FOREIGNERS COMPLAIN OVER MALAWI’S NEW CONTROVERSIAL LAND POLICY
Foreigners have complained to the Malawi government about the controversial land policy which bars all non-Malawians and foreign firms from owning land, the land minister said on Tuesday.
Thengo Maloya said his office has been getting ”a lot of complaints against the new land policy from foreigners but the government will not change its mind on the matter”.
He said it was time foreigners realised ”this is our country and it’s us who will set rules on how to run it.”
”I will not jump around to please a foreigner, I am favouring Malawians because the country belongs to them,” the outspoken minister added.
Some 4 000 Asians in Malawi have in the past complained about the land policy, which has yet to be passed by parliament, arguing that a clause that bars all non-Malawians and foreign firms from owning land while granting freehold status to Malawians only is discriminatory.
The policy allows foreign companies and non-citizens to lease land from government or from private land owners for investment purposes only. Foreign individuals interested in obtaining or retaining a freehold on land would be required to form partnerships with Malawians or attain Malawi citizenship.
Most of the Asians in Malawi still hold British citizenship despite a 1992 immigration law allowing them to seek citizenship of the southern African country. They have complained in the past that converting freehold land to leasehold on the basis of nationality was unfair and would scare away investors from the desperately poor southern African country, which has been hard hit by the drought that has wracked the region.
The Asians have also accused Maloya of being a racist for his tough stance on the land policy and refusing to discuss their concerns.
”I am not a racist, I am merely a realist. I want foreigners to know their place,” Maloya said.
He said as long as he was lands minister, the land policy will not be reviewed until it passed by parliament. Malawi is seeking to redistribute idle land to thousands of its
citizens. – Sapa-AFP