By Mercy Matonga:
Israel says it will sign the Malawi-Israel Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on labour export in less than two weeks, ending uncertainty on the matter.
Frustration and anxiety over the future of the labour export deal recently saw youths who were impatient over delays to fly to Israel for employment staging protests to push for government intervention in the matter.
This followed the suspension of labour exports, which began late last year, as Israel sought to find workers in its agriculture sector and Malawi attempted to tackle worsening unemployment at home.
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Israel Ambassador to Malawi Michael Lotem told The Daily Times that his country is committed to the deal, which he said would be signed before the end of a two-week period.
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“The MoU will be signed in the next two weeks. We are fully committed and glad for the opportunity,” Lotem said.
The envoy further described relations between the two countries as cordial.
The Minister of Labour was unavailable for a comment Tuesday but, in a separate interview, Commissioner for Labour Hlalerwayo Nyangulu said the ministry could not comment on the matter and referred us to the Ministry of Foreign affairs, saying it would be in a position to comment.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be in a position to comment on the date of the signing,” Nyangulu said.
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Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also not immediately available for a comment.
Government moved towards involvement in the labour export issue following outcries that the previous arrangement, which was under private agencies, was exploitative and chaotic.
However, since the move—which followed a multidisciplinary government delegation to Israel on a fact-finding mission and a subsequent parliamentary report on the matter—the labour deals have come to a standstill, leading to anxiety among scores of youths on standby to move to Israel.
In the meantime, the Israel government has appeared to further dampen the mood by announcing a reduction of the number of workers it planned to import from Malawi from the initially announced 100,000 to 2,500.
The majority of the workers are expected to work in farms.
