.....according to the African nation’s top newspaper.
Journalist Mabvuto Banda spent eight days in Scotland, joining a police patrol in Aberdeen and visiting several drop-in centres for alcoholics and the homeless in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Mr Banda was appalled at the level of drinking and hard drugs use which, he said, claimed the same number of lives as HIV and Aids in his country. In 2005, former First Minister Jack McConnell pledged an annual aid package of £3million to help pay for health, education and economic development in Malawi.
Ministers have recently committed £4million to an international development programme in sub-Saharan Africa.
But Mr Banda writes in The Nation of the drugs and drinks projects he visited during his trip to Scotland: “I cannot help thinking these organisations fighting addiction deserve it more – despite the positive impact that Scottish money is having on my country.
“If the Scottish Government put more funds into preventing alcohol and drug abuse, many lives would be saved. After all, charity begins at home.”
