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MALAWI NEWS ONLINE/MALAWI NEWS ONLINE/MALAWI NEWS ONLINE
A fortnightly update of news from
Malawi
Edition No: 19 6 November
1996
MALAWI NEWS ONLINE is written by Malawian journalists in Malawi and brings you the news from their point of view. It is assembled and edited in Denmark by South Africa Contact, the former anti-apartheid movement, publishers of i'Afrika, a quarterly magazine on Southern Africa.
The fortnightly news updates from Malawi are provided by our established network of journalists in Southern Africa. They will be followed, in the not too distant future, by individual news updates covering other Southern African countries, ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE being the latest.
MALAWI NEWS ONLINE is brought to you by a co-operation between South Africa Contact and Inform, the leading alternative information network in Denmark.
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In this edition:
Feature: TOBACCO BUYERS THREATEN TO DUMP MALAWI LEAF
Articles:
1. MP GIVES VERBAL BASHING TO PRESIDENT
2. THREE KILLED IN AMBUSH
3. MYSTERY SURROUNDS SOURCE OF MONEY
4. TRIBUNAL ACCUSED OF FAVOURITISM
5. ELEVEN POLITICAL PARTIES FORM COUNCIL
6. TRIBUNAL COFFERS DRY UP
7. DRUGS PRICES LIKELY TO DROP
8. CHILDREN DIE IN MEASLES OUTBREAK
9. PARLIAMENT ACCUSED OF BLOCKING 8000 JOBS
Feature: TOBACCO BUYERS THREATEN TO DUMP MALAWI LEAF
As the war rages on between tobacco growers largely under the umbrella of the Tobacco Association of Malawi (Tama) on the one hand, and the government and Tobacco Control Commission on the other over intermediate buyers, Malawi's main tobacco buyers have threatened to stop buying the country's tobacco because they are dissatisfied over the low volumes produced. In spite of an increase in volumes this year, international buyers have voiced concern that for several years now, Malawi has failed to meet their desired threshold.
Tobacco sales this year registered an average 18.4% increase over last year's production due to a mix of factors among them higher volumes and better quality. The crop, dubbed Malawi's green gold, raked in a handsome K3,553,620,000 ($236,908,000) in 1996, which was K552,285,000 over last year's production. The lowest hit were burley, which dropped from $190,228,000 in 1996 to $149,814,000 in 1995, flue-cured ($34,959,000) which went down by $2,479,000 over last year's volumes and Northern Darkfired ($9,486,000 in 1996) from $12,730,000 in 1995.
Prices also varied with some leaf fetching higher prices per kilogram than others. In spite of the lower volumes, Fluecured was the most highly priced at an average of $2.29/kg ($1.85 last year), Burley gained by an average $0.13/kg over last year, while Northern Darkfired and Southern Darkfired got stuck at the same $1.70/kg. Sun Air on the other hand took a leap by $0.40/kg.
Data was not immediately available from the Tobacco Control Commission to compare with prices in other countries such as Zimbabwe. Tama's Executive Secretary, Dr. Gabert Thyangathyanga, an optimist through and through, says his organisation is poised to fight and eliminate intermediate buyers (IBs) until the last soldier is gone."IBs are thieves. They connive with tenants to steal from the farmers," charges Thyangathyanga. Intermediate buying, for a very long time a monopoly of the government-owned Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc), which had the sole prerogative of controlling prices, was introduced on the behest of the International Monetary Fund under the economic liberalisation policy.
The system is aimed at achieving equitable pricing of the crop to enable the tenants and the smallholder farmers, who were recently also allowed to grow burley and who could not hitherto benefit from the highly priced crops because they were limited to one buyer, that is Admarc, irrespective of the price the firm offered. There are now 3,000 intermediate buyers. However, Thyangathyanga says the system was imposed on the farmers overnight and without their say so and is aimed at destroying the tobacco industry, an evil he says his organisation will fight to the end.
