By Yankho Phiri
Kasungu, August 11, Mana: Press Corporation Limited, through Press Agriculture Limited (PAL) has pledged to create more than 131,000 permanent and seasonal jobs in a period of five years provided that government formulates good policies.
Speaking during an interface meeting with the Minister of Labour, Kenny Kandodo, on Friday, PAL board chairperson, Dr. Peter Ngoma said their company has all the resources that can help employ permanent plus other seasonal employees.
“As PAL, we have always wanted to scale up our farming business but due to some limitations that we were given by previous governments, we have been failing to make enough profits for smooth production.
“In early 70s, we used to be one of the biggest employers in the country, but the falling of tobacco markets hit us badly which made us to remain with only 300 permanent staff,” he said.
Ngoma added that if government can guarantee them to produce more than 50,000 metric tons of maize with a promised market inside the country or granting them an exporting license, they can re-invest 50 million dollars (over MK37.2 billion) on different farming activities which can give them enough returns to employ the mentioned figure.
In his remarks, Kandodo who was accompanied by his deputy, Vera Kamtukure, said the meeting was productive as the company showed interest in re-investing and creating more than 100 thousand vacant posts only if the government meets what they demand.
“Being the ministry that realises that the private sector employs a lot of people than civil service, we have embarked on visiting and discussing with biggest companies and organisations that can help us in creating more jobs if we can give each other better deals.
“So I’m happy today that PAL has agreed and promised us that they can employ 131,000 people, both permanent and temporal in a period of five years if we meet their demands and as a ministry, we will present this to the Minister Responsible for Agriculture,” he said.
Kandodo also disclosed that government has finalised planning of establishing of job creation centres in all major cities and municipalities of the country.
“We have finished budgeting costs of job creation centres which we want to establish in all cities and municipalities in the country.
“This will help job seekers to build their profile and submit it in these centres for easy recruits when employers need employees of different professions.
“We will also be equipping these centres with newspapers for these job seekers to be looking for vacancies as many of them cannot afford to buy newspapers on daily basis,” said Kandodo.
