A traditional leader in Mwanza has demanded that the district gets a cut from the revenue of Mwanza Border Post.
Senior Chief Nthache made the demand during the launch of World Bank funded Coordinated Border Management (CBM) project on Friday.
Minister of Trade and Industry Simplex Chithyola Banda who presided over the launch did not give an outright response.
Minister Simplex Chithyola
But senior Chief Nthache said the government should consider giving Mwanza District Council a small percentage of revenues collected at Mwanza Border Post for the council to facilitate some developmental activities at district level.
He said government makes a lot of money through the border but it all goes to account number one.
“Mwanza being a busy district requires good infrastructures but due to inadequate resources it is difficult to have everything needed at one place.
“This is the reason I am asking government to consider giving our council a certain percentage of the collection for our district to be developed,” Nthache said.
In his remarks, Chithyola Banda said government is committed to develop all border posts in the country including Mwanza.
“Development is a process which also requires multi- sectoral approach, therefore, it needs some patience.
“This is why we have started with this CBM pilot project in Mwanza to show government’s commitment,” explained Banda.
The CBM model of operations means that time spent by travellers and business persons to clear their cargo will be reduced to about three hours from one week at the border.
“This is a key milestone in our quest to facilitate trade and to achieve Malawi 2063 vision of being an inclusive, wealthy and self-reliant industrialised upper-middle-income country,” said Banda.
