By Duncan Mlanjira
South Africa-based Prophet Shepherd Bushiri, leader of Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) church, has pledged to be selling maize at K5,000 per 50kg bag as one of his ways to alleviate his compatriots economic challenges they face in the rural areas.
In a statement he made on Zodiak Broadcasting Station on Tuesday, Bushiri said the exercise will start with markets in Ntcheu, then Salima, Chikwawa, Karonga, Chitipa and Phalombe.
Bushiri has donated maize to Malawians before
“We will make sure that we reach every area where there is a huge need,” he said.
Bushiri is asking the people to bring with them the national identity, which shall be recorded so that such a buyer should not be frequently back and forth to buy more and resell elsewhere at a higher prize.
“We are asking the people to bring the IDs for record purposes to avoid unscrupulous businesspeople from buying more bags to resell elsewhere at a higher prize.
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“Let me stress that I am doing all this because of the love of my fellow Malawians who are failing to buy maize because they cannot afford the higher prizes on the market,” he said.
He added that he has sourced this maize from business partners and he has done in the past in which he donated maize for free.
Hundreds of families have benefited from
Bushiri’s benevolence
He said he is not going to make any profit from this exercise but just want Malawians to have sense of ownership
He first thanked Malawians for maintaining peace during and after the Constitutional Court ruling.
“Remember, I was the first person to go public on this subject matter and called out for all political parties to prepare their people to accept the ruling.
“I am happy my message was taken up. And today we celebrate that Democracy has won!
“However, my message today is not about politics. My message today, which has always been my conviction, is about the continued hunger of our people.
“As we keep talking about court cases, appeals and rerun, we appear to have forgotten that our people, the same people the we want to vote at a later stage, are going without food in their homes.
“As a nation, our minds have diverted focus and we all focused on court, court, court, and more court, but what about the hunger that is making our people desperate? We need to come together and address this problem!
“Last year, I raised a sence of urgency on the need to deal with the hunger situation in the country. Furthermore, I offered a tangible solution to key stakeholders on the maize market to open up for a working arrangement that could have prevented the current dire maize situation.
“Unfortunately, nobody was paying attention to address as everybody was busy with courts yet our people are starving.
“But now, because nobody took me seriously, I have decided to take it up alone. I am, from tomorrow, going to sale maize at the cheapest price ever.
“I understand the 50kg bag has gone to as worse as K20,000 in some areas but I will be selling the same 50kg bag at K5,000.
“The point is that I want to show the nation that my focus is to help, not to do politics.
“Join me as we work together towards the betterment of our country. God bless you all, God bless Malawi!”