Jump to full article: The Zimbabwean (uk), 2009-09-03
Author: VERONICA MAELE MAGOMBE
Intro: Since Plan International’s alarming report about Malawi child-tobacco-pickers lit up the international media circuit like a fierce wildfire, the Malawi government and other stakeholders have been left rumbling.
So to speak, media articles covering the report were last week defined by the usual overtones that surround the horrific tales of vulnerable children in Africa. Reading Plan’s 81-page report, one would be Satan not to see the children’s ordeal in form of thought-provoking cartoons drawn to support Madonna’s ‘save Malawi orphans’ charitable expeditions.
It explains why, shedding crocodile tears, government has swiftly expressed shock over Plan’s report, faulting the organisation on what it sees as a concocted figure of 78,000 children said to be working in the industry. . . .
The truth in as far as the Malawi tobacco hullabaloo is concerned, is that, although government has underlined its objections to the report, Plan International has a compelling case that should propel moral responsibility from various stakeholders. It does not take rocket science for anyone to understand, as Plan has revealed, that children (whether working with parents or not) risk being harmed through unprotected work, more so, nicotine poisoning.
It is touching that children as young as five are working long hours for K26 a day in the Malawi tobacco industry as they face the health risks of nicotine absorption equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes, in addition to experiencing physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
The problem is that disclosures of woes like these quite often leave NGOs scared of entering the dangerous territory of offending governments. Zimbabwe’s Mugabe and Sudan’s al-Bashir, for example, have not hesitated to sternly warn NGOs deemed to be spreading negative stories of expulsion.
But love it or hate it, decorated by the 8.3% forecast for economic growth in 2008, Malawi remains poor. . . .
Another obvious bottleneck is Malawi’s failure to diversify its economy and accordingly end the near-total dependence on tobacco, which faces the legitimate hammering from the anti-tobacco lobby. . . .
With its tremendous work in Malawi, Plan’s report on death-traps inside tobacco estates, is probably driven by pure good will. Whereas President Bingu wa Mutharika has been busy throwing thunderous curses and deportation threats at tobacco buyers who peddle exploitative prices against the fixed minimum tags, his government cannot escape its obligation to properly oversee the production of the golden leaf.
It is evident though that, unless Malawi significantly fights poverty, diversifies its economy and realises good governance, children will continue to be exploited and abused. And Plan will have more work to do.
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