By Kondwani Magombo
Mangochi, September 10, Mana: Close to 15 MV Ilala passengers, who have been stranded at Monkey Bay harbour for a week now, have sounded an SOS as Malawi Shipping Company (MSC) employees continue sitting-in demanding higher perks and better working conditions.
The stranded passengers, among them women and under-five children, arrived at the harbour on September 3, 2020 ready to get on board MV Ilala on Friday as usual only to be greeted with the ship’s suspension.
10 of the passengers are heading to Karonga while some are heading to Likoma where the only means of transport is by water.
“We’ve been here for about a week now and we are not sure when the ship will set sail; we’ve run shot of food and this place is not safe since we are sleeping in the open with very poor sanitation,” one of the passengers, Tryness Kondowe explained.
She added: “We only have money enough for water transport; we cannot afford land transport especially with all the goods that we are carrying along with us, and we cannot go back where we are coming from.”
Another stranded passenger, Isaac Edson, who is traveling to Likoma with his wife and three year-old baby, concurred with Kondowe in appealing for land transport to get the travellers to Nkhata Bay and Karonga, respectively.
“From Nkhata Bay, we can jump into a boat and sail to Likoma that’s the only alternative that we have,” he said, who said he was fleeing his home, Ntcheu, for greener pasture.
Meanwhile, Mangochi District Council has intervened by ensuring that the welfare of the stranded passengers is well taken care of while awaiting lasting solution.
Mangochi District Commissioner (DC) , Dr. Raphael Piringu, told Mana that he sent an assessment team to the harbour to appreciate the situation and that some action had already been done.
“When I heard about it, I deployed officers from health, disaster, social welfare and the civil society, including the Malawi Red Cross Society (MRCS), to assess the situation and as I speak, the health sector has provided chlorine, mosquito nets and other immediate needs,” he explained.
The DC added that he had informed all concerned sectors, including Ministry of Transport and Public Works and Department of Disaster to hold meetings on the same.
“What the people need is immediate land transport to take them to Karonga; so we will see how best they are going to be assisted but what we can do now, since they are in our jurisdiction, is to ensure that their welfare is well looked after,” he stated.
The MSC employees’ sit-in began on June 18, 2020 but it was curtailed following a court injunction the employer obtained but it was later vacated on August 31, 2020.
The Workers’ Union Secretary, Emanuel Wisiki, recently told the Media that Marine Services in the country won’t resume unless management resolves the employees’ grievances.
MSC spokesperson, Thomas Chafunya, is on record to have said: “We do not want the situation to inconvenience people as we sort out the labour issue.”
