Malawi buys electricity from Zambia, draws angry reactions from Malawians
Malawi government has finally sealed a deal with Zambia to buy 20 megawattso f electricity from Lusaka through power sharing agreement as Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) iss till failing to explain the use of the newly acquired gensets whose fuel was siphoned off in a K3 billion racket scheme.
Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining Aggrey Massi signed the agreement on behalf of the Malawi government in the presence of Minister of Industry, Trade
and Tourism Henry Mussa.
The two cabinet ministers flew to Lusaka on Tuesday and signed the agreement on Wednesday.
This means that Lusaka will now sell the electricity to Lilongwe through the interconnection power agreement from Chipata.
However, Malawians on social media platforms are describing the deal as too little too late, questioning the whereabouts of the much touted gensets which are now idle after Escom racketeers siphoned off the fuel.
Some Malawians even laughed off the agreement, saying in the past, it was Malawi selling the power to Zambia through Lundazi.
Electricity remains the critical issue in the run up to the 2019 election.
On Wednesday, Escom officials were imploring upon Malawians to allow the power utility state company raise the power tariffs, a move denied by the Consumers Association of Malawi, Malawi Chambers of Commerce
and Industry, main opposition the Malawi Congress Party and other section of society.
Escom plans to increase the tariff by 60 percent from an average K73 per kwh to K117 per kwh within four years.
If approved, the tariffs for domestic users will increase from K49 to K81 per kwh, K84 to K135 per kwh for small industries and K94 to K157 per kwh for large industries.
Alfred Kaponda, one of the officials at Escom told a meeting in Lilongwe that the raise of the tariffs would help improve efficiency at the power house persistently hit by massive corruption and theft of public money.
The Millennium Challenge Account Malawi (MCA-M) and World Bank have backed power distributor’s proposed base tariff increase, arguing that it is a means to attract investments into the sector and improve access to electricity for more Malawians.
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this is what happens when the government is in the hands of old people and thieves….by then it was Malawi selling electricity to Zambia through Lundazi,20 years down the line Malawi is buying the same from Zambia ….that means the government and its President is accepting that Malawi is moving backward. Iam saying backward because the Kamuzu government was one which would have gone for generators because there was nothing on the ground and the population was small but he opted for hydro power electricity but after close to a century the DPP government is going back to generators which… Read more »
I wonder if the people criticising Government for purchasing power from Zambia are real Malawians. Sometimes we people behave like real hypocrites. I recall there was a time when the country did not have fuel and Zambia came to our aid. We all applauded the Zambians. This time Malawi buys power from Zambia we criticise Government. Even countries like South Africa buy power from Mozambique and South Africans have never criticised their Government. Munakhala bwanji a Malawi? Kodi tingoti chifukwa nd campaign ndiye chilichonse tizipanga criticise. Mukuopa kuti magetsi akayaka musowa chonena pa Campaign yanu? I am sure this Government… Read more »
Boss you should never applaud mediocrity. The fact that you support DDPP and you chew their money should not make us feel the same.All we are saying is that as a Country we seem to be caught off guard all the time.We spoke against the purchase of generators and we vehemently stated that generators are unstainable but your DPP went ahead to procure them.The cost is too high to bear.We could have avoided this costly mess for a poor country like ours.We cannot afford to be footing billions of kwacha on generators that are only killing our economy with prolonged… Read more »
The solution is to have a competitor on the ground. Company iyi nde ayi power generation ayi , NEW CONNNECTION mavuto okha okha , FAULT ATTENDING ZERO koma kugula ndi kubwereka magalimoto basi. How can a person pay for new connection and stay for a month and years without getting the services it seems there are no bosses to follow up these.When they come they will connect a service wire and without pushing you can stay years without a meter. Poor management why cant the combine construction and those installing meters for efficiency and cost effective.The job can be done… Read more »
I can bet my last dollar that someone in DPP and government have benefitted from the deal an that’s it’s signed very quitely
This is a better decision than the gen sets. I am even failing to fund my 950kva genset. Kakumapikisana ndi ka Toyota Passo kali panjapa kuno.
Nde apumbwa a DPP nkumati dzima genset za Aggrekko zikuseva fuel? Zitsilu za Dpp.
Chimanga tigule ku Zambia, magetsi Ku Zambia, why can’t we have a president from Zambia then?
Whatis wrong with us Malawians? Government is trying to resolve the electircity crisis and we keep moaning when it tries this or that alternative. Can we please, seperate the issues of suspected corrruption from genuine efforts government is making to make sure that we no longer have blackouts. European countries buy their gas from Russia, what is wrong with us buying electricty from Zambia?
You’re a fool Ndau. Can’t you see that your stupid DPP has consistently lied to Malawians on the electricity issue? Your president had lied to Malawians that the electricity crisis would come to an end with the purchase of gensets. The gensets have been in place for close to ten months now and the crisis can only get worse. Under your goverment’s watch, Escom’s fuel reserves to run the gensets have been drained by DPP thugs. Your party has been milking Escom white. And yet you talk about Malawians being unreasonable in questioning the Zambia connectivity deal? We have every… Read more »
It is trying solve your problem. Not us my brove. If this is a litmus paper, just no that currently malawians are acidic and if you are DPP mercenary forget 2019. Mungodyeratu pono. We are not cartoons
This is the reason they want to raise tariffs by 68%. However they are all mbavas and you can’t trust them before the power is delivered.
Ha hahahahahaha Koma boma la DPP …kuyendetsa dziko ngati phada kapena masanje. Government without vision .
Hey Zambia again, This is electricity gate after maize gate. komatu Malawi walowa mbola….. how many wants impeachment? Let change comes Quick! !!