Mutharika says implementation of 'good ideas often been MW’s problem'

Written by  MBC Online

Malawian President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika says Malawi has always been good at planning with good ideas, but “implementation has often been our problem.”

Minister of Agriculture Irrigation and Water Development Kondwani Nankhumwa has refuted reports alleging that the US Government has banned importation of tobacco and tobacco products from Malawi. Nankhumwa was speaking in Lilongwe during the official opening of 2019 Tobacco Industry Conference. He clarified that what happened was just an imposition of a hold and release order which is normal in international business. "We are still selling tobacco and other tobacco products to US. The difference is that we have to explain about the tobacco that we are sending in boarder posts emphasising that its child labour free," he said. He said tobacco remains a strategic crop to the Malawi economy. On November 1, 2019, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that it has issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) on tobacco from Malawi and products containing tobacco from Malawi. The products will be detained at all US ports of entry. CBP issued the order based on information collected by the agency that reasonably indicates the tobacco from Malawi is produced using forced labor and forced child labor. According to CBP’s press release on the subject, while the order will require detention of tobacco from Malawi at all US ports of entry, the WRO is not a ban. "Rather, importers may offer proof that their tobacco and tobacco-containing products do not include tobacco from Malawi that was produced with labor prohibited under US law. Importers of shipments detained under this WRO are also provided an opportunity to export their shipments under certain circumstances." Reads the statement on the matter. In his speech Tobacco Commission Board Chair Inkosi Mmbelwa told the conference that TC has registered 53,000 farmers this growing season while the Organisation registered 47,000 farmers last growing season. Mmbelwa also commended Government for the enactment of Tobacco Industrial law saying the law will help to bring sanity into Tobacco industry. Minister of Agriculture Irrigation and Water Development Kondwani Nankhumwa has refuted reports alleging that the US Government has banned importation of tobacco and tobacco products from Malawi. Nankhumwa was speaking in Lilongwe during the official opening of 2019 Tobacco Industry Conference. He clarified that what happened was just an imposition of a hold and release order which is normal in international business. "We are still selling tobacco and other tobacco products to US. The difference is that we have to explain about the tobacco that we are sending in boarder posts emphasising that its child labour free," he said. He said tobacco remains a strategic crop to the Malawi economy. On November 1, 2019, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that it has issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) on tobacco from Malawi and products containing tobacco from Malawi. The products will be detained at all US ports of entry. CBP issued the order based on information collected by the agency that reasonably indicates the tobacco from Malawi is produced using forced labor and forced child labor. According to CBP’s press release on the subject, while the order will require detention of tobacco from Malawi at all US ports of entry, the WRO is not a ban. "Rather, importers may offer proof that their tobacco and tobacco-containing products do not include tobacco from Malawi that was produced with labor prohibited under US law. Importers of shipments detained under this WRO are also provided an opportunity to export their shipments under certain circumstances." Reads the statement on the matter. In his speech Tobacco Commission Board Chair Inkosi Mmbelwa told the conference that TC has registered 53,000 farmers this growing season while the Organisation registered 47,000 farmers last growing season. Mmbelwa also commended Government for the enactment of Tobacco Industrial law saying the law will help to bring sanity into Tobacco industry.
22
November


“I expect this problem to come to an end once and for all. There is no point in planning if we can’t implement what we plan. By the end of the day, the most important things in life are the things that get done,’’ the President said this on Thursday when he met top officials of the National Planning Commission (NPC), a recently established think-tank.


Mutharika said he was pleased to meet the NPC team, saying “today we are meeting with a more focused mission as we define our national direction.”


“Let me begin by emphasizing that the public out there holds this Commission in very high regard. Malawians now know that we are going to have far-sighted, objective, consistent and well-coordinated planning.”


The Malawi leader said: “As a country, we have a lot of work to be done. And the sooner we get down to work, the better for us all.


He said he wanted Malawi to move from a low income country to a middle income country. “Let us remember that our ultimate goal is to create wealth and improve the quality of life for Malawians.”

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