Govt must put Malawi first when dealing with Indians problem
For fear of being labeled a racist, I know good Indians who have contributed immensely to the development of Malawi.
This article, however, is about bad Indians—the ones who abuses government tenders and, again, those who sneak into the country and get employed with relevant documents.
Weeks ago, we learnt of 30 Indians who were illegally working at some Sugar Company in Chikwawa District.
Actually, I am not, in a way, pointing my finger at these Indians. To me, they were just taking advantage of a rotten government system that they exploited.
I am happy that, at long last, these buggers were arrested and, as any person not above the law, they must face the full wrath of the law.
However, we need to address the root cause of this problem. We have a government system that allows impunity such as this to be taking place. I am sure President Lazarus Chakwera and his team will address this.
Part of the problem is that we are too lenient and, sometimes, condescending when dealing with the Indian problem.
For instance, the bail bond that the 60 Indians were given isn’t deterring enough to keep these guys at bay. These are people that were robbing deserving Malawians of their right to employment and I was expecting the court to be a bit tougher on them.
Secondly, these guys were hurriedly given bail because, we know, there were some high level diplomatic meeting between Malawi and India.
We are told government was forced to free these guys because some unexplained consequences, mostly trade and financial inflows, were about to freeze.
I don’t know about you, but I feel it’s height time our government took a nonsensical approach in addressing problems such as these.
These threat we get from other countries as they try to protect their corrupt and wayward dissidents need to be rejected and challenged.
We cannot keep on harboring people who are not supposed to be here because we fear the retaliation from their host nation.
Those that were deported from Malawi to India should not be welcomed back. Likeswise, Malawians are deported for no right of aboard in South Africa, UK, United States and other countries.
We are a sovereign country and we should always been seen to be operating like that.
We have an Indian problem in Malawi and when dealing with it, government should always put the interest of Malawians first.
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We need principled leadership. Our laws come first before anybody and anything else. If our own laws can be raped because some of our partners who don;t like us enforcing our own laws then it is better to forgo such assistance from these partners that come with such unreasonableness. Our constitution our laws are sacrosanct and should be followed to the letter without bending back for anybody. If these Indians think Malawi is some Maharashtra, Karnataka, or Rajasthan or some province of India then they can stuff their monies we are not interested. We want aid that respects our sovereignty. Period. If they cant respect us let them take they sugar plantation to Gujarat we dont care a hoot about it.
Well said
I wish to agree that there are good Indians and bad Indians.Let me also point out that the worst of them all are Pakistanis.The likes of choonara are Pakistanis and so is Melton Trading and Batawarraaa. For having worked in Malawi without permits and looting they have engaged in, there should be no mercy.
Lately, a group of these Pakis and some Indians have gotten into land matters.This to me is no go area.Government should not deal leniently with such types.Where wrong, these must be jailed.
They must park and go thats all, we will find another means of cash flow.
This is correct. That is why I like Kagame. He is decisive and fearless. Malawi, we are timid when it comes with dealing with Indians, I fail to understand. They can do all the wrongs simply because we are just there Phwii watching. This is an unacceptable. It is a sign we have surrendered our Sovreignity to Foreigners
Can one explain what was the root problem. In other countries, when you land and if dont have a visa , you are sent back on the same flight or the next available flight. The airlines that bring passenger without a valid visa are fined and also responsible to take back the passengers at their cost. What is surprising is how did the immigration allow these people to enter malawi. Immigration must have stamped their passport to enter. Therefore blaming indians is incorrect. First blame the immigration and if those found guilty , take action . Has anyone looked into whether this was a issue of bonded labour or human trafficking with conviance of the immigration department and the management . It was group of 60 that came in , hence in all possibilties it was well organised. It was not the fault of the immigrants. The authorities should not have arrested them, instead detained them. Did the judge erred for put them in prison without verifying the reasons as to how they came in the country. They came from India which has high Covid infection and putting them in jail with other prisoners could have drastically affected the other prisoners
A chilima osaopa mwayambako kuopa ma Indians koma kumatiuza ife tisamaope a Malawi anzanthu, please inunso chilungamo paliponse musamachiope ayi!!!!!
Just create enough jobs
Not in an effort to accommodate foreigners. It’s nothing personal,
Take a leaf from the Batswana. No incentive, no opportunity, no luxury or comfort or benefit is above a citizen. The country would no sooner opt dissappear from the face of the earth than to forgo any leverage that could be bestowed on any one of it’s own.
