A 23-year-old Malawian woman who travelled to Oman in search of job opportunities, has died.
The deceased has been identified as Ida Chiwalo from Traditional Authority Mponda in Mangochi district who died last week Friday on 2nd June, 2023.
According to a press statement by the Malawi government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chiwalo travelled to Oman in December last year in search of job opportunities.
However, the ministry says Chiwalo was not amongst the stranded Malawian women whom the Malawi government intend to repatriate back home.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs regrets to inform members of the public about the death of a Malawian lady who was working in Oman. She died on 2nd June. 2023, and the government is awaiting a postmortem report on the cause of death.
“The deceased, who travelled to Oman in December, 2022, had not registered interest to be repatriated, hence she was not on the list of the Malawians that the Government has been arranging to repatriate from Oman,” reads part of the statement.
On the repatriation efforts, the ministry says Malawi Government is still in talks with the Malawi Embassy in Kuwait City to facilitate the repatriation of all Malawian women who are distressed in Oman.
It is reported that the Ministry of Labour has already transferred repatriation funds to the Malawi Embassy in Kuwait City for this purpose and that once these funds are cleared, the repatriation process will begin.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reminded members of the public to follow the proper procedures that the Malawi Government has instituted for immigrating to the Gulf region for work.
“The Government is aware of a recent trend whereby, in order to circumvent the security screening at our airports, Malawians travelling to Gulf countries are cajoled by some shady characters into leaving Malawi by road to neighbouring countries from where they fly out to the Gulf region. The Government will take all necessary measures within the law to curb this criminal enterprise,” reads another part of the statement.
On long-term solution, the Malawi Government says it is exploring is establishing bilateral labour agreements with Gulf countries in order to ensure that the rights and welfare of Malawian migrant workers are safeguarded.
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