By Monica Tambala
Lilongwe, August 26, MANA: Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola has called on politicians in the country to refrain from interfering in the affairs of the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) and Electricity Generation Company Malawi Limited (EGENCO).
Speaking at a press briefing dubbed Malawians Deserve to Know, the Minister of energy Ibrahim Matola has asked politicians to let the energy sector remain independent saying energy is the driver of the economy.
He added there is no meaningful development in the country without energy.
“Fellow politicians, leave the energy sector alone to do its job efficiently. Do not procure equipment they do not need such as the envelops procured for the next 25 years which has nothing to do with ESCOM, stop interfering in government companies,
The energy sector should be vibrant; we cannot talk about water utilities without energy as they need power to pump water, we cannot talk about education without power. As I am talking there are men and women and even infants in hospital on life supporting machines,” he said.
He further highlighted that Malawi is in this current situation due to the foundations that were poorly laid by the previous administration.
“Energy is the most important sector in any government and needs a lot of investment. The utility companies were a paradise to politicians forcing them to misprocure and by pass the laws invested in these government companies,” Matola said.
Principal Secretary (PS) for the energy sector, Alfonso Chikuni stressed on the importance of institutional strengthening as a factor leading to the rise and fall of nations.
“Countries do not rise and fall because of the culture or chance, they fall or rise because of the institutions that are in place. Institutions should be left to perform with all the professionalism that they have,” he said.
He also emphasized on having a policy enabling environment such that the ministry is open to the idea of reevaluating policies of the unbundling of ESCOM that birthed EGENCO and Power Market Limited (PML).
Minister of Information and Digitization, Gospel Kazako enlightened on the importance of having power as a nation which is required in the development of the country.
Kazako also condemned the misuse of resources in the energy sector which has left many Malawians struggling.
“There are many stories we will launch investigations into, there are stories where individuals used to receive money as lectures when they were in fact party supporters. Others would go to ESCOM and take orders of equipment’s without delivering,” he said.
He further explained that the president of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera is very serious to fix all broken systems in the country.
It is a joke to hear Gospel Kazako telling Malawians that Chakwera is trying his best to fix the country. We are now into the 3rd year since Kazako and his friends were made ministers. Can he boldly stand up and show the nation one thing worth bragging about what Chakwera’s administration has done for the benefit of the citizens other than jumping onto podiums only to continue promising trash? Usually when it comes to determining the output/result of a project all one has to do is merely witness the blossoming of the undertaking. Unfortunately, Chakwera instead of building he is destroying structures which other well meaning Malawians spent money and effort to build. Hospitals, schools, roads, other amenities etc are non-existent. Chakwera said his mission was to get rid of rubble DPP and others congregated but instead of doing as promised, he has even brought into the fray more rubble. The rubble he has created is the one rendering all government activities to ground to a halt by becoming dysfunctional. Surprisingly, in his 3rd year he has no shame to go on blaming the previous regime as if they too are occupying Capital Hill and indeed the state house. Instead of working he is wasting time donning military regalia and organising what he calls development rallies whose development can only be seen by himself and his cronies. The 5 tears he will have stayed in government will be a wasted 5 years. What Matola as minister of energy is saying is total madness. He confidently tells the nation that politicians must stop meddling in government affairs, really? Are there any additional politicians in Chakwera’s administration apart from the cabinet he appointed? If so, who are those other politicians Matola is spending sleepless nights about as if they too are principal keyholders? That is normally the case when you are inefficient, you tend to put the blame on every Jim and Jack. Sort out the mess Tonse Alliance, you asked for it and Malawians want solutions and not excuses.