George Mhango, Blantyre
Malawi needs $227 million annually to achieve well-managed WASH services that are climate resilient to deal with waterborne diseases such as Cholera. The disease, according to health authorities, has since 2022 killed close to 1,750 people.
This dominated the high-level meeting between WASH stakeholders and former Malawi President Joyce Banda, in her capacity as a member of the Global Leadership Council of Sanitation and Water for All (SWA).
The meeting was organized to brief her about the challenges being faced in dealing with the effects of WASH services. Banda has since said she will remind organizations of the need to fulfill WASH promises made to Malawi and other countries at COP28.
The meeting coincides with news that Zambia—Malawi’s neighbor—continues to register more deaths and cases of Cholera, as is the case with Lilongwe.
Between 2022 and 2024, January 15, Malawi has recorded more than 1,750 cholera deaths. The Malawi government continues to issue a list of preventive measures for citizens to follow.
This is why WASH stakeholders in Malawi also briefed former President Joyce Banda, in her capacity as a member of the Global Leadership Council of Sanitation and Water for All, on the many challenges they face in providing WASH services to Malawians.
Executive Director of Water and Environmental Sanitation Network Wells Mwandira, who spoke on behalf of others, told the former leader that limited funding affects their operations.
“Our organization did budget tracking, and we focused on the issues of WASH, and that was mid-year 2023 to 2024, and that budget tracking revealed that if Malawi is to achieve safely managed WASH services that are also climate resilient, it needs an annual budget of 227 million US dollars per year, which translates to 387 billion Malawi Kwacha,” Mwandira stated.
But the former leader said the establishment of a standalone Ministry of Water and Sanitation is a testament to the government’s political commitment to ensuring universal access to water and sanitation.
Banda believed that addressing WASH challenges needs concerted efforts and proper utilization of funds and resources channeled to the cause.
According to her, the role of Global Leaders is to bring visibility to the issues of safe drinking water and sanitation, utilizing the unique positions of leaders and networks.
She said: “There were so many commitments that the global community made to African countries, and one of them was Malawi, and our Malawi minister of Water signed an agreement there for a specified amount of money, which was huge. So, we are saying it is entities like those interested in the effects of climate change and how that affects the flow of water globally that we should be pumping in money as well.
“So for me, that is where I can play a role; that is where I can support our WASH organizations and even our government to create a space with more resources for water allocation to ordinary people because, in 2030, we shall all be called upon to the UN to report on what progress we made in achieving the sustainable development goals -SDGs and one of them is access to clean water.”
Water and Environmental Sanitation Network-WESNET Wells Mwandira said that by being the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) member, Banda is a beacon of hope for improving the wash sector in Malawi.
“So as the stakeholders engaged the former head of state in her role on WASH, there were two issues the stakeholders felt the former head of state would help.
“The first one was to help with lobbying the government to increase the annual WASH budgetary allocation to 386 billion Malawi Kwacha as a threshold, and the second one was to lobby the government to ensure that the standalone Ministry of Water and Sanitation remains as a ministry permanently,” he said.
Joyce Banda, the former president of Malawi, was appointed in 2022 to the Global Leadership Council, which comprises five to seven high-level individuals.
The council encourages and motivates partners to increase political prioritization of water, sanitation, and hygiene, ensure adequate financing, and build better governance structures and institutions to achieve SDG6 by 2030.
