By Vincent Gunde
Political activist Bon Kalindo has accused the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) of hijacking the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (D0DMA) in the distribution of free food distribution exercise currently being implemented across the country.
Kalindo said he saw it coming that the MCP will use the maize which donor partners through the World Food Programme (WFP) has donated to Malawi as a campaign weapon to entice the voters vote for President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera to bounce back into government on 16th September, 2025 elections.
He said the MCP has taken over the food distribution exercise from the country’s Vice President Dr. Michael Usi who took the mandate of DoDMA into his office as he was seen carrying a bag of maize on his head as a sign of servant leadership.
Speaking through an audio clip, Kalindo has expressed his deep concern over beneficiaries of Ndirande, Safalawo, Nyambadwe and other surrounding areas in Blantyre who braved heavy rains walking on foot to Blantyre Police Station for cards to be used to receive bags of maize at the Kamuzu Stadium.
Kalindo said it was sad to see that only a handful of people about 100 received free bags of maize while scores of people were turned away on the claims that their names were not there describing this as abusing the beneficiaries.
He said while some beneficiaries were turned away, trucks loaded with maize bags were seen going in to different directions speaking for itself that these trucks were diverted by party members for selling purposes as done in many areas across the country.
The activist has pleaded with government to offload the maize at ADMARC markets for people to buy other than abusing people to brave the rain with a hope of coming back with bags of maize only to come back empty handed.
“Some clever MCP Members of Parliament (MPs) are using the same free maize re-packing it into new sacks posing as their own maize to be distributed to their constituents for votes,” said Kalindo.
He said what is happening in free maize distribution exercise is the same with the Mec supplementary voter registration exercise where many centres are registering zero voters a clear testimony that many are being returned for not meeting eligibility criteria.
Kalindo has warned Mec Chairperson Justice Annabel Mtalimanja that should there be war in Malawi, she is to be held accountable for that as Malawians are not ready to accept her declaration that President Chakwera has won the elections.
He has claimed that the 2025 elections are the first of its kind in Malawi where the electoral body-Mec and accredited organizations have failed to provide voter and civic education saying this alone, is speaking for itself that the elections won’t be free, fair, credible and transparent.