The First Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Honorable Victor Musowa MP on Friday Morning commended the works of the Malawi Red Cross Society (MRCS) saying the organization plays an integral part in Malawi as it saves lives through its programs on Health, Disaster Risk Reduction, Social welfare and other developmental programmes.
Musowa made the remarks at Golden Peacock Hotel in Lilongwe when MRCS appeared before the Parliamentary Cluster on Health to update Parliament on the Government funded 2025/2026 Budget performance: achievements, challenges and an insight of the 2026/2027 plans and Budget ahead of the Budget deliberations in the Parliament chamber by all the members of Parliament.
The first deputy speaker said he was very impressed with the deliberations. “I am very happy with the discussions; this meeting is an eye opener not only to me but to all the members here. However, though Red Cross has been around us for so many years, listening to the members it appears that many do not know you yet. There is need to scale up your reach to all corners of the country.” Musowa said.
Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Health Honorable Antony Masamba MP reaffirms Parliament’s commitment to ensuring that all bodies established by Law through an act of Parliament such as the MRCS are provided with adequate resources to effectively execute their mandate to the general public.
“Let me assure MRCS that the Parliamentary Cluster on Health will be your mouthpiece to reach out to other members of parliament to fully support you during budget deliberation.” Said Masamba.
Taking turns, Parliamentary Cluster on Health members thanked MRCS for engaging Parliament but expressed worry about MRCS’s little visibility in many rural areas and concentration of programs in some few areas.
“We used to see Red Cross in many areas in the past, but now, we rarely see you. As you have an important task of saving lives, you need to be visible enough in all the districts.” Said one of the members, Honorable Skeffa Chimoto MP for Nkhotakota South.
Speaking in response to questions from the parliamentarians, MRCS Secretary General Chifundo Kalulu thanked the members for the fruitful and lively discussions and their commitment to lobby support for MRCS to reach out to more vulnerable communities across the country.
“I wish to thank you all members for the passion that you have demonstrated for the Red Cross throughout the deliberations. We have taken note off all the areas of concern especial that of visibility. We will put in place deliberate measures to ensuring that we are visible in all the corners of the country so that we can help many people as we shift towards resilience building.” Said Kalulu.
Malawi Red Cross Society was established by act 51 of 1966 Parliament as a Volunteer based humanitarian organization that plays an auxiliary role to the public authorities. It has over 85 thousand volunteers across the country.