ActionAid Malawi has called on government to stop tax holidays that are given to multinational companies.
The organisation says money Malawi is losing from tax dodging and tax holidays could be spent on funding public services that are desperately needed to lift women and girls out of poverty.
It is against this background that ActionAid on Friday 16 and Saturday 17 December conducted a 2 days caravan for tax power campaign for education in Neno with an aim of educating the rural masses about the benefit of paying taxes that would boost the quality of education in the country.
According to Programs Officer for ActionAid in Neno Francis Chapasuka, all over the world ordinary people are paying tax every day but at the same time big companies are taking advantage of the outdated, complex, and patchy international tax system to get out of paying their fair share.
Chapasuka said tax dodging by big business multinational companies is costing the development of this country particularly in remote areas like Neno.
“For example in education we are suffering, the portion that education receives from the national budget is not enough same as to other sectors. But this can be dealt with if we let multinational companies pay taxes fairly and put measures that restrict tax dodging, abolish tax holidays so that these collections can support quality education in our country. We don’t have enough teaching and learning materials, adequate school blocks, teacher’s houses and even teachers’ salaries are lower to sustain their lives,” said Chapasuka.
Commenting on the same, Russel Msiska who is chairperson of Civil Society Organisations and Secretary for Neno District Education Network gave round of applause to ActionAid and NORAD for the job well done in the district and called on organisations to work together for sustainability of all projects.
The event was spiced up by a performance by Nazikambe Drama Group as well as music, poems and traditional dances.
They paraded almost in all trading centres in the district.
The activity is part of Promoting Quality Education through Progressive Domestic Resource Mobilisation Program which ActionAid is implementing in the district with funding from Norwegians for Development Cooperation (NORAD).
Report by Enock Naphazi – A journalist working in Neno district.
