President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera’s decision to attend Africa Human Capital Heads of State Summit to take place at the Julius Nyerere Conference Center in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania from Wednesday, 26 July has angered a cross section of Malawians.
According to a press statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, President Chakwera and First Lay Monica are expected to leave the country on Tuesday via Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe.
The statement further indicated that President Chakwera and first lady will return on Thursday, 27 July 2023.
However, some Malawians said Chakwera’s trip to Tanzania has come at a bad time when the country is facing fuel crisis due to shortage of Forex. They argue that the trip will use Forex that would have been use to import fuel.
The Summit comes in response to engagements with government focal points on the need to draw attention to the role of human capital in economic growth and elevate the discussion on the importance of investing in people.
The Summit is expected to foster technical deliberation, share the latest knowledge on human capital, and conclude with concrete commitments and next steps from the participating Heads of State from the continent.
The overall theme of the Summit is linking investments in human capital to economic growth and harnessing the demographic dividend, by addressing learning poverty and the skills gaps.
Speaking to the media over the weekend ahead of the summit the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Albert Chalamila said Tanzania was identified by the World Bank to host the summit due to its efforts and best practices for combating problems like unemployment which will feature at the summit and may be adopted in the Dar es Salaam Human Capital Declaration.
It is expected that the summit will offer countries an opportunity to learn from Tanzania’s achievements as far as Human Capital investment is concerned.
A cross-section of Malawian delegates that includes key Ministers and technocrats are already in Tanzania and are part of the over 1200 delegates expected to attend the summit.
