Minister of Trade and Industry, Simplex Chithyola-Banda has said government was aware of maltreatment which cross border traders are facing when importing their goods from neighbouring countries.
Speaking in Lilongwe on Wednesday during Parliament deliberations, he said the Ministry had received a petition from cross border traders and was presented in the Parliament.
Banda promised to engage Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) on how they could handle such cases.
“Currently based on the standing of national procedures that we are putting in place these issues are being tackled and the center of all was about the inhumane treatment which is a challenge that cross border traders are experiencing,” he said.
Chithyola-Banda added that his Ministry was taking serious issues which were raised in the house and within 14 days the Ministry would provide a comprehensive response that would address them to avoid similar situation in the future.
Chairperson for Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Trade and Tourism, Thoko Tembo emphasized that they presented a report in the parliament which highlighted the problems that people especially women are facing in the borders after purchasing goods from outside the country.
“Women doing cross border business tend to travel long distances and to clear their goods it takes a lot of time. We were appealing to the Ministry that they should be clearing the goods in good time. They should consider on the duty that the cross-border traders pay at the border because some of them they were complaining that they pay exorbitant duty fees.
Reported By Sheminah Nkhoma
