SIGNIFICANCE OF MALAWI-ISRAEL LABOUR EXPORT DEAL
In April 2024, the Malawian government & Israel government signed the labour export deal which was expected since November 2023, the minister of information & digitalization Moses Kunkuyu & also minister of Foreign Affairs Nancy Tembo held the joint press briefing in Lilongwe to update the public on the Malawi delegation’s trip to Israel in April 2023,where Malawi signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Israel for the temporary employment of Malawians who by then have already started working in agricultural sector in Israel. The deal which was signed in Tel Aviv, mostly focuses on youths to take part & the beneficiaries were estimated to be 5 000 people and by December 25 2023, Malawian government had already sent 600 youths to Israel to work in the farms. These Malawians will be working in big farms for the period of 5 years & then return home.
Speaking during the press briefing, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nancy Tembo said that government of Israel is satisfied with the Malawians who have already started working, noting that they are diligent, dependence & trustworthy. She also said that the government of Israel is looking for more experienced workers from Malawi, specifically in the fields of agriculture & construction.
Tembo said that, by signing the MoU, more than 3, 000 Malawians will benefit from Israel saying this will lead to generate income & to explore advanced agriculture practices respectively.
In his remark, minister of information & digitalization Moses Kunkuyu, reiterated that Malawi government is committed to solve the challenges Malawians have been facing in Israel to ensure favorable labour conditions & safety. This follows the opening of a new embassy in Israel aimed at cementing long-standing bilateral relations between Malawi & Israel.
On the other hand, the minister of labour for the state of Israel, Yoav Ben Tzur said that his government will ensure that employees from Malawi are well taken care of & have good housing, safety & good labour conditions just like Israelites workers. Tzur also commended the Malawi government for its continued effort to support the state of Israel by not succumbing to pressure from all over the World.
But what is the significance of this deal to Malawi as a nation & to individuals working there?
As we all know that in previous 4 years we had been experiencing the global pandemics, this has made many companies to pull out or withdraw their duties and services hence leaving most of Malawians jobless & also lack of more investors, lack of entrepreneur skills has led to high unemployment rate.
So one of the significance of the deal is that it has reduced the rate of unemployment among the youth. This is so because the number of beneficiaries is increasing each & every month which means that most of the unemployed youths will have chance to benefit.
Another significance is that the country will not shortfall of forex. There will be presence of foreign currency in the country because the people working in Israel, part of their money are sent home.
It also helps in alleviating poverty in the families of those people working in Israel. This is because the money paid can be sent home & it can help in improving the standards of living hence the money received is of good amount.
It also gives chance to the beneficiaries to know the areas (places) of abroad. This is so in a way that they have a chance of staying in the country where agriculture is to its maximum with the use of irrigation & this can help them gain knowledge of irrigation farming to apply here at home because we have fresh water unlike in Israel.
It can also help in gaining of practical skills by our students who have learned more here at home but not practicing enough.
At first Malawians were afraid on how the beneficiaries going to survive in Israel because of the war between Israel & the grouping of Hamas in Gaza. Many Malawians were saying that the beneficiaries are going to be used in the war on the part of Israel & others expressed their fear by saying that the Malawians will be working in areas where they can get attacked easily but all these were just rumors and just fears because so far as a country we have heard no news about this.
As of now youths from all walks of life in Malawi are making everything possible to travel to the promised land of Israel & for one to have chance there is need to have medical report (cleared at the hospital), Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) though the graduates were the first to access this opportunity, be a Malawian citizen & have a passport.
But the question is: are there some plans put in place by government so that the country can benefit with the experience which will be gained by the Malawians in Israel when they return home?????
Let us wait & see
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