Landlocked countries in Africa are in for hard knocks if not from governments on their periphery but from bandits waiting to grab whatever goods being brought in or taken out. This is compounded by neighboring governments on whose goodwill landlocked countries depend on.
Sneeze in the wrong directions and the land gates are immediately shut. In the past, countries as Malawi, Rwanda, Lesotho, South Sudan have weathered such setbacks and managed to wriggle through.
Now Malawi is facing the daredevil ordeal from ”robin hood style” attacks on vital cargoes in bound and out bound making the land route from South Africa insecure.
It is the latest calamity facing a country that has been struggling to survive all odds. Many have argued that it will be better for Malawi to sort alternatives, much secure routes through Zambia and in the extreme, Zimbabwe.
Using the Zimbabwe route has its drawbacks as the country is going through rough economic patches. One analyst likened it to an attempt to join a drowning man engulfed in a heavy tide with little chances of reaching the shore.
Like many inland countries, Malawi depend on oil importation to gear up its development programs, getting its factories working to bring in more revenue and keep transportation on the road for its citizens to move around unhindered.
Whatever the choice, the options are very costly and who knows that these ”robinhoods” would not simply shift their operators to re-establish along the new route.
The attacks are already having a telling effect on Malawi’s battered economy, pumping insecurity into the already shaky administration.
Malawi cannot afford to airlift essential goods and much needed fertilizers to shore up its agriculture on a sustainable level.
In a world which is now actively campaigning against the harmful use of tobacco product, it is not surprising that trade figures are already showing a drop trend in production.
Foreign exchange earnings have dipped from about 300m dollars for tobacco production, the country’s main export, compared to 362m dollars in 2014.
Previous attempts by past governments to get off the landlocked throttle have not been easy. Now, much hope is pinned on a multi-billion dollar rail project to connect Malawi to the Indian Ocean, which is yet to take off.
Tourism and mining, another mainstay in the economy are in limbo, appearing rusty to most international investors who are putting a tight grip on their wallets.
They have nightmares, remembering the ”cashgate” pilfering of donors money in 2013 which led to the arrest through international pressure of some 70 top rated Malawians.
It also exposed unaccounted funds from the German government of over 1.4 billion dollars between 2009 and 2014.
So this is the dilemma in which Malawi now finds itself and need to start thinking out how the menace can be tackled before it engulfs other countries.
Keeping armed patrols to ride shotgun to accompany cargoes would not be cost effective in the long run with its risks and the chances of deaths.
There would be need at some point for the African Union to become involved and get its thinkers to map out how the menace can be snuffed out. Until that is done, it remains a tale of one country.
By Rod Mac-Johnson
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