President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera has said 123,000 Malawians will get jobs when companies start building their factories in the places identified and earmarked for industrial park projects across the country.
Chakwera said this on Saturday when he led government officials, international dignitaries and investors in launching Lilongwe Industrial Park, which is located at Magwero in Lilongwe City.
He said industrialization is one of the policies that his government has put much emphasis and focus on in its pursuit to achieve accelerated social and economic development of this country.
“In Malawi 2063 that all Malawians agreed to achieve, there are three pillars to increase the economy of our country, and the first is to build industries. This fact speaks of the need for factories to produce various products using the produce we get from our fields,” he explained.
Chakwera criticized previous administrations for selling off state-owned companies with the aim of sharing profits, stating that this contributed to the rise in prices of imported goods and services.
“Don’t let anyone deceive you! What has been happening in this country, allowing politicians and government officials to take over factories and government companies and sell them illegally is what has brought poverty in this country. A country without factories and companies that use farmers’ produce is poor because farmers lack markets to sell their products. A country without factories and companies that use farmers’ produce is in poverty because the farmers’ goods are produced by traders who do not pay attention to adding value to the goods so that the farmers can earn a reasonable income.
“A country without factories and companies that use farmers’ produce is in poverty because young people cannot find work. A country without factories and companies that use the produce of farmers is in poverty because there is not enough forex for businessmen to be able to buy foreign goods, because what brings forex to the country is the goods that your factories and companies sell to foreign countries,” said Chakwera.
“Also, when you see the alarming rise in prices, don’t let anyone lie to you that the rise has started today. Things in Malawi started to get expensive in 1994 when we were watching politicians selling companies and government industries. In a country without factories and companies that use the produce of farmers, the prices of products that have gone up have gone up again. Why? The price of goods will not stop rising if there are no companies and factories in Malawi that use cheap raw materials in Malawi. The prices of goods cannot stop rising if our shops are full of imported goods, which are more expensive than domestically produced goods.
“So when we let the politicians and government officials sell the factories and share the money, the end result is this, things have been going up in price since 1994 until today. So when someone lies that he has raised the prices of things in this country with Chakwera, that person should be ashamed, because I sold the sugar companies in Malawi so that the price of sugar would only go up, not me. That person should be ashamed, because I sold the clothing companies so that clothes can only be found abroad, which will not stop increasing in price. That person should be ashamed, because I sold Malawi Savings Bank so that Malawians will not need a bank to give them money to do business and they will be left with banks that lend money to the poor, which have been increasing the prices of things. That person should be ashamed, because I closed down the export industries so that there would be a useful forex in the country so that the kwacha currency is not being used to increase the prices of goods,” he continued.
But Chakwera emphasized that he does not have time to fight with the people who brought this chaos to the country, saying that the time he has is to restore the things that the others destroyed.