Blantyre - Malawi has expelled four South Africans working for international tobacco firms for price cutting and sabotaging the economy, President Bingu wa Mutharika said on Wednesday.
"They were sabotaging the economy and harming tobacco growers," Mutharika said in a strongly worded denunciation of the four, in a special live broadcast.
Calling the four "colonialists", Mutharika said he ordered the immigration department to revoke their work permits.
Stealing from the poor
The four were employed by international wholesalers which buy tobacco at auction.
"For a long time, they have been stealing from poor farmers. It's sabotage and an act of hostility to our country," Mutharika said.
"Anyone who sabotages the economy is an enemy of the people and does not deserve to be in this country," Mutharika added.
He said the four include chief executive Kelvin Stainton of Limbe Leaf, which is owned by Universal Leaf and Malawi's conglomerate Press Corporation, and Collins Armstrong of Alliance One.
The president raised the price of tobacco, the country's chief export crop, in March, setting the minimum price for a kilo of burley tobacco at $2.15 - from $2 last year - and throwing a lifeline to more than 300 000 peasant farmers who rely on the crop.
"To my dismay, the buyers chose to undermine the government...to depress the prices, to make fun of me."
'Green gold'
Mutharika, re-elected for a second term in May, says tobacco "brings in money that runs this country".
The president, who has often chided foreign buyers for offering low prices, urged police and immigration officials to "protect our people from continued unbridled exploitation".
Tobacco, popularly known here as the "green gold", is responsible for up to 70% of the poor country's foreign earnings.
The crop earned Malawi 470 million in 2008, from sales 194,000 tonnes.
The industry here employs about 500 000 people.
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Malawi defends tobacco expulsions
Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika has defended his decision to deport four senior foreign tobacco buyers for flouting minimum-price rules.
"For a long time I've been warning these exploitative colonialists to pay fair prices to farmers," he said.
The minimum prices were introduced for burley and flue-cured tobacco, Malawi's main export earners, last year.
But buyers have resisted them, saying the global economic crisis has made them unrealistic.
The four expatriates, who included two chief executives, worked for three of the largest tobacco-buying companies in the southern African country.
"I will not accept for my people to be exploited," said Mr Mutharika, who also serves as Malawi's agricultural minister.
The BBC's Joel Nkoma in the capital, Lilongwe, says it is not the first time that Mr Mutharika has lost his temper with the buyers.
In May he stormed the tobacco-auctioning floors to vent his frustration that the minimum price was not being paid to farmers.
It is estimated that more than 80% of Malawians are directly or indirectly employed by the tobacco industry.
Last month, aid organisation Plan International issued a report about the plight of children working on the farms.
It estimated that 75,000 children work on the estates and are exposed to high levels of nicotine poisoning.
"For a long time I've been warning these exploitative colonialists to pay fair prices to farmers," he said.
The minimum prices were introduced for burley and flue-cured tobacco, Malawi's main export earners, last year.
But buyers have resisted them, saying the global economic crisis has made them unrealistic.
The four expatriates, who included two chief executives, worked for three of the largest tobacco-buying companies in the southern African country.
"I will not accept for my people to be exploited," said Mr Mutharika, who also serves as Malawi's agricultural minister.
The BBC's Joel Nkoma in the capital, Lilongwe, says it is not the first time that Mr Mutharika has lost his temper with the buyers.
In May he stormed the tobacco-auctioning floors to vent his frustration that the minimum price was not being paid to farmers.
It is estimated that more than 80% of Malawians are directly or indirectly employed by the tobacco industry.
Last month, aid organisation Plan International issued a report about the plight of children working on the farms.
It estimated that 75,000 children work on the estates and are exposed to high levels of nicotine poisoning.
Malawi Deports Universal, Alliance Tobacco Officials
Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Malawi, the world’s largest burley tobacco producer, said it will deport officials of Alliance One Inc. and the local unit of Universal Corp. for paying below government-mandated prices for the leaf.
“This is the action I have taken,” President Bingu wa Mutharika said in a speech broadcast live on the state-owned Malawi Broadcasting Corp. radio station today. “They have been defying my orders to pay better prices and I have decided to chase them.”
The government yesterday revoked temporary work permits for officials of Alliance One, Universal-unit Limbe Leaf Tobacco, and Premium Tama Tobacco Co., and issued them with 24-hour deportation orders.
