By Isaac Salima:
There are mixed views on the government’s decision to ban some imports, coming days after the government of Tanzania asked Malawi to reverse it.
Last month, the Ministry of Trade and Industry announced an import ban on products such as fresh milk, maize flour, rice, fruits except products that are not cultivated or produced in the country.
But last week, the Tanzanian government hit back when, through X, the country’s Minister of Agriculture Hussein Bashe said the move by Malawi would affect traders who export such products to Malawi.
Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises Executive Secretary James Chiutsi said there was a need to follow protocols first.
“The government should not reverse [the imports ban] but proper bilateral trade agreements need to be made. We must ask the government, on the other hand, to ensure that a very conducive business environment exists in Malawi so that our products should be competitive and drive foreign products out,” Chiutsi said.
Governance and international relations expert Chimwemwe Tsitsi said what mattered was following necessary modalities when coming up with such decisions.
“You recall that we have been talking about Comesa [Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa] and Sadc [Southern African Development Community] free trade area and I think there is some progress made to that effect.
“So, if a member country imposes a ban on importation of some products, there are some procedures that are supposed to be followed,” he said.
He added that Malawi, being a signatory of some trade agreements, needed to follow right procedures before imposing the ban.
“The treaties that Malawi is signatory to, as far as free trade is concerned, also stipulate that when a country feels that it has an industry that is under threat and has to be protected, it is at liberty to do so.
“However, it has to follow proper procedures, one of which is that players in that industry should petition the government for protection,” Tsitsi said.
Cross-border Traders Association of Malawi President Steven Yohane echoed Tsitsi’s sentiments.
“What was needed was not necessarily a ban on the imports but, rather, encouraging farmers or cooperatives to produce more so that we can suffocate the importation. What the government needs to do is to discuss with countries such as Tanzania on how to go about this issue,” Yohane said.
Small scale Business Operators Association of Malawi President Tennyson Mulimbula said they maintain their earlier stand against the importation ban.
“We argued that most of the locally produced goods are expensive in the country. So, if the ban is imposed, the manufactures will further increase prices of their products because they will have no competitors, which will in the end hit consumers and small-scale business operators hard. The idea is good but Malawi does not have the capacity to produce adequate goods for its citizens,” he said.
Former Farmers Union of Malawi president Frightone Njolomole backed the government, saying the ban should not be reversed.
Malawi, according Trade and Industry Minister Vitumbiko Mumba, will send a delegation to Tanzania to discuss the issue.
Mumba also said they had only received an official complaint from Zambia and other international organisations.
“We, as [the] Ministry of Trade and Industry, have only received formal communication from Zambia, Comesa and ambassadors from [Africa] wrote us seeking clarity and expressing their concerns and we have agreed to meet in the soonest time possible. We have responded through writing and not via social media,” Mumba said.
However, in an address to Tanzanian traders on his official X (Twitter) page on April 17, Tanzania Minister of Agriculture Hussein Bashe said the move by Malawi had directly affected activities of traders who export such products to Malawi.
“The government has received official notification that the Government of Malawi has banned the entry of agricultural products from Tanzania, including flour, rice, ginger, bananas and maize,” the statement reads.
Bashe claimed that all diplomatic efforts to reach an understanding with his Malawian counterpart had been unsuccessful.
“I confirm that as the minister responsible, I have contacted the Minister of Agriculture of Malawi [Sam Kawale] in various ways without success in getting an official response,” he said in the post
He has, therefore, declared that “If the governments of Malawi and South Africa do not change their positions by next Wednesday [this week], the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, through the Ministry of Agriculture, will ban the import of all agricultural products from the two countries.
“Additionally, cargoes of agricultural products from Malawi will not be allowed to pass through Tanzanian borders, towards the port of Dar es Salaam or any other country, until the ban is lifted,” the minister says.
The country has also announced the suspension on fertiliser exports to Malawi as part of measures meant to protect the interests of Tanzanian farmers and traders.
All Tanzanian exporters of agricultural products have since been advised to stop loading such products until Malawi reconsiders its position.
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