90 customs clearing agents have been presented with a Certificate in Professional Customs Clearing by   the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS) through its Management and Development Centre (MDC), after undergoing an intensive one-month training.

The certificate presentation ceremony took place on 7 June 2024 at MUBAS campus in Blantyre.

Speaking in an interview, Dr. Rabia Hanif, the Acting Executive Dean for the School of Business and Economic Sciences at MUBAS, said the training was organized in partnership with the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA).

“This course was organized in response to an interest that MRA put across to MUBAS to actually help them to facilitate the training of customs clearing agents,’’ Dr. Hanif said.

“And this programme will continue because the need for such professionals is still high,’’ she added.

Director for Corporate Affairs at MRA, Agness Katsonga hailed the partnership her organization has with MUBAS more especially in areas of professional development.

‘’ Actually, MUBAS came to our rescue because these customs clearing agents training is very rare, especially in Malawi, where we do not have institutions that offer such trainings, making MUBAS the first to offer this training,’’ she remarked.

Mavuto Zabula, one of the graduates, hailed MUBAS and MRA for the initiative saying it will uplift standards in the profession.

“We have benefited a lot from the training. There were things that we were not aware of but now we are experts in clearing goods,” Zabula said.

The training was conducted at MUBAS campuses in Lilongwe and Blantyre with financial assistance from Global Alliance and training for the second cohort of students is currently underway.