Tobacco Control Commission General Manager Dr. Godfrey Chapola says his firm as a regulatory body only implements policy and does not take sides. He says government took the decision in the national interest, but the aim was not to damage the tobacco industry as claimed by Tama. "That would be suicidal. Dissatisfaction in a normal setting is normal. What is important is economic development and equitable distribution of income," says Chapola.
Independent analysts within the commission say government may lose the battle to Tama on IBs because of its unsteady representation during meetings. They argue that the growers would like to keep IBs out the system, not because they are thieves as Thyangathyanga alleges, but because the IBs offer more competitive buying prices to tenants and thereby reduce the farmers' chances of ever exploiting the tenants. "With IBs around, farmers can no longer cheat the tenants on prices because they will simply sell their tobacco to the IBs," one analyst said. With this competition, tenants are now able to sell their tobacco at as much as K12 to K15/kg and they are at liberty to sell or not sell to their masters.
On low volumes of tobacco, Chapola says redress lies in putting in place an equitable pricing system, facilitating access by farmers to resources, and tied to the first two - opening up the industry in order for more people to grow the crop. The analysts say many growers have over the years abandoned Fluecured and Northern-Darkfired because of two reasons: the poor price for the crops, whose price has only changed by a meagre 50 US cents over the ten years since 1988. This has obviously made the crop unattractive. The other problem is the shortage of the wood fuel the two types of tobacco require for curing. They say the problem is compounded by the eucalyptus in blue-gum species, one of the fast maturing types of trees which is not suitable for curing.
In the 1995/96 season, Malawi only managed to produce 115 million kg out of the 120 million that the buyers requested. Meanwhile, Chapola says the commission will only issue realistic and manageable quotas to growers and the total quotas to be issued will match the country's demand. Other analysts in the commission say to beat the 130 million kg that buyers have requested during the 1996/97 year, the commission will have to issue quotas for up to 200 million kg.
Articles:
1. MP GIVES VERBAL BASHING TO PRESIDENT
Opposition deputy for Karonga South, Kamunga Mwafulilwa, on October 27 took a swipe at President Bakili Muluzi for failing to install electricity into people's houses and public social facilities in his area in keeping with his promises.
In his address to the gathering at the commissioning of Wovwe mini-hydroelectric power station in Karonga, the Aford deputy told the president that he had not connected power to hospitals and schools in the area as he had earlier promised. Muluki had told the people in the area that he would not commission the power station until he had connected all the major public utilities with power in the area.
The MP also accused the ruling party of trying to gain political mileage of a project that had been implemented by the previous regime. After speaking in the vernacular, angry UDF officials had to grab the microphone from Mwafurilwa when he wanted to translate what he had said in Tumbuka into English for the benefit of the Germans who were present at the function. The project was funded by Germany. A visibly angry Muluzi called on the MP to respect him saying his remarks were uncalled for.
2. THREE KILLED IN AMBUSH
Four unidentified gunmen on October 27 shot dead three people, including a woman, when they ambushed a Chibuku Brewery van in Nkhata-Bay, northern Malawi. Police said the ambushers were apparently after cash. It is believed the victims where unauthorised passengers.
3. MYSTERY SURROUNDS SOURCE OF MONEY
Nobody in the UDF government wants to disclose the source of a K70 million fund that government has allocated to the Youth Loan Scheme. President Muluzi launched the scheme in August, but fell short of disclosing the source of the money as was expected of him.
Both Muluzi's economic advisor Kalonga Stambuli and Principal Secretary for Youth, whose ministry will oversee the implementation of the project, said they were ignorant of where the money came from apart from merely saying that it was a grant.
4. TRIBUNAL ACCUSED OF FAVOURITISM
Over 900 people from Mangochi, south Malawi who were victimised by the former regime and now want compensation, have accused the National Compensation Tribunal of favouring certain people in processing claims for compensation.
Cyril Siliya, spokesman for the people, most of them from Moto village, home of the late Masauko Chipembere who rebelled against Dr Banda during a 1964 cabinet crisis, said there were a lot of irregularities in sums of money paid out to victims, with some getting more than others.
He said while some people with political connections got hefty sums of money of up to K400,000, none of the victims from his district had been given more than K20,000. However, legal assessor and spokesman for the tribunal Viva Nyimba, said the payments being made now were only temporary and that the victims would be given real compensation when the tribunal had assessed the claims.
5. ELEVEN POLITICAL PARTIES FORM COUNCIL
Eleven political parties, most of which fought together with the ruling UDF under the Common Electoral Group, have formed a united council to enable them to speak with a common voice.
The formation of the group comes in the wake of growing dissatisfaction by the parties who feel the UDF has abandoned them inspite of their vital contribution in the fight for democracy.
The parties claim that the UDF is now eating the spoils of that fight alone, having completely forgotten the rest of the parties in the CEG.
6. TRIBUNAL COFFERS DRY UP
Funds for paying victims of Dr Banda's 30 year autocratic rule dried up end of October, dashing the hopes of thousands of people who had submitted claims for an early compensation. The new government set up the tribunal in 1995 to investigate claims by victims and compensate them for the victimisation.
For 1995/96, the tribunal had requested K100 million (6.6m) but was only given 25% of that amount. Tribunal spokesman Viva Nyimba, confirming that hundreds of victims are being turned back empty-handed because there were no funds to pay them said, however, there was no need for anxiety as the government would soon replenish the coffers.
7. DRUGS PRICES LIKELY TO DROP
The price of drugs, which today is very prohibitive even if one were on a medical scheme, is likely to fall following recommendations that a special committee set up to probe the high prices for drugs in the country has recommended to government.
The committee comprising representatives from the health and finance ministries and pharmacy and poisons board identified surtax and customs duty as the main cause for the high prices for drugs in the country. Surtax ad customs duty currently stand at 20% and 10%, respectively.
8. CHILDREN DIE IN MEASLES OUTBREAK
Nine children have died of measles in Mulanje, south Malawi during the past two months prompting health workers to set up a vaccination campaign. District Primary Health Officer in Mulanje, Veronica Limwado, described the situation as serious but said it was gradually calming down.
Five deaths occurred in September while the other four were recorded in October, out of over 131 cases reported in July. Officials said they are stepping up the vaccination targeting a population of 5,000 children aged between six months to 15 years.
9. PARLIAMENT ACCUSED OF BLOCKING 8000 JOBS
Presidential Economic Advisor, Kalonga Stambuli is deadsure that a whopping 8000 jobs are out there in the informal sector waiting to be grabbed - if only the stalled parliament convened to amend the Customs and Taxation Act. This bill, once amended, argues Stambuli, would usher in handsome investments to the exporting industry. He said that "it would provide incentives that would make this landlocked country competitive to foreign investors".
Stambuli, who thinks it is the opposition who are in the wrong for the failure of parliament to convene says they (the opposition) might think they are punishing the president by boycotting parliament, "but it's the ordinary man who is now suffering." MCP and Aford are boycotting parliament in reaction against the president's appointment of cabinet ministers from the two parties without their consent which they view as being calculated at weakening them.
Nebert Nyirenda, Investment Promotion Manager at Malawi Investment Promotion Agency (Mipa), says his organisation is looking forward to the Finance Minister - who has been studying the recommendations - tabling the bill before the house anytime it convenes. "We were given a picture that if all goes well it (the bill) would be tabled in parliament. It is expected that if the bill was passed, investments would by March next year have created the 8,000 jobs for unskilled labour.
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From: AfricaNN@inform-bbs.dk (Africa_news Network) Subject: MALAWI NEWS ONLINE #19 Date: 06 Nov 1996 12:38:10 GMT Message-Id: <1262350302.26318045@inform-bbs.dk>
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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