Minister of Trade and industry Vitumbiko Mumba has urged African countries to explore new strategies for transforming the continent through investments that foster inclusive growth.
Mumba said this when speaking at the 11th Cambridge Africa Together Conference organised by the African Society of Cambridge at the University at Cambridge in London. He participated in the first panel themed ‘Forging Economic Growth Through Fiscal Transformation’. Among others, the panellists discussed how African governments can address issues of inflation and debt as part of laying a stronger foundation for inclusive growth.
Mumba was among the several African leaders invited to speak at the event. Other prominent figures who were expected at the conference include South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters(EFF) President Julius Malema whose UK visa application was rejected.
Missed the event
After the conference, Mumba met the Chief Executive Officer of ABF Sugar Illovo where they discussed issues of sugar hoarding by dealers and the need to bring in more distributors in the trade.
He wrote on his Facebook page: “Had a great meeting with CEO of ABF Sugar (Illovo) this afternoon in London. We have been in discussions for the past months, and this coming July, those that would like to become sugar distributors watch out for the tender. We need more distributors as one way of combating hoarding of sugar.”
Caption: Mumba (R) with Illovo CEO Paul Kenward
In the post, he also tackled the elections issue. Malawi is scheduled to hold tripartite elections on September 16, 2025. Currently, all major political parties are holding primary elections to identify candidates to represent the parties in the elections. Mumba got the wind while in London that his political party, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) held primary elections in his constituency in his absence. To protect his candidature, his lawyers rushed to court to obtain an injunction to annual the election exercise.
“…take it easy. You can’t have primary elections without notifying the other candidate [apart from your favourite], without the delegates, without Constituency Committee, without District Committee members from that Constituency, without Regional Committee members from that Constituency and without monitors from the aspirants. Passing wind. Stay focused. Eyes on the ball” he said in the Facebook post.
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