By Yohane Symon:
Minister of Foreign Affairs in Iceland, Gudlaugur Thor Thordorson, made the remarks in Mangochi District on Thursday during the handover of Mangochi Maternity Wing which the Icelandic government has constructed at the cost of K1 billion.
The government of Iceland is directly supporting Mangochi District Council with about K11.7 billion through the Mangochi Basic Support Programme which is scheduled to run for four years from 2018.
This means that the council will be getting about K3 billion per year under the programme.
In addition, Mangochi District Council gets Other Recurrent Transactions funds amounting to K33 million every month, translating to about K396 million annually.
The Basic Support Programme seeks to improve service delivery in areas such as water and sanitation, education, health and economic empowerment for the youth and women in the district.
“We are very clear on so many principles; first, human rights, gender equality and also we want to fight corruption everywhere. So, that is something we need to do together. The message is clear; when we have so many signs of corruption, we will immediately pull back [our support] because that does not help the people,” Thordorson said.
He assured Malawi that the government of Iceland, which has been supporting Malawi for the past 30 years, was ready to help uplift lives of Malawians.
Health and Population Minister, Atupele Muluzi, said his ministry would make necessary arrangements to ensure that the facility is taken care of.
Muluzi said, initially, women in Mangochi were delivering on the floor, which goes against principles of Malawi Growth and Development Strategy and Sustainable Development Goals on maternal health.
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