'Corporate tax deals are robbing poor countries of teachers and nurses'

Entirely legal tax deals for one multinational have cost Malawi £27m in six years. The real cost is to its people, argues Martha Khonje

According to recent figures from the World Bank, my country Malawi is the poorest country in the world. People here live to an average age of 55 and there are high rates of Aids/HIV infection. Our health service is threadbare, with a great shortage of nurses and doctors and our schools need teachers. The country desperately requires investment in public services, including health and education programmes.

However, this does not mean there is no hope. Far from it. One of the solutions to this problem is to increase government income through taxation. Although Malawi is poor, the country has natural resources that are hugely valuable. In theory, by allowing large companies to mine these resources and then tax those operations, our government could raise millions of dollars of revenue.

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