A seven-member delegation from the Blantyre Water Board is already in Italy studying water management and utility operations, as it seeks to improve service delivery, strengthen governance and raise the quality of water services in Malawi’s commercial capital. The week-long technical and institutional study tour runs from Oct. 25 to Oct. 31. The delegation is […]
On a day when the thermometer in Blantyre climbed towards 35°C, the country’s largest referral hospital simply ran out of water. At Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, known to everyone as Queens, patients and their relatives spent the day searching for something most people take for granted. The cause was mundane, and that is what makes […]
Blantyre Water Board (BWB) chairperson Stanley Chirwa and his fellow directors were sent packing by Parliament’s Public Appointments Committee on Wednesday after failing to answer key questions about the board’s operations. The committee, chaired by Felix Njawala, ordered the directors to return only after properly preparing, saying they had failed to provide satisfactory responses on […]
The board of the Blantyre Water Board (BWB) has been summoned to appear before Parliament’s Public Appointments Committee (PAC) amid growing concerns over governance and management issues that have rocked the utility. PAC vice-chairperson Joshua Malango said the committee wants answers from the board over allegations of maladministration and to assess whether proper governance structures […]
Yeremia Chihana says the board’s decision was unjustified and procedurally flawed; the board says it followed due process The former chief executive of Blantyre Water Board (BWB), Yeremia Chihana, is demanding K193 billion in compensation from the utility, claiming he was unfairly dismissed. In a demand dated 8 October 2026, his lawyers, Gobz & Rechtswissenschaft, […]
A parliamentary watchdog has questioned the government’s decision to divert nearly US$13.9 million from Blantyre Water Board towards the purchase of maize from Zambia, arguing the money could have been used to tackle the city’s persistent water shortages instead. The concerns were raised by Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson Steve Malondera after the committee met […]
Blantyre Water Board has stunned residents by hiring a brand new chief executive just hours after sensationally firing embattled former CEO Yeremiah Chihana — only for it to emerge the utility’s dramatic new boss comes with his own murky past. New CEO Henry Bakuwa, from Mangunda in Thyolo, is far from a stranger to controversy […]
It truly never rains but pours for Yeremiah Chihana. In an astonishing twist of fate, the embattled former water board chief was dealt a brutal one-two punch on Tuesday — losing his Supreme Court battle and his job in the space of a single, catastrophic day. The former legislator had rushed to the Supreme Court […]
The beleaguered chief executive of Blantyre Water Board has been sacked for the third time in just six months, in an astonishing saga that has seen him bounce between the courtroom and the boardroom since the day he took the job. Yeremia Chihana was summarily dismissed by BWB on Monday, just as he was simultaneously […]
A consortium of civil society organisations (CSOs), led by MaBLEM and the Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC), says there is growing commitment within the energy sector to address Malawi’s electricity supply challenges. The consortium says it is engaging authorities to identify and address challenges contributing to the country’s power deficit, which currently stands at about […]
Blantyre Water Board was quietly handed a K24 billion bailout last year, wiping out most of its debt to the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi and slashing annual losses by more than 70%. The rescue package converted K19.2 billion of government debt into equity and introduced a special energy tariff, cutting power costs by K5.8 […]
The High Court of Malawi’s Commercial Division has stopped enforcement of an earlier judgment ordering Blantyre Water Board (BWB) to pay K2.5 billion to a supplier who had pushed for payment. Information and communications technology supplier Madalitso Chika wrote to the court seeking an order to intercept money belonging to BWB held by several financial […]
Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) has threatened to disconnect power to Blantyre Water Board (BWB) over an unpaid K1.6 billion commitment. In a letter dated 1 September 2026, ESCOM chief executive Eng. William Kaipa told BWB it had paid only K400 million of the K2 billion it had committed to settle for August, leaving […]
Blantyre Water Board, the utility responsible for keeping taps running across Malawi’s commercial city, finds itself embroiled in a High Court battle that could see its bank and mobile-money accounts raided to settle a debt approaching K3 billion. Court papers lodged at the Commercial Division of the High Court in Lilongwe reveal that Madalitso Chika, […]
A Malawian law firm has denied allegations of impropriety over a payment of more than MK62 million it received from Blantyre Water Board (BWB), insisting the money was for legitimate legal services. Mlauzi Legal Solutions said in a statement made available to Nyasa Times that it has acted as external legal counsel for BWB since […]
The suspended chief executive of Blantyre Water Board has suffered a fresh legal blow after the High Court stripped him of the injunction that had been keeping him in his job. Judge Allan Muhome ruled against Yeremia Chihana this morning, granting an urgent application by Attorney General Frank Mbeta to discharge the stay and injunction […]
Blantyre Water Board paid Mlauzi Legal Solutions a staggering MK62,034,168.75 Firm was allegedly introduced to BWB by board chairman Stain Chirwa A Malawian water utility handed over more than K62 million to a private law firm that appears to have done absolutely nothing to earn it — and the payment was mysteriously logged as a […]
Employees at Blantyre Water Board have asked President Peter Mutharika to sack both the utility’s chief executive, Yeremiah Chihana, and its board chairman, Stanley Chirwa, in a bid to end a leadership standoff that staff say is crippling operations. Under the banner of the BWB Employees Trade Union, workers passed the resolution at a meeting […]