Minister of Labour Grace Maseko says that this country’s economy is very unpredictable and has led to a large percentage of Malawi’s population to be vulnerable due to job losses.
Last year many companies laid off their workers following the depreciation of the kwacha and the subsequent floatation of the currency.
The depreciation and flotation of the kwacha increased the cost operations of most businesses and the situation became unsustainable leading to massive retrenchments.
Even when the currency started appreciating, not all companies have reemployed the fired employees, leading to some of them looking for employment in the informal sector.
Speaking when she opened an international workshop on Social Protection organised by Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung (FES) and the Southern African Social Protection Experts Network (SASPEN) Maseko hinted that the massive retrenchments led to many Malawians finding jobs in the informal sector.
Said Maseko: “ This conference has come at an opportune time because currently a large percentage of Malawi’s population is vulnerable due to job losses over the past years owing to the unreliable state of our economy. Further, the country has a large informal economy which has no guaranteed minimum social protection cover.”
She said that because of this state of the affairs it was imperative that such vulnerable groups like the informal economy workers, the elderly and persons with disabilities be provided with social protection services like essential health care and minimum income.
“Consequently, poverty and social security coverage is being addressed by the government through bold measures such as Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp), the Public Works Programme (PWP), the School feeding Programme and the Social Cash Transfer,” Maseko added.
FES programme officer Daniel Kumitz said one of the major lines of his organisation work is social protection because education and social security for the poor are indispensable for a democracy.
“Hungry people have other priorities than to engage in democracy and civil society, those who struggle for livelihood every day are not empowered to have a say and speak out on political matters that concern them,” said Elischer.
