According to Malawi24 Reporting, Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola claims that the previous administration of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and former President Peter Mutharika are responsible for incessant blackouts.
Speaking yesterday at a press briefing in Lilongwe, Matola said the DPP which left government two years ago plunged the electricity utility companies into a mess and now the companies, Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi, and Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO), are failing to provide adequate electricity to Malawians.
According to Matola, DPP was forcing ESCOM to use its vehicles to ferry party supporters to political rallies and provide free fuel to politicians.
He added that due to political interference, ESCOM found itself procuring items which it did not need.
Matola said these malpractices have led to the reduction of national power production from 444 mega wats to 235 megawatts currently.
Zodiak Online reports that Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera has left the country for Katete district-Zambia where he will attend Kulamba traditional ceremony of Chewa people.
The event is taking place at Mkaika the headquarters of Kalonga Gawa Undi the King of Chewa people.
Speaking before his departure at Kamuzu International Airport President Chakwera stressed that the event is key in promoting unity among Chewa people from Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique. they report President Chakwera will return home this evening.
FaceofMalawi :JB speaks touch on economic freedom among SADC countries, Malawi’s Former President Dr. Joyce Banda has made it clear that countries in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) shall never be free until and unless they attain economic freedom.
She believes this has not been achieved; stressing there must be an honest conversation on these issues.
Dr. Banda made the strong statement at the Sandton Convention Centre on the invitation of University of Johannesburg in South Africa on Thursday where she delivered a keynote speech on the Commemoration of 30 Years of the SADC existence.
“My view is that SADC needs to look at where we have come from. The vision of our founding fathers who wanted to see a liberated Southern Africa from colonialists and apartheid, how we have evolved from SADC to the SADC of today.
Daily times: Malawi fights inequality on paper—Oxfam report
Malawi’s fight against inequality is on paper.
This is according to a report called Commitment to reducing inequality (CRI) released by Oxfam on Thursday.
The report says the country’s interventions are on paper and not in practice.
The CRI looks at the countries’ policies and their performance and impact on reducing inequality.
The report, which assesses Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, shows that the region is extremely unequal.
“Though SADC countries have seen impressive economic growth in the past two decades, and significant reductions in poverty in 11 countries, at least half have seen a widening gap between the richest and the poorest people,” reads the report.
The report says the concentration of wealth has led to a small but growing group of fantastically rich people and a majority struggling to meet their most basic needs such as quality education, healthcare, and decent jobs.
It says in all SADC countries, the top one percent earn more than 14 percent of national income, rising to 25 percent in Angola, Malawi, and Mozambique.
Presenting the report, Oxfam’s International Inequality Research Coordinator Anthony Kamange said Malawi ranks on position eight in the SADC, thirteen in Africa and ninety-seven in the world among countries experiencing inequality.
“Malawi is middling in the SADC. It has a good tax structure. On paper, it does well on labour rights and minimum wage, but it could do more on public services, tax collection and reducing vulnerable employment. There is good political will to reduce inequality,” Kamange said.
On public services, he said while 196 million SADC citizens have no coverage of basic health care services, ten million of such citizens are from Malawi.
He said while Malawi also has good paper work on social protection interventions, implementation of the same of the same is scanty.
With regard to the extractive industry, Kamange said Malawi loses $56.7 million each year to corporate tax abuse and tax evasion.
He said the country performs poorly on tax collection at 17 percent of its potential.
Principal Secretary for Economic Planning and Development, Winford Masanjala, said inequality is real in Malawi.
Minister of Labour Vera Kamtukule said while the government is accused of doing well on paper, there are some areas in which it is doing well on the ground.
“What roles shall we all play? Government’s budget alone cannot reduce inequality. Let us join hands,” Kamtukule said.
Executive Director for the Economics Association of Malawi, Frank Chikuta, said Malawi does not have the wealth to share and called on authorities and stakeholders to create such wealth.
Chikuta called for the empowering of citizens through good quality education and the need for a corporate sector which is tax compliant, and which invests in the poor and vulnerable with the intention of weaning them from poverty.
Executive Director for Youth and Society Charles Kajoloweka said for Malawi and Africa to improve inequality, there is need for sound political leadership.
“People go into leadership to plunder and destroy the economy. We also need to build strong institutions and not stifle civic space,” he said.