Thousands march in Malawi to protest price hikes
Thousands of people protesting price hikes in poverty-plagued Malawi marched to the parliament building Tuesday in the country's largest demonstration in years, an AFP reporter said.
Chanting anti-government songs and calling for the resignation of President Lazarus Chakwera, the protesters -- most of them second-hand clothes vendors from Lilongwe's largest flea market -- brought the capital to a standstill.
Malawi has in recent months seen an escalation in the prices of basic commodities and goods as a result of an acute shortage of foreign exchange currency which has also led to a severe shortage in fuel.
The price of maize, the country's staple food, increased by 21 percent in January, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute.
The shortage in foreign currency has hit traders hard, leaving many unable to pay their foreign suppliers.
“It is ridiculous because the prices keep going up, sometimes three or four times a day,” clothes vendor and protester Daud Sanudi told AFP, adding that rising prices were making his business unsustainable.
“We have turned to the black market where the dollar is selling at more than three times the normal price," Mohammad Latif, who owns a second-hand wholesaler, told AFP.
Following the protest, Malawi's ministry of trade and industry released a statement revoking "all business licenses" for second-hand clothes wholesalers and retailers and telling them to re-apply.
"Anyone found not complying with the directive will be prosecuted," the statement read, giving no explanation for the move.
Political opposition members supported the demonstration, calling for inflation to receive "immediate attention".
"Most businesses are closing, there is no forex and people cannot afford to buy the basics," MP for the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, Sameer Suleiman, told AFP as he exited the parliament building to meet the protesters.
"How does government expect us to survive?" he asked.
Nearly three-quarters of Malawi's population of nearly 21 million people lives in extreme poverty, according to the World Bank.
The southern African country's economic woes will be a focus of elections in September when Chakwera will seek a second term.
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