Energy Minister Ibrahim Matola has failed to name and shame opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials who siphoned off fuel from the state run power distribution company, Escom.
The minister now claims he has not backtracked on his decision to name and shame while DPP accuse him as a liar who should be ashamed of himself while encouraging Police to arrest him for concealing a crime.
“He has failed to let the country and world know who siphoned the fuel. Possibly he is part of the cartel, or else how does he know. He is a liar who has no information. Police should arrest him for concealing a criminal activity,” said Francis Mphepo, DPP Administrative Secretary.
Minister Ibrahim Matola accused of lying
Matola has told a press conference on Tuesday that the move by the DPP officials literally brought Escom to its knees financially.
He said he was just waiting for a parliamentary committee on Natural Resources to table its findings in the House before he presents the names.
Matola also said people vandalize transformers to get its oil which is assumed to last long when using to fly chips among others.
He added that the ministry has found out that people are now destroying the whole transformer to get copper wire from it.
Matola said vandalism of transformers has resulted in crisis to supply power to every Malawian including to patients in hospitals.
He said that this is also affecting the process of connecting power to new customers.
According to Matola, one transformer costs K8 million which on average means that the country through Escom is losing K4.5 million per day due to vandalism.
According to Matola, there to be a political sabotage as Southern Region districts of Thyolo and Mulanje are topping the list of most vandalised transformers.
The districts are followed by Central Region Districts of Lilongwe, Dowa and Kasungu while Northern Region has only thirteen centres affected.
Matola has indicated that the country will need K2 billion to maintain and procure new transformers.
