By Kingsley Jassi:
Hopes of restoring Malawi’s lost industrial glory have been rekindled by the government’s promise to revive the defunct Malawi Development Corporation (MDC).
MDC played a key role in establishing several major industrial enterprises in the country.
However, questions remain over whether the revival will help rebuild the country’s industrial capacity or become another costly white elephant, requiring substantial public investment but delivering little economic benefit.
Secretary to the President and Cabinet Justin Saidi said his office would ensure that MDC operationalization happens within six months to drive State-led industrial investments in the country.
He said this at the National Planning Commissioners retreat in Lilongwe, where concerns of failure to achieve objectives of the Malawi 2063 vision were raised.
Saidi further said the 2027-28 budget would have to ensure development projects serve specific results under the MW2063 and would pursue the possibility of making it legal.
Meanwhile, NPC Chairperson Richard Mkandawire has expressed worry that neighbouring countries appear to be progressing amid the shared shocks while Malawi continues to lag behind and fail to achieve developmental goals due to failure to follow existing plans.
However, economist Marvin Banda said reestablishing MDC must go beyond reviving an old institution, arguing that it should be part of a deliberate effort to address Malawi’s underlying economic weaknesses, particularly an economy that consumes more than it produces.
“Existence of institutions such as the Greenbelt Authority and the Malawi Mining Company raises legitimate questions about whether the government’s existing investment vehicles have the capital, autonomy and execution capacity to deliver high-impact projects,” Banda said.
Banda said the establishment of the Greenbelt Authority had, for instance, not done much in face-lifting the country’s agriculture sector.
Its subsidiary, Salima Sugar Company, is gasping for financial bailout from the Treasury, having been choked in debt despite operating in an area where a rival company is thriving.
Even the Malawi Mining Company, established to ensure it represents the interest of Malawi in the mining sector, is yet to bring about tangible results.
According to Banda, MDC’s success will have to be measured by the factories, private investment mobilised, jobs created, export volumes and public capital preserved and not the launch ceremonies, board appointments or memoranda signed.
“Industrialisation is not about creating corporations; it is about producing competitively, creating jobs and earning foreign exchange.
Without capital, expertise and accountability, MDC risks becoming another monument to unfulfilled ambition,” he said.
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