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Business council in limbo
By
Our Reporter - 20-06-2002 |
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......Private sector blame government
The private sector has blamed government for the delay in the implementation of the business council, a consultative forum for government and private sector, which was supposed to be launched two years ago.
Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) president Jimmy Koreia-Mpatsa said in an interview yesterday that the private sector had completed all the paper work in 2000 but government stopped the launch at the last minute.
“Government stopped the launch two years ago at the last minute, saying it [government] wanted to do some more consultations. Everything is finalised but it is government which is delaying. We don’t know what is causing the delay,” said Mpatsa.
He said the Ministry of Commerce, who were facilitating the formation of the forum, indicated they were still consulting with the office of the vice president.
Mpatsa said at the moment consultations between government and the private sector were not very effective, saying in most cases meetings concerning commerce, trade and industry were usually done too late to solve any problems.
He cited the problem of cement importation as one of the issues the council was supposed to look at before situations worsened as is the case at the moment
“What happens now is that we call for meetings with government when the problem is already there and by the time we find solutions to address it, it is already too late,” said Mpatsa.
Deputy Director of Commerce Harrison Mandindi admitted that the ministry was to blame for the delay, but said the problem arose because the people who were handling the issue have been shifted to other ministries.
The business council, if launched, will be responsible for improving and encouraging the development of trade, commerce and industry through dialogue with the public, private and labour sectors.
It will also consider, support, promote or oppose any bill, legislation or other measure of parliament, local authorities or any other body likely to affect business in the country.
It will be composed of 31 seats from the private sector, 22 from public sector and seven from the labour sector and will be co-chaired by the State President as first joint chairperson from the public sector and the second joint chairpeson will come from the private and labour sectors.
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