EDITORIAL: Enough is Enough—Escom Must Be Held Accountable for Its Incompetence
There comes a time when silence in the face of negligence becomes complicity. That time is now. And the target of our collective national outrage must, without hesitation, be the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom), whose consistent and catastrophic failures have become a national disgrace.
On Tuesday, at exactly 12:09 PM, the entire country was plunged into darkness—again. Not for the first time. Not for the second. But as part of a long, shameful series of unannounced national blackouts that have become Escom’s sickening trademark. And what do Malawians get in return? A shallow, recycled statement: “We are yet to establish the cause of the nationwide system shutdown.”
This is not just incompetence. This is institutional impunity. Escom continues to fumble in the dark while Malawians’ livelihoods are incinerated—laptops fried, machinery halted, food rotting in freezers, small businesses bleeding losses by the hour. In a country already gasping under the weight of economic challenges, these blackouts are not just an inconvenience—they are a direct assault on our productivity, our economy, and our dignity.
Let us be clear: Malawi has not been idle in the energy sector. The country has pumped billions into power generation and diversification—hydro, solar, diesel. Government commitments to hit 1,000MW by 2025 were made. Yet here we are, stuck at a meagre 554MW and unable to keep the lights on in a single city, let alone the nation.
We’ve bought diesel generators. We’ve installed solar farms. We’ve thrown money and trust at Egenco. But what has changed? Absolutely nothing. Instead, we’re being told to wait—again—for the Moma interconnector with Mozambique, as if that’s the silver bullet. How does a country in 2025 still blame “system shocks” and “standalone network vulnerabilities” for routine shutdowns? Who is responsible for strengthening the grid? Who is being paid—handsomely—to manage these systems?
Where are the post-mortem reports of previous shutdowns? Where are the results of the so-called “investigations” Escom claims to conduct? Who has been fired? Who has been held accountable?
And to add salt to our wounds, Escom had the audacity to impose a 16% tariff hike in February. They demanded more from Malawians while delivering less than nothing in return. It’s not just theft—it’s a national insult.
Consumers Association of Malawi boss John Kapito is right: enough is enough. We need maturity, yes. But we also need consequences. Heads must roll. There must be a full public audit into the operations of both Escom and Egenco. Let us name names, fire those at the helm, and start afresh. This circus of power outages cannot continue unchecked.
We call on President Lazarus Chakwera and Parliament to stop treating Escom like a sacred cow. It is a bloated, inefficient, accountability-averse institution that must be reined in or restructured entirely. Malawi cannot afford to be held hostage by a corporation so allergic to competence.
Escom, your time for excuses has expired. Malawians are no longer asking. We are demanding—answers, accountability, and above all, electricity.
Let there be light. Not just in our homes, but in the darkest corners of your corruption and ineptitude.
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