The inaugural Malawi Mining Investment Forum happened this week and it needs to be applauded. That is the way to go. However, Malawi has many missing minerals. They are mined secretly. They are taken out of the country as samples. They do not come back, and the results of the so-called samples cannot be traced anywhere. Malawi’s precious minerals are smuggled by gold mafias who use their financial power and political connections to defraud the country of its extractive resources.
Meanwhile, poverty continues to worsen. Communities and villages that live in the mineral rich areas have nothing to show for. They live in hunger. They lack clean and safe water. Their schools are some ramshackle eyesore, grass thatched temporary structures ready to be blown off by the slightest whisper of wind.
Impoverished rural communities living above the soils that hide these precious minerals, attend health centers that have no essential medical supplies. Meanwhile, smugglers masquerading as tourists continue to plunder Malawi’s mineral resources.
Malawi possesses abundance of extractive resources with deposits of minerals from gold, uranium, coal, rare earths, bauxite, rubies, and phosphates. Oil and gas deposits were also recently discovered on Lake Malawi and its shores although exploitation is subject of heated contestation.
Less impressive and uninspiring mining activities have taken place in Malawi. For example, coal mining in Rumphi, uranium mining at Kayelekera in Karonga, Malawi rubies and rare earths in Ntcheu and Mount Kangankunde, and several other operations in Phalombe, Mzimba and Mangochi. Recent news about discovery of gold deposits and rutile in Kasiya, Lilongwe rural, brings another dimension to the discourse.
Malawi suffers own version of the resource curse. Mining operations contribute little to the economy. Job creation is less than satisfactory. The excitement which accompanied the opening of uranium mine at Kayelekera was short-lived. The same applies to coal mining at Mwabulabo in Karonga. Eland Coal Mining, the company which operated the site abandoned the investment after a few years.
Ntcheu and Neno districts continue to suffer episodes of illegal mining. For decades, so called investors have taken large samples out of Malawi in the name of conducting tests whose results were never published. On the other hand, Malawi has suffered from companies operating without proper licenses. Some have used prospective licenses while others have abused exploratory licenses to engage in actual mining and stealing of precious stones.
Malawi government has been reluctant to embrace transparency and accountability although the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (Eiti) was adopted in 2016. For decades, mining companies had the upper hand in negotiating mining contracts owing to Malawi government’s weak negotiation capacity.
Malawi has benefited little in terms of royalties, corporate taxes and other forms of mining revenue streams. Corrupt government officials, unpatriotic politicians, and patronage networks have also connived to plunder mineral wealth.
Meanwhile, poverty continues to deepen as inequality widens. The World bank estimates that 72 percent of Malawians will be poor. The current rise in cost of living only worsens the situation. Prices of goods and services are unstoppably rising, with inflation over 30 percent. Access to education is under threat as university students are dangerously living in squalid conditions as beggars.
Malawi’s missing minerals translate into a resource curse which is compounded by the rise in corruption as public funds are plundered incessantly. Yet, the Malawi Mining Investment Forum reveals that the country has an abundance of minerals. In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty.
In the abundance of fertile land, millions of Malawians are hungry. In the abundance of minerals, Malawians continue to wallow in poverty. Malawi also suffers from poor leadership. It will take committed, visionary and patriotic political leadership to stop the looting of Malawi’s minerals.
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