By Cathy Maulidi:
Lilongwe South legislator Peter Dimba is expected to table a motion and, subsequently, two Private Member’s bills that will pave the way for regulated cultivation, production, possession, distribution, and use of the local variety of Cannabis sativa, locally known as chamba.
This is according to a notice of motion we have seen.
The chamba is, according to experts, expected to rake in about $700 million per year once legalised.
The move also comes after Malawi has failed to do well with industrial and medicinal cannabis the country legalised in 2020, a problem blamed on shortage of markets.
Dimba confirmed the development, saying he is set to table the motion in the current meeting of Parliament.
“Yes, I can confirm that, during this meeting, I will be tabling a motion and bills (Cannabis Regulation (Amendment) Bill and the Prohibited Drugs (Amendment Bill) that, when passed into law, will allow Malawians to start regulated cultivation, processing and selling of the local Cannabis variety, which is on high demand out there.
“You would recall that during the mid-year budget review meeting, the Minister of Finance outlined the growing of local chamba as one of our government’s strategies for economic recovery and growth.
“In fact, he mentioned that it was envisaged that we could rake in as much as $700 million from the sale of local chamba biomass to outside markets. This is what has motivated me,” Dimba said.
He said, if legalised, local chamba would create jobs, grow people’s income and generate the much needed forex for our economy.
“What we need now is to sustain economic growth by diversifying the economy,” he said.
Commenting on the development, Cannabis Regulatory Authority Executive Director Ketulo Salipila expressed excitement with the move, saying the amendments would iron out operational and regulatory challenges that the authority has been experiencing.