That’s the Malawi we’re building, isn’t that right Laz?
It’s true that thousands of Malawians are deported from South Africa and Malawians are denied visas to enter the UK these days. Who in Malawi can go and work in India, Saudi Arabia etc. We see planes bringing Malawians from South Africa every Tuesday and you will see South Africa Police patrolling the Park Statin in search of illegal Malawians and they have no mercy. I personally know the currect Chief Immigaration Officer Masauko Medi and is corrupt. I worked with him at Kanengo Police Station. The previous governments did not protect Malawians and we were not given jobs. Yes we are lazy and thieves but when we go to UK we change and start working very hard just like the owners do. In UK and USA one cannot survive without a job. No foreigners has recourse of public funds and it is stamped in the passport. The UK left the EU because there was an influx of people from Polanda, Turkey and other poor Eastern European countries going there.
To call that racsim is a bit of a stretch,prejudice at some degree I would say, but I doubt the people’s concerns are racially motivated..if u break the law u should be liable to persecution Indian or Malawian indian!!
As an expatriate working in Malawi we need to look at several areas
1. Those here because of family married to a Malawian such fall under a different category and the law needs to be adapted to suit this. At this time there is only a provision for wives of Malawian not for husbands if Malawian women. These can not be tied down to a particular Job that the employer has to apply for a work permit with the current work permit status and should be allowed to solicit work freely.
2. We need to look at international investment as foreign investment comes there is currently a threshold allowing a number of expatriate workers for every x amount of international investment. This needs to be reviewed looking at the GDP contribution the investment will bring against what the expatriate worker will remit internationally.
3. The process of TEP application needs to be speeded up ultimately I have heard cases of this taking months and companies then are left with jobs open waiting for approval which is not feasible.
becoz of greed and corruption which starts from the top , and foremost thre rules and regulations of our immigrations set is allover the place so that the same rule does not apply differently to sameu people of the same category as l9ng as money counts.
eg MRA mmenye will claim duty free for a bigger procurement because has bought a k1 million car to the clearing agent and I would pay hefty amount for a smaller one.
thats it.
REVAMP IS NEEDED.
i hear UK gives 6months free and then if more needed is when you apply for whatever time needed. whilst Mw is only one month.
the old regime changed
passports for reasons they new
Visa fee oh Chinekeee
plus all rubbish just to corrupt and enrich themselves.
one wonders is the
Diplomas
Degrees
Phds
they hold really gets into what they are sitting on. Please God!!! O Chinekeee
I like point number 2.
Many Indians are Malawians born in the country well educated who are willing to take risks and operate companies. It is wrong to suggest all are crooks or suggest they are not Malawian because they are Indian. You use a very bad example the Salima Indians without work permits who were guests of the Malawian Government who failed to follow their own procedures and expedite the work permits from the immigration department. Boarderline racist talk should be avoided.
Guys Nyasa Times Reporting is SHIT and it Reports Hate Articles if Malawians Should Observe
They will Delete your Comments if you write Any thing against NYASA Times they will Delete your Comments and Discussions
Are Nyasa Times Reports Authentic
As I have come across some people who have Paid Bribes to Nyasa Times for NOT reporting and Deleting of Reports
Hmmm they didn’t delete this comment. Even if reporting is bias. THERE IS TRUTH IN IT. Illegal aliens who rob Malawians of resources SHOULD BE DEPORTED AND NEVER ALLOWED BACK. If you are a foreigner, like myself, you should ONLY be in this country if you are FOR the people of this country. NOT ROBBING THEM!
One day is one day
Malawi needs to make concerted effort to expunge Pakistanis-the ones you see at City Mall or Sana in Black and all covered in Black.Those are very bad economically and morally!EXPUNGE THEM
Mike Fiko is a Rubbish Journalist he does NOT have the knowledge of Immigration Laws and Country Laws first of All Salima Sugar is owned by Malawi Government and HR dept is also Handled by Malawians why did Malawi Govt thought correct to allow the Indians to works and not Malawians
It means Malawi Govt knows Malawians DO NOT have the Expertise to Operate and Run the Machinery of Sugar Company ,and Even Manage the Company thats why in Illovo also they got
Over seas south african workers and Not Malawians
Is Malawi Govt so poor that they can be Bullied by any country because they are Investing or Funding some projects in Malawi? Is yes it means Malawi as a Country is Bankrupt and has been Sold to Foreign Donors and other Countries
Mike you should do your reserach before writing Nonsens Reports
Have you got a Degree in Journalism or Mass Media? To me it seems
You do not have any such Degree because Journilsts and Journalism has got
Code of Ethics and Rules
These guys should not be given govt. Contracts.
