By Chisomo Phiri
Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) is demanding immediate price reduction of sugar for the benefit of the majority of Malawians.
Speaking during a press briefing on Friday, CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa wondered why sugar is an affordable basic commodity in neighbouring countries while it is beyond the reach of the majority in Malawi.
He said currently, they are in a ‘Sugar Price Must Fall campaign aimed at forcing authorities to reduce the commodity price.
Namiwa said while pushing for the immediate price cut, his organisation also intends to lobby individual members of Parliament (MPs) and relevant Parliamentary committees to ensure the Sugar Industry Bill is prioritised and transacted during the next sitting of Parliament.
“The scenario is a result of lack of regulation of the sugar industry in the country, which for decades gifted Illovo Sugar Company with a monopoly in the sugar industry, whereby cartels have been created at the expense of consumers and cane growers,” said Namiwa.
He observed that the wrangle is happening as a Sugar Industry Bill of 2021 is gathering dust at Capital Hill in Lilongwe.
“It is our considered view that sanity can only prevail in the sugar industry with the passing of the Sugar Industry Bill of 2021,” he said.
In June last year, the Ministry of Agriculture told the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture that all procedures for the tabling of the 2021 Bill had been finalised after successfully engaging the Ministry of Justice.
The 2021 Sugar Industry Bill is designed to regulate the production and sale of sugar in the country.
And currently, the industry is being governed by the Control of Goods Act of 2018 that replaced the 1950 Act.
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