Tobacco Commission risks legal action over excess quota tobacco penalties
Some tobacco farmers have written tobacco regulators, the Tobacco Commission to stop charging penalties on all excess quota leaf or face legal action.
Lawyer for the farmers Paul Maulidi has confirmed writing the Tobacco Commission (TC) on the matter.
He said the 75 per cent penalty fee on all tobacco grown outside the quota system, the prescribed amount of tobacco to be grown was excessive.
In addition, Maulidi said TC did not do consultations before slapping the unsuspecting tobacco farmers with the penalty.
“The new Act which the Tobacco Commission is using came into effect when the farmers had already grown the tobacco,” said Maulidi.
He said the penalty was unconstitutional and discriminatory against the tobacco growers.
But Tobacco Commission’s Corporate and Business Development manager Hellings Nasoni said the TC widely consulted the tobacco growers on the matter.
“We consulted them at every stage of the formation of the Act and we informed them after the new law was passed,” he said.
Tobacco remains the main stay of Malawi’s economy although its future remains smoky following a robust anti-smoking campaign world-wide.
The best way was not to buy the excess tobacco and not to buy the tobacco and then keep the farmers money. Daylight robbery.