Questions over Malawi Govt and Plan International approaches in tobacco saga

Written by VERONICA MAELE MAGOMBE

Thursday, 03 September 2009 08:13

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. Minister of Labour, Yunus Mussa has argued that ‘child labour’ in tobacco estates is history, and that under-age children are working on farms alongside parents purely on a part-time basis for their own good. They go to school whilst learning gardening skills. Whereas Plan Malawi has stuck to the findings, the organisation has found itself almost on the defensive, blaming some news networks like the BBC for ‘picking juicy parts’ of its report for stories.

Needless to say, many Malawians should have questions over government and Plan International’s approaches in the child-tobacco-workers’ saga. Clearly, government has sought to desperately cover its back and dodge its responsibility when, with some progress on child labour and related issues, thousands of children are being abused or harmed, right under its watch, as they work in the tobacco industry and beyond.

Of course, government is not entirely wrong in being suspicious of the agenda behind Plan International’s report. Despite undertaking remarkable oversight and humanitarian roles, many NGOs around the world are operating, notoriously, by exaggerating the plight and tribulations of supposed beneficiaries.

As Naomi Klein argues in her highly acclaimed 2007 book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, there is a growing obsession by some organisations and individuals to ‘profit from disasters.’ Unfortunately, the underprivileged masses of the world find themselves caught up as guinea pigs in the crossfire of self-interested actors.

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. Certainly, poverty has devastating consequences on the country’s children who, for instance, are forced to provide for families. This reality makes the idea of mandatory education remote and the Millennium Development Goal towards achieving universal primary education completely farfetched.

This means, if the government of Malawi was to sign and ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), as urged by the Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI) and YASED-Smoke Free Malawi project, the protection of the population from exposure to and consumption of tobacco would be substantial. But, any interventions, which ignore the larger picture of poverty and good governance, are likely to drive vulnerable children underground or push them to other dangerous occupations.

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. Government is aware, as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently underlined that Malawi’s export base is ‘too narrow and concentrated’ because of heavy dependency on a limited number of export commodities like tobacco, which are prone to the unpredictability of world markets.

Thus, Plan is right in reflecting on the consequences of the shift of tobacco growing burden to developing countries. It should be quite commendable that the organisation has exposed the hideous vice that has long gripped an industry, which brings Malawi more than 70% of her foreign exchange. Its recommendations are streamlined enough to inform advocacy, public education and direct interventions on the issue of children’s rights and protection et cetera.

But lacking is the reflection over the critical issue of ‘good governance and democracy’ in relation to poverty alleviation and children’s rights.

Does Malawi need to plunge into the Chinese model of economic development, which lacks respect for human rights? With democracy, an issue like the one Plan has exposed should precisely fall on the media, civil society and the opposition to look at and vehemently hold government accountable.

Mwanza Central MP, Nicholas Dausi has just bemoaned that culture and poverty is forcing children to drop out of school in the district. After 45 years of independence aren’t Malawi politicians ashamed to see the status quo?

Nonetheless, as government and the tobacco industry question the accuracy of Plan’s report, what is most cynical about the global aid NGO movement, of which Plan International is a part, is that it is an industry, which is conveniently powered by levers of the dependency syndrome of both the NGOs as providers, and the victims as recipients.

Often times, behind the exposures of ugly situations in developing countries like Malawi by NGOs, the way Plan has done lies a huge PR machine, which sets Western media rolling. Subsequently, the NGO’s hit the jackpot as donations in cash and kind flow.

Actually, international NGOs are aware that a large section of the media in the West is addicted to, particularly, sensational stories and pictures of Africa. For the media, the more gruesome the stories and images, the more they boost up audience statistics and income generation.

Nowadays, super-stars have joined the theatre to carry humanitarian causes, but additionally, some of them are using Africa’s trauma to rehabilitate their broken image and promote their stardom.

Indeed, after the extraordinary photo-gallery which has appeared on the BBC website, portraying Plan’s Malawi tobacco case, it will be very surprising if soon, British media is not filled up with ‘Save Malawi child-tobacco-workers’ appeals: spiced up with stomach-churning photos of malnourished and half-naked children, their pictures strewn across the country’s various tobacco fields.

That’s how many international NGOs are fighting for the welfare of Malawian children or African people right from war-torn Darfur in Sudan to hunger-stricken Ethiopia. Many times, in the strategic thinking and approaches of NGOs is an attempt to ignore the unquestionable truth that if all these countries had visionary, progressive and people-centred governments, these problems would not be there. If good governance prevailed, poverty was drastically alleviated or wars ended in Africa, perhaps many of the NGOs would have to migrate to another planet to start new projects.

Of course, we all know that there are many well-intentioned NGOs, who are driven by the genuine desire to end misery in poor countries i.e. child abuse, HIV-AIDS, unsafe water and sanitation, maternal deaths, environmental degradation etc. But obviously, there is a sizeable cohort out there motivated by the wish to keep their jobs, and worse still, to perpetuate the divide between poor and rich countries.

Great suspicion arises on the thought that some NGOs are ruthless in using shocking stories of victims to raise funds, from which a large chunk is cut for administrative costs etc. whilst victims’ lives remain largely unchanged.

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.

Nyasa Times

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