Police to buy food rations, uniforms locally
The Malawi Police Service (MPS) has started procuring equipment such as boots and uniforms locally, but decried the quality of the uniforms.
National Police spokesperson Peter Kalaya said the service has also stopped procuring food rations abroad.
Kalaya said: “We are willing and we are going towards purchasing locally, but we are treading carefully so that we do not compromise on the quality we want.
“But we have noticed that local suppliers cannot manage to supply us both the khaki and camouflage cloth that we want. So, we are working on ways on how best we can go about this to empower the local suppliers.”
In an earlier interview, Inspector General of Police Merlyn Yolamu said they recently got the cloth from South Africa.
The development follows the Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka-Nyirenda’s cancellation of contracts with companies linked with United Kingdom-based businessperson Zuneth Sattar.
The AG also debarred companies belonging to Zameer Karim, who is on trial for the food rations deal with MPS.
“We stopped buying imported rations. Currently, we are doing a combined approach in paying allowances and purchasing local food stuff, prepare them and give to officers,” said Kalaya.
However, failure to source the cloth locally may thwart government’s efforts to enforce the Buy Malawi Campaign which aims to enhance competitiveness of local firms, stimulate local production , promote industrialisation and enhance import substitution.
During presentation of the 2022/2023 National Budget, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Sosten Gwengwe allocated K3.5 billion for the development of Special Economic Zones or industrial parks in the country’s cities.
He said the industrial parks will accommodate cooperatives in various fields such as tailoring, furniture manufacturing but also small and medium enterprises.
In the short to medium-term, the strategy was envisioned to reduce the import bill and assist in narrowing Malawi’s trade deficit, to save foreign currency by directing it towards the procurement of more productive inputs, such as equipment and machinery and vital raw materials.
