From the blues, Energy Minister Ibrahim Matola has started issuing directives to players in the energy sector. I mean, after years of keeping such directives to himself and watching situations, notably that of fuel supply shortage, fester, Matola is Matola again; an action man!
Just that the action is coming a tad too late. Do you remember his silence at the onset of the fuel supply shortage problem last year? I guess you remember. Matola, the Energy Minister, used to be out of public view on issues related to the issue of fuel supply bottlenecks.
Instead, it is other people—notably the media-friendly Moses Kunkuyu, who happens to be the government’s official spokesperson; National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Clement Kanyama, who is always willing to get the flack from consumers while offering plausible explanations; and Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) CEO Henry Kachaje, who has been relentless in informing Malawians about where to purchase fuel—who were facing journalists and answering tough questions pertaining to fuel issues.
In other words, these were the people who were in the firing line, to the extent that some of them, notably Kachaje, even appeared before members of Parliament to address people’s concerns.
My question, at that time, was: Where is Ibrahim Matola, who uses our taxes but is letting other public officials take the bullet on fuel supply issues? Well, maybe he had taken the decision of delegating the task, instead of being the public face of it. Big mistake!
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We, Malawians—and taxpayers for that matter— wanted Matola to be visible from the word go [the moment the country started experiencing the fuel supply crisis], instead of hiding in a cocoon when he uses our taxes after President Lazarus Chakwera, using his discretion, appointed him to that Cabinet position.
Instead, it was Kanyama who told us, in October last year, that Nocma had secured a $37 million facility from the Arab Bank for Economic Development (Badea) to help with the importation of fuel. He indicated at the time that Badea had opened a third cycle of access to a revolving fuel financing facility. “The debt that we have will be cleared using this new facility with Badea,” Kanyama said.
This came after, in April that year, the Treasury issued Guidelines for Guarantees, On-Lending and Borrowing by Public Bodies to improve the management of fiscal risks emanating from guarantees on lending and direct borrowing by public bodies. Secretary to the Treasury Betchani Tchereni observed in April 2024 that they issued the guidelines because, in the past, when public bodies defaulted on loans, the government was dragged into such matters—to the effect that it had to assume liability and repay the obligation using public funds.
However, after being quiet on fuel issues for some weeks last year, Matola was forced to come out of his hiding place; such that he started speaking about the fuel shortage problem. Of course, even after he finally spoke and spoke, motorists are still queuing for fuel today.
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Equally riled with the crisis, on February 4 2025, Vice President Michael Usi directed Matola, Nocma and Mera officials to “quickly” work on solutions to fuel supply problems. He further ordered the officials to present to him solutions identified by yesterday [Thursday]. Usi gave the directive after meeting with the minister and officials from Nocma to understand why they were failing to bring into the country the government-to-government arrangement fuel that is currently at Tanga Port in Tanzania.
Speaking after the meeting, which was held in camera, Matola said they would comply with the directive. “The Vice P r e s i d e n t , who is also the Minister of State and Public Service Delivery, is not happy with the way our technical teams are handling the issue of bringing fuel into the country. He has, therefore, directed the technical team c o m p r i s i n g Mera, Nocma and my ministry to bring immediate solutions on how the remaining 31 million litres of fuel in Tanga can be brought into the country urgently. We have been told to bring a report on the roadmap on Thursday.”
And before we, Malawians, could be informed about latest developments, Matola has, apparently, started issuing directives of his own. Just that, this time, he has not issued a directive in relation to the fuel crisis.
Instead, he has issued a directive to one of the independent power producers to work with speed so that the country can meet its energy needs. In this case, he is referring to the 10-megawatt (mw) Salima Solar Power Project. It was launched in November 2023, and it was expected that the 18-month project would be completed by 2025.
It has, however, experienced significant setbacks, with groundwork only commencing in July 2024. During a site visit on Wednesday, Matola told contractor Chint Electric Company and Electricity Generation Company officials to work with speed on issues that concern them.
“This is a flagship project under President Dr Lazarus Chakwera and I am disappointed with the current pace of development. I have directed Egenco and the contractor to conduct minuted meetings every fortnight and produce comprehensive progress reports. Excuses will no longer be tolerated, and tangible progress must be observable on the ground,” he is quoted as saying by The Daily Times.
Fine and well, but where were you, Energy Minister, all this long to start issuing such directives now? Indeed, it would have made more sense had the directive been made in relation to fuel supply issues.
