Under the auspices of the WCO-INAMA project (funded by Sweden, US Department of State, GiZ and CITES Secretariat) the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) received support from the WCO in strengthening its intelligence function. The primary objective of this activity was to improve MRA’s risk management capacity with a focus on the illegal wildlife trade.
This support was provided through a WCO experts’ mission to the MRA headquarters in Blantyre, held from 10th to 14th October 2016.
The mission started with a meeting with the Commissioner General of MRA, Mr. Tom Gray Malata, and the Deputy Commissioner for Customs and Excise, Ms. Abigail Kawamba. The Commissioner General stressed the importance of using intelligence to inform risk management. He clearly stated that intelligence is necessary in order not to be "shooting in the dark".
The support focused on revising the draft strategic intelligence framework of MRA and on developing a detailed work plan to establish an Intelligence Unit. A working group, composed by personnel from the MRA, was set up to implement this project.
On the final day of the mission, the project manager appointed by the MRA for the process of setting up the intelligence unit presented the revised intelligence framework and action plan to members of the MRA Senior Management, who expressed their wholehearted support for this new initiative as well as their commitment to the implementation of the work plan.
This mission was funded by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GiZ).
For more information about this mission and the WCO-INAMA Project, please contact the WCO-INAMA project manager, Marco Foddi (marco.foddi@wcoomd.org).