Malawi authorities probe Mota Engil over foreign recruitment reports

Officials at the Ministry of Labour say they are investigating reports that an international contractor, Mota Engil is recruiting foreigners for junior jobs.

Labour ministry spokesperson Symon Bvundula said his office has not yet received the letter of complaints from Malawian workers at Mota Engil that management was hiring watchmen, cooks, builders and welders among others from abroad.

“However, we will probe this matter, we would want to know why they are hiring foreigners for these jobs, if they got permission to do so,” he said.

Mota Engil spokesperson Thomas Chafunya asked for more time to get details before commenting on the matter.

The Portuguese construction company has many projects in Malawi including the construction of the K40 billion Lilongwe-Kasiya 80km stretch of road.

However, Mota Engil came into spotlight in parliament recently when it was alleged the compay gave former president Bingu wa Mutharika a 10 per cent commission cut for every project the government of Malawi awarded the company.

The government and Mota Engil denies this.