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| Columns |
| Economic and Business Forum |
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by
D D Phiri, 05 June 2006
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07:54:18
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About the 2006 Trade Fair and aid
Officially the 2006 trade fair organised by the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) lasted from May 19 to 29. Actually, major activities ended in the late afternoon of 28th May. On the 29th there were no MCCCI officials at the gates regulating the entry of visitors.
Apart from the host country, other participants were Botswana, Egypt, Kenya, Mozambique, Pakistan, Taiwan, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Conspicuously absent were Zambia and South Africa, a major supplier to Malawi.
What is the objective of holding a trade fair? I believe it is to expose goods and products to those who will visit the fair. Most of the visitors will naturally be local, but a sizeable number consists of visitors from abroad. These are particularly welcome as they facilitate exportation of some products.
I visited the exhibitions of almost all countries. Egypt exhibited the sort of household furniture that would grace palaces like those Queen Cleopatra occupied. From Egypt, the cradle of ancient civilisation, I expected nothing less than what I saw.
It was when I visited the Tanzanian and Kenyan pavilions that my eyes opened to the real place Malawi occupies in the Sadc and Comesa regions.
The quality of products displayed by the two East African countries’ was a good deal higher than what Malawi was exhibiting. Besides, Malawi was not exhibiting much to attract the discerning eye. This was particularly so where fabrics were concerned.
No question about it, in secondary industries Malawi is laggard. Maybe there were displays of textiles from the factories of the firm that bought David Whitehead & Sons, but if so they were dimmed by the splendour of Kenya’s and Tanzania’s products. We are trailing behind our northern neighbours.
I visited a One Village One Product (Ovop) kiosk and bought a pumpkin, pawpaw as well as dried vegetables. I could not buy anything of higher value, because there was none. Is this what the much publicised Ovop scheme is achieving at the moment?
When I turned right, I saw a stand where the owner proudly advertised his merchandise as imported goods. Indeed most of the items that were on sale such as toys and thermos flasks were of foreign origin. At one stand I saw a lovely stocking. I was told they had been imported from Dubai but the one I bought was labelled China.
It was a consolation to come to Arkay Industries and Rab Processors Limited displays but there was the deja vu feeling as well. Our agriculture must be revolutionised and achieve food self-sufficiency. But in the economics of industrialisation, this is regarded as the minimum, not the optimum let alone the maximum. To emerge out of our perennial poverty we must export high value goods, not just curios. We must process and manufacture. I wish there had been slides or displays of tourism resorts in Malawi. Perhaps they were there.
We writers have often complained about the absence of reading culture in Malawi and have sometimes wondered why. At the Anglia Bookshop stalls children scrambled for booklets suitable for their age. They then moved on to the stand of the Malawi Writers Union (Mawu), with money in their pockets and enquired for books they would have loved to read. They did not see much interest then and walked off with their money.
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We receive aid in a variety of forms. Some of this aid is of the most welcome type. People like the late Professor Peter Bauer who question the wisdom of giving aid to developing countries lack empathy. We need all the technical and financial assistance we can get.
Time has come when we should indicate our scale of preference as regards the forms of aid that come to us. We certainly need all the aid we can have to combat HIV and Aids. But how much money do we need to learn democracy and rights of all sorts? What results have been attained so far by NGOs operating in these fields? Are we now more democratic, what about the rights?
I propose that our good friends should now donate more of their spare money to research institutions. If Malawi is one of the main victims of Aids why is research not organised here to find a cure or vaccine.
To help raise our educational standards up to international levels, donors should subsidise text books and magazines which we need so much. We need scientific journals as well.
The Royal Norwegian Embassy has filled in cultural gaps neglected by the bigger donors.
A number of Malawians have had their books published because of the Embassy’s support for the Mawu. I place this type of aid above the ‘rights’ schemes.
Sometimes middle-sized countries gauge our needs better than some of the super states. The readiness with which the Republic of China or Taiwan responds to our needs, cultural and economic is amazing. Aid should be channelled to concrete needs rather than purely metaphysical ones.
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