EVERY DAY scores of people cross the point where Malawi ends and Mozambique begins at the Mandimba customs and border post. Traders from Mozambique carrying cotton, tobacco and maize for Malawi’s markets pass trucks and vans loaded with manufactured goods such as oil, sugar and soap headed in the opposite direction.
The blue and white painted customs building where they register is one of the more unusual beneficiaries of Irish Aid, the Government’s overseas development arm.
Among those crossing into Mozambique at Mandimba this week was Ireland’s Minister of State for Trade and Development, Jan O’Sullivan.
Irish Aid has been supporting projects in the surrounding Niassa province, one of Mozambique’s poorest and most remote corners, since 1996. Its current budget for Niassa stands at €1.5 million per year, much of which is spent on health and education initiatives.
Ireland also supports the provincial department of finance, which is responsible for revenue collection. In 2004, the provincial authorities moved to increase revenue collection. The busy Mandimba border crossing was considered one of the most significant potential sources of income, and the government decided to build a proper border post to take full advantage. Irish Aid contributed more than €20,000 towards its construction.
Today customs officers work out of a collection of low-slung buildings in the shadow of the Mandimba mountain. The road is lined with vehicles piled high with goods strapped down with rope. Nearby, weary travellers seek shade under mango trees. On the veranda of the main customs building sits a deserted game of tchuva, played with green marbles on a hand carved wooden board.
The new border post began operating in 2006. Since then annual revenue has increased from the equivalent of €18,000 to €44,000 last year.
This figure amounts to one of the highest for any border post in Mozambique. Ms O’Sullivan, who is on a week-long trip to visit Irish Aid-funded projects in Malawi and Mozambique, listened as excise officer Eusebio Satar explained how revenue flow had increased since the opening of the border post.
Ireland’s ambassador to Mozambique Ruairí de Burca translated from the Portuguese for the Minister as she toured the premises.
“We’re very pleased Irish Aid has been able to fund this,” said Ms O’Sullivan. “It’s very important to have proper facilities at the border.”
Not only has the new facility resulted in extra revenue, it has also improved the control of immigration flow to and from the country. In 2005, only seven people were officially counted as having crossed the border at Mandimba. Last year, the names of 21,812 travellers were registered by border guards.