For nearly 20 years now, communities along Lirangwe-Chingale-Machinga Road have listened to the government promising to construct the 62-kilomtere road.
All they have at their hands are failed promises.
Presidents have come, promised, did groundbreaking stunts and left with nothing to show.
The road has appeared in more than half the national budgets in the past 17 years, according to our analysis of budget statements, indicating tens of billions of kwacha allocated for its construction.
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In a remarkable move, in March 2023, the then Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe even announced during budget presentation in Parliament that the road was at 53 percent completion rate.
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The following week, Malawi News went on the ground to fact-check this statement. We found that no works were going on, infrastructure crumbling and the road in a wretched state to earn a 53 percent completion rating as indicated.
When we pressed Gwengwe to tell where he got those figures from, he suggested that the Ministry of Transport gave him.
Today—the road remains desolate—to the annoyance of the community who say the past 20 years have been no more than just a pipeline of lies from the government while the project has been an article of campaign by politicians.
“They come here during the campaign period. It is over five years now since top government official stepped on this land,” said Francis Gondwa, chairperson of Chingale Road Taskforce during an interview on Thursday when we toured the road.
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“They have used this road as a campaign tool for a period of about 20 years. It’s a shame,” Gondwa said in an anger-tinged voice.
Two presidents have so far staged ceremonies said to launch the construction of the road.
In April 2014, the then president Joyce Banda presided over one such event. But Banda left government in May that year. No noticeable works took off after the launch until four years later.
On May 31, 2018, the then president Peter Mutharika again launched the construction of the project, announcing it would be done in three phases with funding from the Malawi Government.
“This project will not only help people from the three districts [Blantyre, Zomba and Machinga] to easily connect, but also help them progress in their various economic activities,” Mutharika said then.
Mota Engil went on site and works began but they stopped just after the elections in 2020.
“We just noted a removal of machinery after change of government,” said Gondwa.
“Honestly, we have been denied development as if we are not Malawians. We pay tax for other people to have their roads constructed, and not ours. This really irks us,” he said.
On our visit to the area this week, we found some of the infrastructures such as bridges which Mota Engil had started putting up now derelict.
Some sections that had been cleared for the road to pass through are now overgrown with grass and become grazing sites for goats. Others have been destroyed by newly formed gullies.
Member of Parliament for Chingale, Lonny Phiri, who we met coincidentally during our visit lamented government’s failed promises.
“One of the Tonse Alliance’s mandate was to complete development projects that the previous government started. So why did they abandoned this project?” She wondered.
The Tonse Alliance administration has also promised a number of times to construct the road. We contacted Minister of Transport Jacob Hara to explain the lack of movement on the project.
“I will soon give details on the project financing,” he replied.
For more than a decade now, the Lirangwe-Chingale- Machinga Road project has been sitting on Roads Authority’s website as among the list of what it calls ‘ongoing projects’.
The others on the list are as follows:
- Chikwawa-Chapananga Road
- Liwonde-Mangochi Road
- Thyolo-Makwasa-Thekerani- Muona-Makhanga Road
- Zomba-Jali-Phalombe- Chitakale Road
All these were completed sometime back.
Asked about this outstanding project from the list, Road Authority’s spokesperson, Portia Kajanga, said a tender was made for works to resume.
“We are starting with the 20 kilometres that was previously being worked on by the previous contractor, Mota- Engil,” said Kajanga.
She did not say the date when the works are supposed to start.
Throughout the period, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) has been active in pushing the government to upgrade the road.
On Thursday, CCP National Coordinator, Boniface Chibwana, expressed frustration at the delay of the project.
“It’s almost 20 years now that people in the area have been fed lies about that road. The irony of it is that budgets have been presented, deliberated upon and passed for the construction of that road,” he said.
He rallied behind communities along the road, saying their being angry is justified.
“This is an area where issues of social accountability should be enhanced. People there are justified to ask from duty bearers why they should wait for 20 years for the road to be constructed when they are promised year in year out.
“This is a clear sign of siphoning money at the expense of poor people. People of Chingale need the tarmac road now,” he said.
