Priority mix-up in government

At a time government has plans to develop the tourism sector by, among others things, constructing an international airport in a tourist haven, Mangochi, the same government has excluded the sector from its top-five priorities in the next five years.

Briefing donors under the Development Cooperation Group (DCG), Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development chief economist Sipho Billiat announced last Thursday the trimming of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) III to five key priority sectors, which exclude tourism.

Billiat said the five priority sectors under MGDS III are agriculture and climate change management; education and skills development; energy and industrial development; transport and ICT infrastructure; and health and population management.

The MGDS II, which was implemented between 2011 and 2016 identified six broad thematic areas, namely sustainable economic growth; social development; social support and disaster risk management; infrastructure development, governance; and gender and capacity development.

The plan had nine key priority areas of agriculture and food security; transport infrastructure and Nsanje World Inland Port; energy, industrial development, mining and tourism; education, science and technology; public health, sanitation, malaria and HIV and Aids management; integrated rural development; green belt irrigation and water development; child development, youth development and empowerment; and climate change, natural resources and environmental management, were isolated.

In a telephone interview on Monday, Finance, Economic Planning and Development Minister Goodall Gondwe confirmed the direction government wants to take in the coming years.

But Gondwe said the matter was still inconclusive.

“In as far as we are concerned a decision is yet to be made. We are still in the planning stage. We will have to consult the President on the way forward. Yes, the proposals are there, but you have to wait as nothing has been done yet,” he said.

President Peter Mutharika on March 24 2017, during a tour of the Eastern Region, unveiled plans to boost the tourism sector through construction of a new airport in Mangochi.

In 2015, the tourism sector contributed K221 billion or 7.2 percent of GDP. This was expected to grow by 4.2 percent in 2016, according to the Malawi Annual Economic Report of 2016.

Economic experts believe tourism has the potential to replace tobacco as the country’s highest foreign exchange earner, following the growth of the anti-smoking lobby which has reduced the market for tobacco worldwide. 

Fondly called the ‘Warm Heart of Africa’, Malawi is renowned for its majestic Lake Malawi—the ninth largest in the world. It has 500 fish species.

In 2014, Malawi was named one of the top-10 places to go by Lonely Planet, an international travel guide.  

But economic experts and other commentators have described the omission of the tourism sector as a recipe for disaster and called for a sober approach and consistency.

In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Parliamentary Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism chairperson, Willard Gwengwe blamed the government for not consulting on the matter.

Said Gwengwe: “The decision to leave out tourism as one of government’s key priorities is a recipe for disaster. Tourism development is crucial for the generation of foreign exchange. In some African countries, the sector contributes up to over 10 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Anyway, we were not consulted.”

He said the decision is a sign of confusion in government’s priorities, since the implication is that there will be a sharp reduction in the allocation of resources to the sector.

Malawi Economic Justice Network (Mejn) executive director Dalitso Kubalasa in an e-mailed response called for a more sober approach in streamlining government priorities.

“As Mejn, we strongly believe that tourism remains one of such pivotal potential drivers of the economy if harnessed properly. Tourism therefore remains one of the quickest wins available if we want. Therefore, looking at the current on-going debate and process of streamlining, we are still hopeful that all stakeholders will give tourism a clean bill of life as a priority sector. Careful and strategic programming of a few flagship projects in the sector could ultimately help turn around the fortunes for Malawi,” he said.

But Kubalasa said there was a need to streamline government priorities to avoid having a wider scope which cannot be sustained.

Chancellor College-based professor of economics Ben Kaluwa blamed government for what he called ‘policy incoherence’.

Said Kaluwa: “In my view, the government seems not consistent in its vision for the country. On one hand, it shows it wants to develop tourism but on the other hand it is doing the opposite. In fact, tourism has been denied prominence for a very long time while the country has lots of potential in that area due to the amazing beauty the country is endowed with. If well handled, tourism can even overtake other sectors in contribution to the GDP.”