By Tikondane Vega

Lilongwe, August 5, Mana: Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Trade and Tourism says it is shocked with the level of goods smuggling happening in the country saying there is need to find lasting solutions on how to deal with malpractice.

Speaking on Monday after inspecting the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) Warehouse and some routes that smugglers use, the chairperson of the committee, Paul Nkhoma said it is pathetic that while government needs more resources to assist Malawians, some people continue to invade tax through smuggling.

Nkhoma said it was important for the committee to visit places like Salati, which borders Malawi with Mozambique as well as Dickson Trading Centre, a famous place where all smuggled goods are gathered.

“Our aim of coming here is to appreciate the good work that MRA is doing and also to see some challenges like smuggling. They took us to smuggling hotspots where we indeed saw people with motorcycles as well as bicycles taking goods to Malawi from Mozambique.

“We are told that when it's night, more vehicles use these unchartered routes with goods loaded into our country. All these are in the name of invading tax. More sensitizations are needed on the part of the community,” said Nkhoma.

He has since commended MRA for considering the introduction of tax stamps as well as coming up with drones saying the two will help the institution curb smuggling and increase revenue collection in the process.

Chairperson for Budget and Finance Committee, Gladys Ganda who also joined the committee said the revelations that MRA collected MK3 billion from smugglers last year is a clear indication that Malawi is losing more through smuggling.

Ganda said as chairperson of budget she will ensure that the authority has all the resources to fight smuggling as well as bringing more resources to run the affairs of the country.

She said: “Countries are run by taxes from different activities. If we decide to invade tax like what we have seen today in warehouse and routes we visited then we will not manage to construct classrooms, buy medicine, and construct good roads among others.

MRA Commissioner General, John Bizwick said MRA has put several measures to curb the smuggling of goods saying apart from the introduction of drones and stamp tax, the authority is also considering revising the informant scheme as well as interconnecting with the Mozambique side.

“We have already started discussions with our friends in Mozambique to help us curb the smuggling business. On informants, we plan to reward people with a handsome amount. It is our hope that everything will be done soonest,” he said.