By Wesley Macheso
There are not a lot of things that we, as a country, do right. For instance, we love trivia and tend to celebrate things we don’t have to clap hands to.
Of late, news has been about the Minister of Trade, Vitumbiko Mumba, who, since joining government, has been all over the place closing shops and demanding accountability from traders and employers across the country.
At first, his actions appeared to be mere political roadshows but his recent policy decisions are quite commendable. A week ago, the minister put in place rules prohibiting the importation of certain goods in a drive to save money and to boost Malawian businesses.
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For a long time, Malawians have been complaining about over-reliance on imports but not much is done to rectify the problem.
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We import vegetables, toothpicks and other things we can locally produce. This is a country that claims to build its economy on agriculture and yet we have our shops flooded with agricultural products from other countries.
We have been talking about this but; finally, somebody is doing something about it. When the proposed ban of the said imports and exports was announced, some doubted the merits of its implementation.
A good proportion of the population still believe that Malawi cannot do without foreign products.
Social media through policy to have their produce fetch what it is supposed to fetch.
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It is sad to see people buying tasteless South African rice in supermarkets when we have Kilombero and other good varieties of rice selling for low amounts in open markets was awash with doubts, with people arguing that the quality of Malawian products is low and that we will not be able to meet the demand. But this only goes to show how lowly we think of ourselves.
The Irish potatoes, vegetables, sweet potatoes, onions that we sell in places like Lizulu should be enough to feed us across the country.
It is only that our farmers have not been empowered enough If we are serious about becoming a producing country, then we are finally heading in the right direction. Restricting foreign goods on our market will boost competition among local producers, which will most likely result in improved quality of local products.
There was a time when Malawi used to produce high quality products, from clothes to beers in Makata, but we somehow lost that to our misunderstanding of multiparty democracy and liberal economies.
Kids today cannot believe that we used to assemble trucks and buses in Ndirande.
There are even some who believe that we cannot survive without kaunjika, forgetting that there was a time this country made its own clothes and even exported textiles to Europe.
We have all it takes right here, but we just need the right mindset to unleash the beast that will revolutionise this economy.
One cannot comprehend how, over the years, we have tended to look down on anything that is Malawian. Our shops are full of foreign products. The most famous Malawian artists today are singing like South Africans.
It is as if we want to be anything else but Malawian. This is why we fail to progress on our own terms. This is the reason some people are doubting that our economy can do without the influx of foreign products.
For once, the current regime has made a very commendable effort in trying to rescue our economy from the jaws of death.
