By Arnold Namanja

Machinga, September 5, Mana: Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) Liwonde Customs and Excise Station has registered a record increase in monthly revenue collection from MK500 million to MK2 billion, authorities have confirmed.

Speaking in an interview with Malawi News Agency on the sidelines of Southern region editors’ tour of Liwonde station, MRA Marketing and Communications Manager, Wilma Chalulu attributed the increase to revival of the railway line from Nacala to Nayuchi.

Chalulu said the station, which also houses the Authority's Flexible Anti-Smuggling Team (FAST) for the Eastern region, has successfully collected the revenue as a result of the revival of the railway line which has led to importation of various commodities such as fertilizer, coal, clinker, among others.

“This record increase in revenue collection can be connected to the revival of railway transport which has seen increased volumes of goods being cleared at Liwonde Rail Station resulting in more revenue," she said.

According to Chalulu, MRA has been clearing commodities such as fertilizer in quantity of 10, 000 metric tonnes (MT), 12, 000 MT of wheat, 20, 000 MT of clinker, 1.5 MT of coal to 3 million litres of fuel monthly.

“We have had around 300 containers cleared through our inland stations.,” the marketing communications manager said.

However, Chalulu decried increasing cases of smuggling, saying the malpractice leads to crippling of government’s obligation to provide social services to the citizenry.

She said the authority is in the process of enhancing surveillance to curb smuggling by constructing road blocks in hotspots, engaging drones, enhancing taxpayer education to boost voluntary tax compliance as well as introduction of tax stamps.

“We have deployed several strategies to deal with the problem of smuggling which deprives government of the much needed revenue. We very much rely on the communities through their leadership in fighting smuggling,” Chalulu added.

She observed that sometimes smugglers become hostile to law enforcers and warned them that the law will always take its due course in such situations.

“We've had several cases where some culprits have wanted to intimidate our offices, but we don't bow down to such threats because we are protected by law. Our law enforcement partners have also been very crucial in this regard,” Chalulu said.

In a separate interview, Head of News at Capital FM Malawi, Wezzie Nyirongo Chamanza expressed satisfaction with MRA’s efforts in revenue collection, noting that revenue collected from goods transported on railway give hope that Malawi’s economy can grow significantly.

“These success stories are worth reporting about because the country depends on taxes for government operations such as procurement of drugs in hospitals,” Chamanza said.

MRA has taken editors from the Southern region on a tour to some of its establishments to appreciate its operations.

On Wednesday, the editors were taken on a tour of Marka-Nyathando Border Post in Nsanje and MRA Zomba Domestic Taxes Office.