time so that the dent to the well-meaning subsidy initiative is minimised.
There is, therefore, no point for anybody—including the President, who was blaming the opposition for the programme’s failure over the weekend—to be castigating others. After all, this is a government programme, owned by all Malawians regardless of their political leanings since hunger (when it strikes) sees no political boundaries.
Of course, here and there there may be a few detractors to the programme, but can they be so efficient that they can derail the whole national effort from Chitipa to Nsanje? Our answer is “no”. There is something fundamentally wrong with the overall administration of the project.
Either there are too many loopholes in the delivery system or government started very late this year and they don’t want to admit failure and seek help. Whatever the case, the Executive needs to get down to serious business, not insulting others at airports and mass rallies. It’s unMalawian, too.
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