Chakwera says Malawi tobacco prices to be dictated by farmer
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera on Wednesday conducted a whistle stop tour on his way to a rally at Malingunde in the outskirts of Lilongwe City where he criticised the tendency of letting tobacco buyers dictate leaf prices at the auction floors.
The tour took him to Njewa, Chigwirizano, unit six and then Malingunde.
On his first stop at T/A Njewa’s headquarters, Chakwera said: “Ukakhala ndi nkhukunsudikira ogula adzakuuze mtengo ayi, umanena ndiwe. (You don’t wait for a buyer to tell you the price of a chicken you are selling.) Why should we wait for external forces to determine our tobacco prices?”
He went on to declare that it’s now dawn and those entangled in shady businesses will be exposed.
“Kwacha means it’s now dawn, those stuck in the acts of darkness will face daylight and their evil doings will be exposed,” he said.
“I urge you patriotic Malawians to vote MCP on May 20 for a just and prudent government. We are bringing steward leadership which will drive the country out of poverty to economic prosperity through agriculture as the engine-room.
“This is why we are saying that we will not bow down to external forces to determine the prices of our agricultural products, especially tobacco. A buyer cannot decide the price of tobacco but the seller, in this case the farmers,” said Chakwera.
Chakwera indicated that his administration will endeavour to make fertiliser subsidy universal so that everyone benefits.
He inclined that it is high time the country moved away from being donor dependent for it to regain its lost glory.
“In every community a beggar is not respected, why should we then expect our country to have any respect if we continue to be donor dependent? We must drive ourselves to total independence in a specified timeframe,” he said.
