Chief Economist Chifipa Mhango questions rationale of Malawi immigration policy on Visas

* SADC and COMESA subject Malawians with entry Visa and the citizens of these regions are also subjected to Visa for entry into Malawi

* But I find it strange that the same principle is not applied to European or Asian countries that subject Malawians to entry Visa

* Is our immigration policy punitive to fellow African countries?

By Duncan Mlanjira

Chifipa Mhango, Chief Economist for South Africa-based Don Consultancy Group, has described Malawi’s decision to remove Visa restrictions into Malawi Immigration as strange.

He observed that a Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and even a Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa (COMESA) member state, subjects Malawians with entry Visa into their countries and the citizens of these regions are also subjected for entry Visa into Malawi.

“That’s fine,” says Mhango. “But I find it strange that the same principle is not applied to, let’s say European or Asian countries that subject Malawians to entry Visa — is our immigration policy punitive to fellow African countries?”

According to an announcement from Home Affairs Minister, Ken Zikhale N’goma, the removal of the entry restrictions is in Gazette published on Wednesday that says the Visa restrictions have been lifted for 48 countries — including USA, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, China and Russia — which are considered key source markets for international tourism and business arrivals into Malawi.

The Visa exemptions also apply to all SADC and COMESA member states, including some multilateral institutions that do business with the Malawi government.

But Chifipa says from the countries analysis on Visa exception, “it is very clear that a donor or rich country syndrome has been applied than a principle-based approach”.

“Otherwise, the rules applied for SADC and COMESA countries should have applied to countries such as United Kingdom, USA, Germany, France, Australia, China or Russia that require entry Visa for Malawian passport holders.”

Removal of Visa restrictions is one of bottlenecks identified during a Business Leadership Round-Table on December 12 — a high-level forum led by Standard Bank Malawi, that brings together government, regulatory agencies, donors and private sector to discuss areas of economic policy reform.

The round table forum called for removal of Visa restrictions into Malawi and following Malawi Government’s to heed the calls, Standard Bank Chief Executive, Phillip Madinga gave the decision a thumbs up, saying this will help the country increase inflows of scarce foreign currency. 

Madinga, whose bank has been advocating for the relaxation of the Visa requirement, described the decision as timely as the country continues to battle foreign currency shortage, saying: “This will help make Malawi an attractive tourism destination and boost foreign currency flows in the long-term.”