By Tione Andsen

Lilongwe, August 27, Mana: Government has said Malawi has made strides in reducing inequality among its population in some sectors.

Minister of Labour, Vera Kamtukule said this during the launch of Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Report at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe.

She said government has put in place some policy that are helping the lift the lives of ordinary citizens.

“The social protection programmes are aiming at empowering the vulnerable to improve their lives at the same time helping to grow the economy,” Kamtukule said.

 She admitted that despite the country was facing a lot of challenges but it was on right trajectory in implementing its development programmes.

The Minister pointed out it was pleasing that the country has managed to gazetted minimum wage to which stakeholders are keen to follow.

Kamtukule added that the only challenge was the enforcement of minimum wage implementation so that employees should be receiving the required wages.  

The Minister noted that Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries have  registered  economic growth measured by the Growth  Domestic Product  (GDP)  for the pasts  few years.

She said the growth had helped population has benefit despite challenges which were associated with the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

“The SADC region has huge deposits of natural resources but the sector still faces a lot of inequality. It is that very few people are benefiting from the proceeds of the sector which was contributing to the widening poverty levels,” Kamtukule echoed.

She noted the report produced by Oxfam in collaboration with Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) and Danish Church Aid (DCA) has highlighted some of the inequality challenges facing countries in SADC region.

She said the CRI report would help the government in the region to work out on the grey areas in order to reduce issues of inequalities among the population.

Country Director of Oxfam, Lingalireni Mihowa said it was critical to making should that issues of inequality are addressed.  

She added tha the country has done well in other areas but some are still lacking which need to be looking critically.

Mihowa cited that government has admitted that there was limited feasible space but it has been advised to navigate to avoid austerities that would promote inequality among the communities.

She said government should develop policies which would promote growth of the economy so that the country’s population should benefit from it.

Country Director for NCA/DCA, Havard Houdhaugen said his government was committed to fighting inequalities among people.

He said the drive to reduce inequality among people need to be look at critically in order to come up with intervention that services are accessible to all.

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