In 2024, the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) launched Kalondola, an excise tax stamps initiative which was meant to improve visibility, fight counterfeits, and hit revenue targets by tracking every bottle, every pack and every regulated product from production or import stage.
Two years into the initiative, the MRA says the initiative is working. But a Malawi News investigation has found a different picture on the ground as tax stamps are being sold on the parallel market by individuals who are not mandated to sell the stamps by the MRA.
In addition to that, we can reveal that some products that are supposed to be stamped are being sold on the market without the seal and there is no proper tracking to catch those breaking the rules.
According to MRA Director of Corporate Affairs Wilma Chalulu, the Kalondola initiative has delivered results.
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“The initiative has managed to help in raising domestic revenue targets. In 2025, domestic excise tax revenue reached approximately K202 billion, exceeding the K199 billion target. The tax stamps initiative has also managed to help flush out counterfeit products on the market,” she said.
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To MRA, the numbers tell a success story. To traders and consumers in markets across Lilongwe, Blantyre, Mzuzu, Karonga, Mangochi and other border districts, the story is different.
In February this year while using a proxy Malawi News investigations managed to buy 20,000 excise tax stamps from a “dealer” in Limbe, Blantyre at a cost of K5 per each Stamp yet the official price for various stamps is not lower than K12.
According to Chalulu these are official prices for tax stamps; Whiskies, K32.00, Wines K25.00, Ciders K25.00, Lotion K15.00, other non-alcoholic beverages like carbonated soft drinks K12.00, bottled water K12.00.
And when we contacted the middleman for more stamps last week, we were told to wait as they are yet to get more stamps from the supplier.
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When checked by way of scanning, all the stamps which look near-perfect copies do not display any product information as is supposed to be according to the MRA.
We also found regulated products still being sold without any tax stamps at all. In other cases, products carried stamps that had never been activated in the MRA system, meaning the government could not verify if duty was paid for those products.
Other products had stamps meant for different product categories. For example, an alcoholic beverage stamp on a soft drink, or tobacco stamp on an imported cosmetic product. This as well according to MRA is an anomaly which points to the fact that something is wrong.
“That defeats the whole purpose of Kalondola. If the stamp isn’t scanned, isn’t activated, or isn’t even the right one, then MRA has no visibility. It’s just decoration on that product and no revenue might have gone into the MRA account,” said one MRA officer who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The investigation further established that MRA’s efforts to monitor usage of the stamps were minimal. Spot checks are rare. Retailers say they have not seen MRA teams verifying stamps in months.
At border posts, some importers pass the borders with unstamped goods and no follow-up is made. That lack of enforcement has created room for abuse and, in some cases, corruption, thereby giving those who cheat a cost advantage on the market.
“If I pay duty and buy genuine stamps and my competitor doesn’t, and no one checks, then I’m being punished for doing the right thing. As such, I also opt for the same stamps that are found on the black market,” said a beverage importer in Mangochi.
When stamps are faked or not activated, the government loses duty. When products enter without stamps, consumers have no guarantee of quality or safety. The same initiative meant to seal leaks may now be leaking itself.
With K202 billion excise tax collected against a K199 billion target, MRA has met its 2025 numbers. But analysts warn that the gaps uncovered could erode future gains if left unchecked.
Center for Social Accountability and Transparency (CSAT) Executive Director Willy Kambwandira said these findings expose a disturbing collapse of controls in MRA’s excise tax stamp system and raise serious questions about massive revenue leakage, corruption and possible insider collusion.
“Counterfeit, misused and inactivated stamps circulating alongside unstamped products cannot be dismissed as isolated anomalies, they point to a system vulnerable to organized abuse. MRA must urgently institute an independent forensic audit tracing every stamp from printing to activation and revenue collection, strengthen real-time tracking and enforcement, and hold implicated traders, officials and service providers accountable. Otherwise, the tax stamp initiative risks becoming a gateway for organized tax fraud rather than a tool for protecting public revenue and consumers,” Kambwandira said.
But Chalulu said the Authority has on several occasions apprehended local manufacturers and importers engaging in various tax stamp malpractices and has taken appropriate enforcement action, including the imposition of penalties in accordance with the Customs and Excise (Excise Tax Stamps) Regulations, 2024.
“Some of the common offences detected include possession or sale of products that are required by law to be affixed with tax stamps but were found without tax stamps, Products on which excise tax stamps had been affixed but the stamps had not been activated or declared in the Tax Stamp System, as required, and affixing excise tax stamps issued to one economic operator like manufacturer or importer or distributor onto products belonging to another economic operator,” she said.
