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Malawi: Mutharika Says Smoking Started Before Jesus Walked On Earth – ‘Malawi Will Not Feel Guilty for Growing Tobacco’
By Thom Chiumia
London — Malawian President Peter Mutharika has said the country will continue to grow tobacco and will not feel guilty about it amidst opposition from anti-smoking groups, saying people have been smoking even before Jesus Christ walked on this earth.
Mutharika saod Malawi would continue to support the tobacco industry, the mainstay of the economy and the country’s second largest employer after the government, until alternative cash crops were found.
In an interview published in the London-based New African magazine, Muthatrika asserted that Malawi cannot stop growing tobacco overnight and will continue growing tobacco based on trade requirements until when there is no demand,
He said people have the option to smoke or not to smoke.
“We are not forcing them to smoke, we are just growing tobacco so we don’t have to feel guilty,” Mutharika said