Karen Whelan, spokeswoman for Richmond, Virginia-based Universal, didn’t immediately return a message left on her office phone. Henry Babb, a spokesman for Morrisville, North Carolina-based Alliance One, didn’t return a message left at his office. A receptionist at Premium Tama’s Lilongwe office said Managing Director Tom Malata isn’t available to comment.
Malawi started setting minimum prices for the various grades of tobacco two years ago after it accused merchants of putting farmers out of business. While dealers denied that they underpaid farmers, Wa Mutharika on April 6 threatened to deport buyers if prices didn’t improve.
‘Can’t Allow It’
“They have been telling our farmers to grow better quality leaf and yet what they are buying at the auction floors is the low quality tobacco,” he said today. “They have been doing this deliberately to accuse the farmers of producing low quality leaf and paying them less. I can’t allow that.”
This season Malawi set a price of $2.15 a kilogram (2.2 pounds) for burley tobacco and $3.09 a kilogram for flue-cured tobacco. Tobacco Control Commission Chief Executive Officer Bruce Munthali on Sept. 4 reported to the government that buyers were ignoring these prices, the president said today.
The southern African nation relies on sales of the leaf for 60 percent of its export earnings. Burley tobacco is a lower- grade variety of the leaf used to fill cigarettes flavored with higher-grade flue-cured tobacco.
Malawi is forecast to produce 245 million kilograms (539 million pounds) of burley this year, according to the Web site of Universal. That’s more than double its closest rivals, Brazil and the U.S., and more than a quarter of global output. Flue- cured production of 25 million kilograms is about 0.6 percent of the projected world crop.
Universal, the world’s largest tobacco merchant, owns 58 percent of Limbe Leaf through its Continental unit, with the remainder owned by Press Corp. Ltd. of Malawi, according to Limbe’s Web site.
Calls to the local office of Alliance One in Lilongwe were not answered. A person who answered the phone at Limbe Leaf in the city said Chairman Mathews Chikaonda is the only official authorized to speak to the press and he is unavailable because he’s in China.
“This is the action I have taken,” President Bingu wa Mutharika said in a speech broadcast live on the state-owned Malawi Broadcasting Corp. radio station today. “They have been defying my orders to pay better prices and I have decided to chase them.”
The government yesterday revoked temporary work permits for officials of Alliance One, Universal-unit Limbe Leaf Tobacco, and Premium Tama Tobacco Co., and issued them with 24-hour deportation orders.
Karen Whelan, spokeswoman for Richmond, Virginia-based Universal, didn’t immediately return a message left on her office phone. Henry Babb, a spokesman for Morrisville, North Carolina-based Alliance One, didn’t return a message left at his office. A receptionist at Premium Tama’s Lilongwe office said Managing Director Tom Malata isn’t available to comment.
Malawi started setting minimum prices for the various grades of tobacco two years ago after it accused merchants of putting farmers out of business. While dealers denied that they underpaid farmers, Wa Mutharika on April 6 threatened to deport buyers if prices didn’t improve.
‘Can’t Allow It’
“They have been telling our farmers to grow better quality leaf and yet what they are buying at the auction floors is the low quality tobacco,” he said today. “They have been doing this deliberately to accuse the farmers of producing low quality leaf and paying them less. I can’t allow that.”
This season Malawi set a price of $2.15 a kilogram (2.2 pounds) for burley tobacco and $3.09 a kilogram for flue-cured tobacco. Tobacco Control Commission Chief Executive Officer Bruce Munthali on Sept. 4 reported to the government that buyers were ignoring these prices, the president said today.
The southern African nation relies on sales of the leaf for 60 percent of its export earnings. Burley tobacco is a lower- grade variety of the leaf used to fill cigarettes flavored with higher-grade flue-cured tobacco.
Malawi is forecast to produce 245 million kilograms (539 million pounds) of burley this year, according to the Web site of Universal. That’s more than double its closest rivals, Brazil and the U.S., and more than a quarter of global output. Flue- cured production of 25 million kilograms is about 0.6 percent of the projected world crop.
Universal, the world’s largest tobacco merchant, owns 58 percent of Limbe Leaf through its Continental unit, with the remainder owned by Press Corp. Ltd. of Malawi, according to Limbe’s Web site.
Calls to the local office of Alliance One in Lilongwe were not answered. A person who answered the phone at Limbe Leaf in the city said Chairman Mathews Chikaonda is the only official authorized to speak to the press and he is unavailable because he’s in China.
