The road from Mwami/Mchinji One Stop Border Post (OSBP) in Mchinji District to Lilongwe is strewn with 14-plus roadblocks that bewilder Cross-Border Traders Association of Malawi President Steve Yohane.
“Fourteen-plus roadblocks for what? This is a free country,” he says, shaking his head.
At the ‘Strengthening Malawi’s Regional Trade through the Promotion of Transparent and Predictable Regulatory Framework’ engagement meeting on non-tariff barriers faced by cross-border traders that took place in Zomba City last Friday, this was the overarching concern raised by cross-border traders.
According to the United Kingdom’s Institute for Government, a non-tariff barrier “is any measure, other than a customs tariff, that acts as a barrier to international trade”.
The Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) organised the activity using funds from Growing Africa’s Agriculture, with participants being drawn from those in cross-border trade, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Agriculture, Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), Malawi Bureau of Standards, Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services, Malawi Police Service, among others.
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Yohane said when Malawi and Zambia’s heads of State opened the OSBP in the Central Region district, he thought that its goal of easing trade would be shared by those who man roadblocks in the country.
“So far, there is no such indicator,” he said.
The facility was commissioned by Malawi’s Head of State and Government Lazarus Chakwera and Hakainde Hichilema of neighbouring Zambia on December 7 2023.
It is an integral part of the Nacala Transport Corridor, a brainchild of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc).
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According to Sadc, the corridor is located on the Great East Road (T4) in Zambia and the M12 in Malawi, connecting Zambia and Malawi to the port of Nacala in Mozambique.
The regional grouping says the trade route is poised to create a win-win situation due to the simplicity of movement provided by the OSBP, citing the fact that it has combined two stops of adjourning border controls into one facility.
However, Yohane claimed that some public and civil servants in Malawi seem poised to frustrate such a move.
“What worries us is that the distance from the border post in Mchinji to Lilongwe is approximately 120 kilometres. Why should we have all these roadblocks? To make matters worse, police personnel seem not to understand some issues. For instance, we, cross-border traders, are sometimes asked about passports while we are in the interior of Malawi. Some police officers even ask for travelling documents from us. They sometimes ask for Malawi Revenue Authority documentation and, yet, the country has specific agencies that specialise in such issues [passports and tax issues].
“In the end, we, cross-border traders, lose out on contracts to supply goods and services because people at these roadblocks delay us and our buyers end up buying from other suppliers. We have had cases where goods have gone bad after being detained unnecessarily for months on end. This must change if we, as a country, are to make inroads in cross-border trade. We must emulate other countries in the Sadc region, notably Zambia,” Yohane explained.
He added that should the practices persist, Malawi may lose out on trade facilitation opportunities while other Sadc countries are meeting their socio-economic goals.
Yohane also implored officials in government ministries, departments and agencies to be giving instant feedback to traders so that, together, they can iron out issues that make cross-border trade a living hell for them.
MCCCI Chief Executive Officer Daisy Kambalame said they felt obliged to organise the meeting after observing that, apart from tax issues, there could be other underlying factors that negatively affect service provision among cross-border traders.
“We [as MCCCI] have joined hands with a consortium of [officials] from the ministries of Agriculture and Trade to capture the experiences of cross-border traders so that we understand the non-tariff barriers they face.
“We also want them to understand applicable laws because we realise that if people have a different understanding of laws, law application will differ. We, therefore, want to create an environment where there is clarity and transparency,” Kambalame explained.
“Sometimes, people lack clarity on rules and what documentation to bring to those at the border and [roadblocks]. The good thing is that there is, now, a portal they can go to. That will give us a chance to focus on exports, which is another goal we must pursue,” she added.
She said, further to that, appreciating challenges that cross-border traders face would put stakeholders in a position to address them and put Malawi in a position to benefit from the
African Continental Free Trade Area.
This is a free trade area encompassing most of Africa. It was established in 2018 through the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which has 43 parties.
“That is why we want to capture real-time experiences,” Kambalame said.
On her part, Ministry of Trade and Industry Director of Administration Sphiwe Msiska said constant engagement is key to the facilitation of trade both in Malawi and outside Malawi.
“That is why we had to engage different stakeholders, who have raised pertinent issues. We also appreciate that cross-border trade, which is often run by small-scale businesses, is important to the country,” Msiska said.
She, however, said the issue of roadblocks, which cross-border traders seem to be at pains with, is a national security issue that is beyond their scope.
Indeed, Malawi Police Service officers who attended the meeting indicated that it is not right to blame police on the issue of roadblock erection, saying not all roadblocks are set up by police.
They said some of the roadblocks are created by police officers, some are put in place by Department of Forestry personnel, with yet others being erected by MRA officials [who still use police officers they hire for that task] as well as Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services personnel.
This notwithstanding, Yohane demands a change of approach.
“Officials can, for instance, consider adopting the joint-service provision approach so that cross-border traders can be spared from the problems they face when they separately attend to government officials who ask for different things,” Yohane says.
