Tea Association of Malawi (Taml), says it cannot afford to pay its workers the proposed K50000 monthly minimum wage, as doing so will result in the industry laying off workers and shutting down some operations.

Taml chairperson Sangwani Hara outlined that moving up the minimum wage from K35000 to K50000 per month cannot be achieved as so far, the industry has been faced with low production arising from climate change, poor market prices due to global oversupply and market uncertainties due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last month, The Minister of Labour Ken Kandodo announced that the government has developed a roadmap for the creation of one million jobs per year. According to Kandodo, the government will come up with a strategic plan that will guide the ministry and stakeholders in the implementation of the program, by September this year. In the meanwhile, consultations are being made with key stakeholders, public and private sector and formal and informal sectors to leverage on potential strategies that can create the one million jobs.