Minister Mathanga accuses Escom staff of sabotaging power supply for politics

Energy Minister Jean Mathanga has accused some Escom employees of deliberately sabotaging the utility by causing power cuts for political ends, warning that anyone who wants to play politics should leave the corporation.

Speaking at the launch of Escom’s Fault Clearing Initiative in Lilongwe on Friday, Mathanga described the scheme as a strategic move to speed up the repair of faults that leave customers in the dark.

“This demonstrates the Corporation’s commitment to improving operational efficiency and customer service,” she said.

The initiative includes motorcycles to help crews reach densely populated and hard-to-reach areas, where mobility problems have slowed fault responses.

Board Director Welford Sabola said the motorcycles would be distributed across the country.

“We want people to have power all day therefore we will ensure that any fault should be addressed,” he said.

Mathanga also told staff to keep politics out of the workplace.

“Workers should discharge their duties professionally regardless of political, religious and cultural affiliations,” she said.

“If you want to do politics then exit the institution because you are there to serve the nation, Malawians and the current government not a particular group.”

The minister went further, alleging that some politically connected employees were acting as agents of unnamed politicians to undermine supply.

She said the outages were hitting businesses, households, hospitals and industry.

Sabola stressed that reliable power was critical to the country’s socio-economic development.