A few days ago, Malawi finally sealed a government-to-government deal with Israel, which formalises the export of labour to the Middle Eastern country.
It is just unfortunate that the agreement has been signed after Israel drastically slashed the number of young people who can travel to that country to work in various sectors, particularly agriculture.
Reports indicate that Israel was in dire need of workers from other countries after thousands of them withdrew from the farms to fight in the ongoing war with Hamas.
It was very clear that the matter was one of emergency, such that any country that procrastinated to send its jobless young people would eventually find that the space which would have been allocated to it had been taken up by others who made swift arrangements.
- Advertisement -
The decision by the government to formalise the labour export deal is necessary for the protection of the people working or expected to travel to work in Israel.
- Advertisement -
It also ensures that no one is exploited in that country or ends up being trafficked elsewhere.
The only problem has been that government officials seldom respect urgency in their transactions.
Thousands of desperate young people who felt their lives would turn around if they were lucky to travel to Israel will not make it anymore because the number of needed workers has declined.
It would have been proper for the agents who were arranging the deals at first to continue with their work while the government also worked on sealing a formal deal with Israel.
- Advertisement -
In fact, it was possible for the government-to-government arrangement to take into account everyone who had already travelled to Israel. Of course, we all know some conditions might be different.
A country with one of the highest unemployment rates in the world was supposed to be acting swiftly whenever an opportunity to slash down the figures avails itself.
While we were busy talking about sealing a government-to-government deal and spending the scarce forex to travel to Israel to see how Malawians who were already there were surviving, other countries such as Kenya were busy sending their young people to the country in droves.
In fact, some of us already voiced our concerns about how the taking over of the export deal by the government was going to mess things up.
We all know how our public officers work: They do not believe in doing anything with a sense of urgency.
They are used to the usual lackadaisical approach which has also significantly contributed to Malawi’s underdevelopment.
Members of Parliament—in a bid to score political points to their constituents— fought for a stake in the arrangement of the labour exports.
They asked that young people from their constituencies should be made to go through them if they intend to go and work in Israel, so that they can use that as a campaign tool later.
Now, having already sealed the deal, the government is unwilling to disclose the finer details in the documents which the two sides signed and shared.
That raises a great deal of suspicion.
Malawians were initially made to feel that the involvement of government was ideal, especially because of potential risks that the workers in Israel face.
But, it is unclear whether and how that aspect has been handled.
Making the agreement public would also allow those intending to travel to Israel to work there to make informed decisions.
It is as if the government is aware that some clauses in the agreement are not in the best interest of the people working or intending to work in Israel and fears a backlash.
People deserve to know what will happen in the event that they get caught up in the conflict and get injured or, God forbid, lose their lives.
What if there is a clause that stipulates that Israel will not be responsible in such scenarios and that no compensation will be given out?
What if there even is no clause in the deal that tackles such an important area?
How will money that our youths working in Israel make be handled? We all know that the government is very interested in raising forex using any means necessary, but there should be clear guidelines on how such money is managed from Israel to Malawi.
Keeping a tight lid on the nitty-gritties of the formal agreement raises suspicion. Is there something the government does not want Malawians to know?
There are government-to-government agreements that we all agree can remain private, but not on labour export to a country that is at war.
