By Owen Nyaka:
An expert on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector, Lloyd Mtalimanja has called upon government to prioritize WASH as a critical enabler for development, progress in other sectors and thematic areas such as health, education, labour and gender.
Mtalimanja made the remarks during Ministers-pre budget consultations hosted by Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Hon. Sosten Alfred Gwengwe.
Mtalimanja says while commending the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs as well as the National Planning Commission for embarking on a process to ensure alignment of national development plan, as a player in WASH sector, WaterAid has noted with concern inadequate alignment of national budget to the MIP-2 and low levels of resourcing for the WASH sector yet WASH is critical to cholera fight and has economic benefits.
He said, for instance, Water Aid’s analysis of the 2022/23 national budget in view of the MIP-1 aspirations/planning figures indicates that about MK7 billion in recurrent expenditure was planned for WASH interventions to be implemented in the 2022/23 budget, yet the 2022/23 allocations the Ministry of Water and Sanitation Headquarters and the districts amount to MK2.4 billion only, implying a financing gap of MK4.6 billion, which must be sourced from elsewhere possibly partners and donors.
“This is an example (among many) that WASH is not adequately prioritized yet it is critical to diseases and deaths prevention and it has economic benefits to Malawi,” says Mtalimanja.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health advises that over 50 percent of the disease burden we “waste” resources on can actually be prevented through investment in WASH improvements.
A recent report by the World Back shows that Malawi is loosing alot financially for not prioritizing WASH.