Malawi should shun western media reports on Dalai Lama – Chinese envoy
The Chinese ambassador to Malawi, Lin Songtien has advised the country’s media to desist from using reports of western media houses regarding Tibet’s spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Lin was speaking to media managers at a conference he held in Lilongwe to mend-fences with media following his displeasure to “bad publicity”. In his lengthy speech, the Chinese diplomat said Malawi media houses should not be following what Reuters, CNN and BBC reports on Dalai Lama, saying the rep
Mozambique: Malawians Destroy Homes in Tete
Maputo — About 50 Malawian citizens entered Mozambique on 2 September, and destroyed six houses, a vehicle and other property in Angonia district, in the western province of Tete, according to a report on Radio Mozambique.
The Malawian gang is also reported to have injured two Mozambicans with bush knives, and to have stolen an unspecified amount of cash and goods.
A Mozambican police officer was cited as saying that the incident started when a Malawian citizen, married to a Mozambican woman, and running a small business selling home-made traditional drinks in the Angonia locality of Mlangeni, near the border, refused to sell the product to some of his compatriots because it was too late in the night.
The police said that investigations are underway to identify the offenders and bring them to justice.
Radio Mozambique confirmed on Monday that life is gradually returning to normal in Mlangeni. People have started rebuilding the destroyed houses, but some of them are still traumatized by the violence.
One primary school teacher, Esperanca Edson, said that she lost almost all her property and was threatened by the Malawians. She added that almost all the victims need some kind of humanitarian support.
The Mozambican High Commission in the Malawian capital, Lilongwe, and the Consulate in Blantyre said that they are closely following the incident.
This happened at a time when the Malawi-Mozambique Joint Defence and Security Commission was meeting to discuss the August incident when members of the Malawian police destroyed a Mozambican police post in Ngauma district, in the northern province of Niassa. The meeting decided to set up a commission on inquiry to investigate this incident.
The Malawian National Intelligence Service (NIS) also threatened the Mozambican Consul in Blantyre, Felix Mambule, last weekend. Mambule was in Nsanje, in the far south of Malawi, when three NIS agents demanded that he provide them with the list of all Mozambican residents in Malawi who have registered to vote in the Mozambican presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled for 28 October.
Despite the threats, Mambule stood his ground, and refused to hand over the list. He described the attitude of the NIS agents as a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. He added that the registration of Mozambican voters living in Malawi was undertaken with the full knowledge of the Malawian authorities.
Mambule said that it was high time for Mozambique to take a firm position towards the recent incidents involving Malawian attacks on Mozambicans and Mozambican institutions.
The Malawian gang is also reported to have injured two Mozambicans with bush knives, and to have stolen an unspecified amount of cash and goods.
A Mozambican police officer was cited as saying that the incident started when a Malawian citizen, married to a Mozambican woman, and running a small business selling home-made traditional drinks in the Angonia locality of Mlangeni, near the border, refused to sell the product to some of his compatriots because it was too late in the night.
The police said that investigations are underway to identify the offenders and bring them to justice.
Radio Mozambique confirmed on Monday that life is gradually returning to normal in Mlangeni. People have started rebuilding the destroyed houses, but some of them are still traumatized by the violence.
One primary school teacher, Esperanca Edson, said that she lost almost all her property and was threatened by the Malawians. She added that almost all the victims need some kind of humanitarian support.
The Mozambican High Commission in the Malawian capital, Lilongwe, and the Consulate in Blantyre said that they are closely following the incident.
This happened at a time when the Malawi-Mozambique Joint Defence and Security Commission was meeting to discuss the August incident when members of the Malawian police destroyed a Mozambican police post in Ngauma district, in the northern province of Niassa. The meeting decided to set up a commission on inquiry to investigate this incident.
The Malawian National Intelligence Service (NIS) also threatened the Mozambican Consul in Blantyre, Felix Mambule, last weekend. Mambule was in Nsanje, in the far south of Malawi, when three NIS agents demanded that he provide them with the list of all Mozambican residents in Malawi who have registered to vote in the Mozambican presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled for 28 October.
Despite the threats, Mambule stood his ground, and refused to hand over the list. He described the attitude of the NIS agents as a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. He added that the registration of Mozambican voters living in Malawi was undertaken with the full knowledge of the Malawian authorities.
Mambule said that it was high time for Mozambique to take a firm position towards the recent incidents involving Malawian attacks on Mozambicans and Mozambican institutions.
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