Egenco lied to Malawians over the cause of blackouts – Matola

The Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) officials have been accusing of  lying to Malawians for failure to provide power to Malawians.

Malawi is currently experiencing long hours of electricity with Egenco  saying this is due to low levels on Shire River.

The company’s Public Relations Officer, Mervin Mchenga said  the main challenge is the reduced water level in Lake Malawi which has shrunk by 1.5 metres above sea level.

“As of December 2016, the water was at 473.0 above sea level against the required 474.5 above the sea level resulting in ENGENCO’s failure to generate power to the maximum capacity,” explained Mchenga.

However, in an interview, former Minister of Energy, Ibrahim Matola said all what the company is saying is not true.

“Its not true look we have water now there is no way this can be an excuse the problem is about corruption at ESCOM these people are not maintaining the machines due to corruption the money which is meant to service the machines are diverted to personal use,” said Matola.

Matola said during the Joyce Banda administration ministry of energy provided electricity to 121 trading centres.

He said the idea was to reduce immigration of people from villages into towns.

“Electricity brings development and youths find employment within their villages,” said Matola.

Currently, most parts of the country are having no electricity for as long as six hours or more, in the process choking production in all spheres of economic life including health.

Mchenga said the company is banking on the Kamuzu Barrage at Liwonde which will help in regulating the  flow of water from Lake Malawi into the Shire in order to build water levels  to sustain power generation during the upcoming dry season.

“The coming of ENGENCO as a company to solely generate power is a good development to the power sector as that will bring efficiency,” said Mchenga.

“Our mandate is solely generating electricity and we are committed to doing that by exploring and implementing alternative sources of energy,” Mchenga added.

ENGENCO places its hope in the completion of the Liwonde Barrage, a recent visit to the sight by the parliamentary finance committee revealed that the barrage will be ready by mid next year (2018).