PRISCA MANYIWA-MASUKU
MIRROR REPORTER

KWEKWE – Kwekwe District drought relief committee has been caught in between the need to provide food aid within stipulated time frames and the unavailability of free transport to carry the grain to the people.
The committee fears that if government does not provide funds for transportation of the grain before month end, the grain will be taken back by the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
Speaking to The Mirror on the sidelines of the drought relief committee meeting, Kwekwe District Development Coordinator, Fortune Mupungu highlighted some of the challenges that the committee is grappling with in trying to make sure that people get food aid in time to avoid hunger and starvation in the district.
“The government policy is clear on that everyone should get their grain free of charge so we are currently waiting for the approval of that budget and once it’s approved we will immediately start to distribute the grain to the beneficiaries.
“Our biggest challenge is that, if the budget is not approved before month end grain will be forfeited to GMB so we are trying to resolve such challenges to make sure that we collect all our grain before the end of the month.
“We are also grippling with the issue of double dipping since chiefs are getting their own allocation for the same wards where we are distributing grain we need to come up with a strategy to makesure that there is no double dipping,” said Mupungu.
Furthermore, the District had an increase in grain allocation from 440 metric tonnes to 950 metric tonnes of which 180 metric tonnes are allocated to seven Chiefs in the district.
“We have a significant increase interms of our allocation from 440 metric tonnes to 950 metrics tonnes so we have allocated 180 tonnes to our Chiefs who are supposed to allocate 5 tonnes per ward to distribute to the vulnerable households.
“We are going to meet with the Chiefs to come up with some arrangements that will ensure that there is no double allocation of the grain to the beneficiaries since we are working in the same areas,” said Mupungu.
In addition, Mupungu also revealed that their committee and the traditional leaders will put strategies on grain storage place, how the Chiefs are going to work on their monthly returns and the security of the grain whilst at the storage facility.