By IOMMIE CHIWALO
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has warned that Malawians face “another wasted five years” unless the Democratic Progressive Party-led government breaks cartels controlling fuel, forex and public procurement, and forces pump prices down.
In a blistering statement, CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa said purchasing power will keep shrinking as the Kwacha weakens if government fails to “redeem itself from the current State capture by cartels in the fuel supply chain.”
“Failure to tame cartels in this country will make Minister of Finance Joseph Mwanamvekha’s much-taunted National Economic Recovery Plan a mere wish-list,” Namiwa said.
The CDEDI Executive Director says the National Oil Company of Malawi has abandoned its public mandate to manage 60 million litres of strategic fuel reserves in Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Blantyre, and instead “turned itself into an oil marketing company” under the Office of the President and Cabinet.
“NOCMA is no longer serving public interest but greedy politicians at the expense of millions of Malawians that braved the heat to vote in the September 16, 2025 General Elections,” the statement reads.
Namiwa questioned where NOCMA’s profits go, noting the company is bankrolled by consumers through the Strategic Fuel Reserve levy.
“For goodness’ sake, when was NOCMA last audited,” queries Namiwa adding that despite a biting forex crisis, NOCMA is giving almost all the fuel haulage business to foreign companies paid in US dollars. Initially, foreign hauliers were restricted to the Dar es Salaam route. Now they dominate Beira and Nacala corridors that “used to be exclusive for local transporters.”
In April 2026, International Haulage Brokers brought in 9.5 million litres — 6.1 million for NOCMA, 3.4 million for Petroleum Importers Limited. Transporters Association of Malawi hauled 3.2 million litres — 2.9 million for NOCMA.
“This is happening against a backdrop that the country has over 900,000 tankers, most of which have just been parked for years due to lack of business. How then do we build capacity for our local transporters, let alone, save forex,” wonders the CDEDI Chief.
Namiwa went on to disclose that NOCMA also uses foreign insurance firms, further pressuring forex demand and exporting jobs, a worrisome development based on current unemployment levels.
The organisation accused NOCMA of buying fuel from Tanzanian middlemen, known as Dobadobas, landing exorbitant premiums that are passed on to the consumers.
This publication understands that while NOCMA and PIL were meant to split imports 50-50, NOCMA now claims the lion’s share at 80 percent of all our fuel imports.
CDEDI Executive Director is wondering why authorities are ignoring common sense that supports using rail and pipelines to cut landing costs saying it surprising to note that it is only Malawi whose all fuel is transported by road.
“With Middle East uncertainty, CDEDI is urging government to emulate Zambia and buy stakes in Angola’s Lobito Oil Refinery project, which includes a refinery, rail and pipelines running to Lusaka.
“After decades of refining only 20 percent of its crude oil and exporting the rest, Angola has taken a bold step to put up what would become one of the largest refineries in Africa. If this is not a welcome development for Malawi, we wonder what would be,” he says.
He said a local refinery could also tap crude from South Sudan, Nigeria, and Lake Malawi using offshore extraction technology, and produce fertiliser as a by-product and automatically saying goodbye to our perennial fertiliser woes.
In January, MERA raised pump prices 41 percent citing the Automatic Pricing Mechanism.
A K350 levy was imposed to clear K1.2 trillion in under-recoveries since May 2022, which will take five years to service.
But CDEDI claims both PIL and NOCMA owe MERA almost the same amount in unremitted levies.
“In whose interest should consumers dig deeper into their pockets to pay the levy which will be paid to PIL and NOCMA who will, in turn, pay the same to MERA,” Namiwa asked.
He urged a round-table to “square the outstanding amounts” and drop the K350 levy.
He further alleged MERA’s board raised Road Fund and MAREP levies by 200% to pool resources for the cartel to share through bloated contracts.
CDEDI Executive Director has since called on Malawians to use the Access to Information Act to track MAREP tenders and road contracts.
“Beneficiaries of such favours end up laundering the illicit funds through donations to charity at the expense of the common good and since Malawians are not ready for another wasted five years, and fuel prices must fall, citizens of good will must urge to make follow up on the imposed levies as well as questionable contracts,” he said.
MERA and other concerned stakeholders linked to ‘the cartel ‘ are yet to comment on the matter but will press on with follow ups to get their side of the story.
