Tobacco tenants are being subjected to poor living conditions, according to a warning issued by the Minister of Labour, Youth, Sports, Honorable Grace Chiumia.

She warned estate owners when she visited Karonga during a child labour inspection in farms and estates. It is reported that the minister noticed that tenants are living in appalling conditions where a family of more than five share a small shack made of grass and covered with mud, an act which the Minister called inhumane. “This is bad, how do you think the health of people will be. The estate owners come here and go to sleep in their good houses, how do they feel?” wondered Chiumia.

Meanwhile Malawi boasted a whopping $336m sales in 2018; a share of which these estate owners profited in. Indeed, it does not make sense how such a profiting business would not have compassion for its laborers, but hopefully there will be change, thanks to the Ministry’s action on the matter.