President Perter Mutharika has directed placement of the department of Disaster and risk management affairs DODMA under his office.
In a statement released on Saturday signed by chief secretary in the office of the president and cabinet Justin Saidi, says the directive is with immediate effect
Said says the move aims at enhancing government’s response to disasters and emergencies to ensure timely and affective coordination of relief efforts.
He added that the office has the capacity to facilitate quicker responses to emerging disasters hence the decision.
Said therefore assured the public that DODMA will continue working with stakeholders throughout the country in order to mitigate effects of disasters promote resilience and support affected communities.
The department has been moved from the office of the vice president Jane Ansah.
Commenting on the move, Center for Human Rights and Rehabilitation CHRR questions the ability of the president to handle pressing issues in the department considering his age.
“There is need to ensure that he is visible in disasters areas of course he doesn’t need have to be physically every where but the visibility of the president is important especially for the people that are facing the disasters,” said Kaiyatsa
However, CHRR executive director Micheal Kaiyatsa, believes that the decision has been taken following the absence of the vice president vs the current importance of the department.
Concurring with Kaiyatsa, social analyst Joe Maere while acknowledging the president’s authority to make such decisions but argued that the moves appears more political than administrative.
Maere said the president might have moved the department to prevent Jane Ansah from gaining political momentum noting that the department largely involves direct engagement with people on the ground.
“It might be that president see that Dr Jane Ansah might have a lot of powers because she will be meeting alot of people as she travels across the country. We need to understand that the power is delivered from the people so the more Jane Ansah meets people across the country on disasters the more she is advertising herself for 20230,” said Maere.
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