By Iommie Chiwalo
The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) says the six percent reduction of industrial sugar price is a call for domestication on the same.
Addressing the press in Lilongwe, CDEDI Executive Director, Sylvester Namiwa says Malawians expect locally produced sugar to not only be accessible but also affordable to them regardless of their status.
CDEDI and other concerned Citizens converged a presser amid reports that Illovo Sugar Company has reduced the price of industrial sugar by 6 percent, but has said nothing about the price of domestic sugar which is patronised by the majority poor.
Namiwa said if the reports are anything to go by, Illovo Sugar is surely taking Malawians for granted because both industrial and domestic sugar are products of the same cane grown in Chikwawa, Salima and Nkhotakota.
“Therefore, a decision to reduce the price is supposed to apply to both types of sugar,” he said adding that of all the companies that make up Illovo Sugar Africa, namely Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia, it is only Illovo Malawi that posts obscene profits.
Justification by Namiwa is based on the fact that locally consumed Malawi sugar is more expensive than the exported one hence tantamount to total exploitation of Malawians.
Through authentic documentation, Namiwa has illustrated that for instance in the year-ending August 31, 2022 Illovo Malawi Financial Statement shows a kilogramme of sugar was sold at 61 percent higher locally than exported.
During the period under review, it is shown that, Illovo was exporting sugar at an average price of MK465.00 while locally a kilo of sugar was sold at MK733.84.
Namiwa has since in the interest of transparency and accountability, challenged the Trade and Industry Minister to demand from Illovo an explanation to the nation its price buildup starting from cane production, transportation, crushing, refining to packaging so as to establish if there is something that Malawians are missing in the equation.
He has also said that, on behalf of millions of low-income consumers, CDEDI is requesting the Trade and Industry minister to invoke Section 4 of the Control of Goods Act (COGA) of 2018 and declare that sugar is no longer a protected commodity.
“It is our sincere belief that the COGA was meant to protect interests of Malawians as opposed to shielding monopolies and cartels,” he said.
On the excitement created among Malawians that the price of sugar would be reduced in seven days as previously announced in a press statement by Chithyola-Banda, Namiwa says there is need for urgent action to revive such mood of low-income Malawians, who have for ages been denied access to basic commodities, one of which is sugar.
On June 26, 2023, Minister Chithyola Banda said government was aware that the general public was anxiously waiting for the good news about sugar price reduction and that parties involved would make submissions, the kind of good news the minister had in mind was about reducing the price of industrial sugar only, and not the domestic one which is mostly used by the vulnerable and marginalized majority.
Meanwhile the CDEDI Leader has updated the nation that, according to the Trade and Industry Parliamentary Committee Chairperson Hon. Paul Nkhoma, the committee could not conduct the much needed public inquiry on sugar production and pricing on June 27, 2023 because of financial constraints.
