Former governor unveils 7-point recovery plan

Former Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM)  governor Dalitso Kabambe has proposed a seven-point plan to turn around the country’s economic fortunes, suggesting a thin central government that leaves resources to district councils.

Speaking in Lilongwe on Friday at the Business Talk organised by Business In Detail magazine, he said Capital Hill should concentrate on supervisory and policy formulation roles and ensure the national budget framework channels more funds towards the local government.

However, Kabambe, who is aspiring for the opposition Democratic Progressive Party presidency, said this would require empowering the councils with technocrats and district based minister that drive the transformation with at least K100 billion budget annually.

He said: “This would massively improve district level infrastructure of health, education, water, energy and other economic and social amenities.

“Capital Hill should have resources for policy formulation and monitoring only.”

Kabambe further suggested repositioning multilateral and bilateral arrangements to maximise support, calibrating fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policies to bring down inflation to single digit within a shortest period.

He also proposed a number of industrial programmes that can boost production to create a vibrant industrial base that can support economic transformation.

“Create and develop economic hubs for each district based on their comparative advantages and economic potentials. Industries will coalesce around five major areas, namely crop and livestock, minerals, gas and oil beneficiation, fisheries, tourism, manufacturing and transport and other public sector work,” said Kabambe.

He said an anchor institution should be established in each industrial area, turbo-charged to mobilise finances locally and internationally to support districts to develop the industries.

Speaking at the same event, entrepreneur Jimmy Koreia Mpatsa said the country’s economic recovery and development is at the mercy of the presidency as everything revolves around the authority of the office.

In his presentation titled ‘If I were the President’, he said the presidency holds the key to solutions to most of the problems in Malawi.

Mpatsa said the country’s food insecurity and low productivity is a result of leaving much of the farming to subsistence farmers who depend on the rains.

He cited Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation as pivotal in agricultural value chain, but said it has dysfunctional depots and often has low financial capacity to buy produce from farmers in good time.

He faulted government onOne of the organisers, Alick Sichali, said the event was meant to provide a platform for young entrepreneurs to interact with top business gurus and experts for knowledge sharing.

The youthful attendees of the event were also taken through business contract lecture by Ritz Attorney at Law head of dispute and settlement Gonjetso Dikiya.