Opinion
AGOA Equals National Security
At this juncture, I challenge Matenje on the health concerns of tobacco. “Malawi,” he says “is neither in the business of promoting tobacco consumption nor a specific lifestyle.” Instead, leaf tobacco is a commodity that Malawi households grow and grade. Just like Brazil, Malawi “is simply an agricultural country with capacity to produce a commodity for the global market.” Seminally, if Brazil can develop because it has guaranteed markets for its commodities, Malawi should have the same thing.
Matenje takes us back to the essence of AGOA. The program was meant to benefit as many Africans as possible. If more women and youth can help export their hard-earned
agricultural products to the United States, perhaps, they will not sit about and be idle – fertile ground for the kind of disruptive behavior that could affect a country’s national security.
Malawi’s national security rests on the laurels of a commodity that is within the tough confines of a tariff rate quota. In this case, Ambassador Matenje suggests, partners such as the United States and Africa must quickly find a middle ground. It seems as though AGOA could be it.
Stephen Matenje is Malawi’s Ambassador to the United States, with additional accreditation to Canada, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia
