The Minister of Information, Gospel Kazako, has criticized the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) for letting Internet Service Provider (Isp) overprice customers.

During a meeting with officials from SimbaNet Malawi, E-government, Macra and Public Private Partnership Commission (PPPC) to understand why Internet costs remain high, Minister of Information Gospel Kazako said players are getting away with inefficiencies, right under Macra’s watch.

“The law gives you (Macra) power to regulate the telecommunications industry, but it seems Macra is

toothless.” exclaimed the Kazako. Earlier this year, the  

 chamber for Small and Medium Business Association has asked the government to consider implementing measures that will ease operations of SMEs, amidst the corona virus outbreak.

The association presented its requests to the government, in a statement that was recently released, which outlined that tax reduction on internet will trickle to internet service providers who in turn will reduce price charged to the end consumer. In the statement, the government was requested to also consider broadening and fast-track loans from Medf and introduce less stringent requirements that government should support businesses with sanitary products. “Extend the moratorium on loan repayment which is currently at three months to six months and lower rentals for commercial properties,” reads the statement in part.