- Malawi doesn’t have enough large industry with which to export value added goods at scale, and generate significant profits for shareholders and the state. If Switzerland has several companies of the size and stature of Nestlé, Ghana has Scancom, Ethiopia has Ethiopian Airlines and South Africa has Sasol – all of which generate revenues worth billions, and help not only bring Forex to the respective countries in which they’re based, but also provide employment, how can we not see how big industry is important? So, when will GoM intentionally establish big industry?
- Youth Empowerment needs a rethink. It’s not enough to educate the youth, but have little or no means by which they can put their knowledge to use. Having a degree doesn’t mean much if there’s neither jobs, nor capital for young people to utilise their skills. I’ve encountered too many graduates who can’t find jobs, and don’t have collateral with which to secure loans for starting a business. How will the next leader help these people, because what’s the point of the state investing resources in training say a Maths student through 4 years of university, for them to end up unemployed with little or nothing to do?
- President Lazarus Chakwera hasn’t kept his promises to reduce the power of the presidency, as he had promised when he was in opposition. This is a fact. It is in the best interest of the next President of Malawi to reduce the power of the presidency, but to even go much further, by establishing a Federal Republic. It means the job of development will be in the hands of a much larger number of people, and each of those people will be accountable to their districts. We’ve tried a unitary system for 50+ years with nothing to show for it. And one of the reasons it has failed has been because we’re expecting a small number of people to solve age old problems for 20 million people, which is not an easy task(there are muddy roads in Rumphi, which were muddy roads when I was a little boy, and which 40 years on, still remain muddy roads). We need to be humble and accept that developing Malawi is going to take more than one political party, more than one ethnic group, and more than one set of government ministers. A Federal Republic will help democratise development. It will introduce more avenues for accountability and will further empower the people. It also means if a particular region is not doing well despite having all the powers and resources to stimulate development, it won’t be the the fault of the president or ruling party, but partly the Federal officials elected in that district. Mabvuto a anthu aku Nchisi, aku Ngabu, aku Mangochi ndi aku Karonga, cannot all be adequately tackled by one president, a handful of ministers, and MPs/ Councillors alone. You need a much bigger operation and more deliberate and targeted thinking…
- Exporting Industrialists, which ties in with point 1 above. Every country that has developed has exported their industry to other countries. Forget the British, the Germans, the Americans, the Japanese or the Chinese, take a look at Brazil, for example. And the huge impact of their mining multinational Vale. S.A., which in 2023, had revenues of $41.78 Billion. In Brazil, Vale S.A.’s operations, generated $35.3 billion in 2023 from iron ore production, supported by extensive logistics and energy infrastructure. Canada and Indonesia also account for significant revenues for Vale, in nickel production, contributing $2.36 billion and $672.44 million respectively. Here in Malawi, Vale has invested $1 billion in logistics to support mining transportation, showcasing its commitment to infrastructure in Africa. That Investment will pay off. In Mozambique, Vale sold its mine for $270 million, while in Colombia, Vale has minimal current operations after divesting coal assets for $407 million in 2012. Vale also has a partnership in Sweden with GreenIron for decarbonization efforts and in Guinea, they have a stake in the Simandou project, but this is not yet operational and did not contribute to the 2023 production figures. In Oman, Vale operates a pelletizing plant, but the iron ore processed there is shipped from Brazil, and is not mined locally….. So then, how much in government loans does Simbi Phiri, Napoleon Dzombe, and other Malawians with large and successful companies need to truly become global? Should we not be funding them? Why are we not funding them, when there is ample evidence that such will ultimately benefit our economy?
- Why don’t we have a State-owned money transfer organisation, like Worldremit, Western Union, MoneyGram or Wise (formerly TransferWise) and offer cheap rates similar to those offered by these companies for money transfer? Malawians now live all across the world, and most need to move money around from time to time. Instead of leaving the Forex issue to the black market in Malawi, or to western companies, GoM could establish a Money transfer organisation, and use the capitalisation to take out loans to improve the organisation’s liquidity. So, imagine the organisation is established with a US$1 million capitalisation, and within a year begins processing $2million in funds a week(a small figure comparatively). Such a position can enable it to seek out loans that it can use to grow, and improve it’s liquidity…. This is ‘low-hanging fruit’ that would solve Malawi’s Forex shortages problem in no time…
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