Its not only an indian problem. There are thousands of nigerians and burundians who are staying illegally. Some are running businesses and not paying taxes , in fact when some MRA officers approach the burundians they are threatened with their lives . Ceratain areas where burundians are operating are no go areas for MRA officials. Why are you not mentioning those Nigerians and burundians?
Burundians and Nigerians should go back to their countries very soon.Indians,chineese and Pakistanis that have no permits should be sent packing
It high time Ministry of Foreign Affairs started scrutinizing the qualifications of so called experts who come to Malawi thieving our employment opportunities. We have well qualified Malawians. Let us stamp out corruption.
The so called experts working in Malawi here are not experts at all.They need to be denied visas.
This is a hot issue. Malawi has an indian problem especially from indian businessmen. Lots of them are no good to Malawi. Sadly they are also too powerful. They have done a great job inflitrating DPP, UTM and MCP alike. They even say so freely. On of them who lead a top international accounting firm (Ernst Young) goes around talking about his controlling power on APM and on the Tonse Alliance. They don’t hide it.
I don’t believe that Malawi must be racist. No at all. But some of the businessmen who have no ethic shall be brought to court when there is a chance to do so.
I am sad!
Ku Malawi atsogoleri athu are too useless, they know what these foreigners do to Malawians but they don’t want to act coz of the dollars amawonetsedwa,timawavotela but they turn to bow down kwa amwenye, Nigerians even maBurundi,it hurts me so badly so badly that pena ndimamenya buleti mwala oti wangozikhalira pa njira.
This nonsense yoti every foreigner shd be called boss
Must end, we r tired of it
We need to enjoy ourselves as Malawians, can these guy ask Trump why he put Americans first ?
This article seems (wrongly or ignorantly I guess) concentrate on Indian citizens only. Are there some who happen to come from other parts of Asia?
We don’t care, they all stink the same corrupt. That’s the brandname
Yes most of them are corrupt,if someone even in the new republic treats these guys with kid gloves 2024 we shall have more elections remember
Malawi merely needs to enforce the law and treat Indians without favouritism. Kamuzu had the best policy. A crooked Indian was deported and his assets forfeited. Let’s not waste our time debating intellectually. Crooks are crooks brown or black.
I am not sure we have an Indian problem. The buck really stops with us. Corrupt immigration officials let these guys in. Corrupt government officials give Indians tenders upon receiving bribes. Heck, the whole president would let his TPIN be used by indian businessmen to illegally import goods duty free. He obviously got his cut. So stop blaming the Indians; the problem is us. The Indians are simply exploiting very stupid people.
I agree with you. We are to blame. One time I was at the airport going to South Africa. On the area designate for passengers only there were Asian who were not passengers and when I inquired from the ladies manning the entrance why those Asian were there when they weren’t passengers. They told me it was their boss had allowed them
Khokhokho. An a extremely stupid lot
100% True I agree with you if the President and Ministers of the Country are getting there Cut from Each and Every Tender from Any Body what is going to Happen to the Country
Indians are Business People they Just make there Money and Go Out of the Country
That Businessman is not Indian. Check what passport he has.
All Indians and Pakistanis are thought from birth to loot Malawians. Get them out, out, out!
Thats a very racist comment. Every country had good and bad people. Cannot generalise all the same.
You need to see the bigger picture. These Indians were here to work – they were not brought here to steal Malawian jobs.
The question of work permit, is not their responsibility , but that of the employer. So you should question that company’s management – the CEO, HR Manager who are responsible to get the correct permits etc.
Are you a Malawian??
Liniency to a white man, an Asian has been there since from 1964. None of them were arrested, instead they were just deported if unlucky. This trend has been passing over from government to government. It has just been compounded through corrupt Immigration officials and cabinet ministers. To the current minister of homeland security, please interrogate Negerians, Burundians and, Rwandans, and many of those living here iligally. Clear the rubble unselectively.