‘From grass to grace’: Beneficiaries praise Malata subsidy programme
For Zeria Chirwa, a divorced mother of four children, living in a decent house roofed with corrugated iron sheets and floored with cement was a mere dream.
Chirwa from Mphambuseni Village in the area of Traditional Authority Zulu in Mchinji District has been living in grass-thatched mud houses since she was born decades ago.
She says in rainy season it was leaking and was a death trap.
“During rainy season I could just wake up and sit till the rains stop because the house I was living in was in pathetic state. I was scared for my life and my young children because I feared the house would one day collapse and kill us,” Chirwa says.
But from this rainy season, her family will sleep soundly without interruption from rains courtesy of Malawi Government’s Decent and Affordable Housing Subsidy programme (DAHSP).
Popularly known as Malata and Cement Subsidy, the programme is aimed at assisting poor people in rural areas by providing them with subsidised cement, iron sheets and other building materials to help them construct new houses or improve existing ones.
Chirwa has now built a three-bedroom house next to her old hut. She praises the programme saying when she heard about it, she never knew she would be one of the beneficiaries.
“I have been hearing about programmes targeting the poor, but this is one of the best programmes government has introduced,” she says.
“It is good that the programme allowed village housing committees to choose the beneficiaries,” she adds.
The village housing committees ensure that there is a beneficiary from every village thereby enabling people from different areas to benefit.
Under the programme, Chirwa and other beneficiaries got the construction materials on soft loan.
She says she is confident that she will repay the loan with the money she will realise from farm proceeds of this growing season.
Ganizani Solomoni, 83, from Tongozala Village in the area of TA Mkanda is also singing the ‘grass to grace’ song in praise of the DAHSP programme.
“I never dreamed I would one day stay in a decent house like this one,” he says with a smile, “When the Mkanda local housing committee chose me, I was really grateful.”
Just like Chirwa and many other villagers, Solomoni had been living in a dilapidated mud house. Apart from leakage, bed bugs were a menace due to rough and cracked walls that served as habitats for the parasites.
“Since I built this house, bed bugs no longer attack me. At my age, I am glad I’m living comfortably for the first time in many years. The rainy season, which has just started, will no longer be a nightmare,” he says.
In Mchinji district alone, 450 households are expected to benefit from the programme.
The District’s Rural Housing Officer Alex Saidi says about 340 houses have already been constructed or improved using the subsidised materials while the remaining 110 are still being constructed.
“We have distributed cement, iron sheets, timber and lime to beneficiaries in traditional authorities Zulu, Mkanda, Dambe, Mavwere, Kapondo, Simphasi, Kazyozyo, Mduwa and Mlonyeni, and we are in the processing of distributing the remaining materials such as window frames,” he says.
Chief Director of Housing in the Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development Stuart Ligomeka recently visited some of the beneficiaries in Mchinji.
“I’m impressed that some of the houses have been completed and that materials are delivered on time. Come March or April, all the beneficiaries in Mchinji will get their materials and will be staying in decent houses,” he said.
However, media reports indicate that some stakeholders say the programme is a failure and that it has to be stopped.
But Ligomeka says, “ ‘the goodness of pudding is in the eating’, I’m, therefore, calling on civil society organisations, members of parliament and other people who are skeptical to visit the beneficiaries for them to appreciate the success of the programme.”
Launching the Programme in Lilongwe District in December last year, President Arthur Peter Mutharika warned politicians and traditional leaders against politicising the programme.
He said although it was part of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)’s manifesto, it remained a government programme.
“It has been my dream to see Malawians live in houses that accord them the dignity they deserve. Let’s not spoil the opportunity which will not only improve the living conditions of rural Malawians but also create employment opportunities,” he said.
About 5, 440 households across the country are expected to benefit from the K7 billion programme which was approved by parliament in 2014.
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What the heck is that???? Are you guys serious??. You call that grace? You call that a house? When El Niño hits They will be the first to go
Malawi standards that is a decent house, go in cities people are roofing their houses with plastic paper, people learn to appreciate
And the DPP government has got guts to call these ” decent” houses. Let Times magazine come and take photographs of the same houses then publish them on the front page of their magazine with the tittle ” DECENT HOUSES IN MALAWI.” Some people have been commenting on this forum that the cause of poverty in Malawi is not about lack of natural resources but the way politicians think. In the same villages where these houses are built you will find very skilled builders and carpenters who are sitting idle without anything to do, why can the government or project… Read more »
Please stop stealing from poor Malawians disguised as supporting other poor Malawians. Those pictures of a so called “modern” house that looks like cattle kraal is not development.
That f*****n house was built by the so f******h government? Foolish people.
Grace is not there, don’t exaggerate issues, this lady is in dire poverty now giving her a simple house can be grace on empty stomach, I beg to disagree.
Malata and Cement subsidy with a small low or no interest loan. From what I see, each person is building the way they like. There is no proper structure or official architectural drawing that would encourage quality. An informal three bedroom house with cement floor, burnt bricks, 32# roofing sheets, plastered walls, steel doors and window frames locally made on the street and labour costed me K1.8m just in September in 2015.I built this house for an old lady ( not my relative)we happen to share neighborhood in my home village. I supervised everything and controlled all the risks and… Read more »
These are typical kraals kwathu Ku Nkhata sitingavomere zimenezi target your illiterate folks used to such zisakatsa called houses
O………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..O In the days of long ago when the world was young, quality and durability used to be an indelible mark of any structure built by government; regardless of how remote the place was. Are you sure that the structures being shown above are all the government can do? The design is as abhorrent as the material (like frame or door) is repugnant. Trust me, our fashion statement and other tastes define who we are. And if the structure we are seeing is the definition of the current government, then Malawi has no hope. Yes these are rural folks but… Read more »