One way of improving participation of locals in the economy is by listing state owned companies on the stock exchange and reserve the shares for locals or diaspora citizens only. it allows locals to invest and feel their contribution and involvement in the local economy. Most ordinary Malawians felt sidelined during the privatisation of company’s in the mid~90’s during the Muluzi era it only benefited a few locals who had the money.
Listing government firms on the stock exchange helps lessen the governments burden of injecting capital. as the shares will be reserved for Malawians only, as shareholders there should also be given the powers to choose the management of the firms they invest in as one way to tackle political nepotism. depending on the pricing of the shares Malawians can fully fund the operations of the firms and can result in nonperforming parastals into profit making firms. The turnaround can be achieved since management appointments won’t be political but based on merit.
The listing will benefit both citizens and government. citizens will benefit through dividends whilst government will benefit through taxation of company profits and individual dividends. It will also benefit stockbrokers through increased trading of shares and it will boost the Malawi stock exchange as more listing of firms takes place it results in increased activities on the stock market.
some examples of the parastals that can be listed are the newly formed Malawian airlines, Escom, Malawi broadcasting corporation, Malawi savings bank, governments 20% in national bus company, Malawi housing corporation, Lilongwe handling company, MTL, etc.
