Editorial: Stop Using Asians as Scapegoats – It’s Time for Accountability
Yesterday, Trade and Industry Minister Vitumbiko Mumba made headlines by shutting down Chipiku, a chain of stores owned by Asian nationals, for allegedly hoarding a few bales of sugar. This move was presented as a firm stance against the ongoing scarcity and rising prices of sugar in Malawi. However, it appears to be a classic case of misdirected blame. At the same time, Labour Minister Peter Dimba toured Central Poultry, an Asian-owned company, where he found appalling working conditions.
Dimba responded by suggesting that the government would introduce a special minimum wage for Asian-owned businesses to address the situation. However, both these actions fail to address the root causes of the issues and instead seem to serve as convenient scapegoating for much deeper systemic failures within the government itself.
Both ministers’ actions may have been framed as efforts to address hoarding and poor working conditions, but in truth, they overlook the crucial role the Malawian political class plays in perpetuating these issues. Asian-owned businesses did not establish their operations in Malawi under some cloak of secrecy or through illicit means; they operate within the laws of the land.
If there are problems, it is because of the very politicians who have, over the years, failed to enforce regulations and who, in many cases, have turned a blind eye to unethical practices for personal gain. Politicians who are complicit in accepting bribes and protecting these businesses now seek to shift the blame to them when public outrage mounts.
Take, for example, the sugar crisis. It is not just small retailers like Chipiku that are at fault here. Major companies such as Illovo and large distributors have been the primary culprits behind the hoarding and price inflation of sugar.
Yet, the government has largely failed to hold them accountable, instead focusing on the more convenient target of small Asian-owned businesses. This selective application of the law only highlights the government’s failure to address the true economic challenges facing Malawi and creates an illusion of action when, in reality, it is little more than a cover-up of deeper corruption.
Similarly, Dimba’s recent visit to Central Poultry highlighted the inhumane working conditions that some employees face. While his suggestion of a special minimum wage for Asian-owned businesses might sound like a solution, it fails to address the broader issue of poor working conditions that exist across all sectors of Malawi’s economy, including government-owned businesses.
The real question is why these inhumane conditions are allowed to persist in the first place, and why the government is only now focusing on businesses owned by one particular group, when similar practices are rampant throughout the country.
This trend of blaming Asian businesses for the country’s ills, while allowing the political class to continue profiting from their business dealings, is neither fair nor productive. Politicians who benefit from these businesses’ operations must take responsibility for the poor conditions that many workers face and for the economic policies that allow such exploitation to continue.
Rather than singling out specific groups for political gain, the government must enforce the law uniformly across all sectors and focus on addressing the systemic corruption that continues to plague Malawi.
The government must stop using Asian businesses as a convenient excuse for their own failures. It’s time for the leadership to stop taking bribes, stop deflecting responsibility, and start acting to fix the real issues. The laws already exist – what is needed is accountability and transparency.
Malawi can only be free when its leaders stop scapegoating others and begin addressing the real challenges that hold the nation back. Until then, the problems will persist, and the blame will be misdirected, leaving the people to suffer the consequences.
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