With Lewis Msasa
Recently, a friend asked me to lend him money. I was surprised because this is a colleague who has been advising me to be living within my means to avoid financial embarrassment like the one he was in.
Apparently, he confessed that on his way home after working late, he chanced upon a fuel tanker which had just off-loaded fuel at a filling station in Lilongwe City Center and that there were only a few cars on line. Without giving it a second thought, he joined the queue. When his turn came, he filled his car to the brim, spending all the money meant for food on fuel! Such situations are uncommon. I would wouldn’t blame my colleague.
Malawi is currently facing a fuel shortage, with no end in sight to the crisis. Fuel queues are now a common sight.
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Ironically, since the fuel conundrum resurfaced six weeks ago, there have been various narratives advanced by major actors in the fuel conundrum— the government and its agencies such as the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera), National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma). Sometimes conflicting statements are issued, only to be retracted later, raising questions about proper coordination in messaging.
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For example, last month, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Mera, Henry Kachaje, publicly apologised to Malawians for a statement he made at a press briefing, where he indicated that fuel supply could have normalised then.
Speaking at a follow-up presser, Kachaje said he had been misinterpreted in his earlier statement, clarifying that the normalisation of fuel was only expected under certain conditions. He blamed the media for “misquoting me”. When asked about timelines for fuel normalisation this time, he was non-committal “to avoid being misunderstood” again.
Again, on Tuesday this week, it was neither Honorable Minister of Information Moses Kunkuyu nor Mera’s Kachaje. It was Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola’s turn, and he issued a public statement explaining the fuel situation in the country and measures the government was undertaking to stabilise the situation. He said he has, among others things, been holding emergency meetings with all stakeholders in the fuel supply chain, including major fuel importers, suppliers and development partners. He went on to assure the nation that the government had secured “essential foreign exchange facilities for immediate fuel procurement”. But, like the previous speakers, he fell short of mentioning the expected stock and timeframe.
The minister went on to advise Malawians to maintain normal fuel buying patterns whenever possible. Of course, this is possible when fuel is found in abundance. In such situations, it is possible to survive on a quarter tank because you are assured of getting the commodity at the next pump station—but not when people are not assured of its availability the next day. Besides, it does not make sense to expect someone to buy five litres of fuel after spending the whole day in a queue, especially when unsure of a commodity’s availability when needed.
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Resource scarcity for commodities such as fuel tends to create its own mindset-scarcity mentality. When a commodity is scarce, people believe that there is not enough for everyone. As such, they need to get as much as they can as opposed to having an abundance mentality, where one is assured of a availability.
On several occasions, whenever signs of fuel scarcity start to show up, the authorities have told the public not to panic— only to discover, days later, that the situation is turning into a fully-blown crisis. This is when panic buying arises because people are not sure if actors in the crisis are being authentic in their communication.
Transparency, accountability and authenticity are fundamental pillars in crisis communication. Trust is always important in crisis management.
It is pleasing to hear from the minister that a 24/7 Crisis Response Technical team is now operational to monitor supply chain disruptions and provide immediate responses around the clock.
But when all is said and done, in any crisis, leadership should always come in to provide direction, assurance and a sense of urgency.
