Mutharika Calls For Patience As Power Outages Continues

Mutharika: bear with us as we are trying our best

President Peter Mutharika has appealed for patience from Malawians as the country continues to face persisting unreliable power supply from Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) saying much effort is being done to end the problem.

Speaking to Journalists at Kamuzu Palace in the Capital City, Lilongwe on Monday afternoon, President Mutharika says he is aware of the problem and described it as “a difficult problem.” 

“We have told ESCOM and others to look at the technical aspects of this.” Said Mutharika

He said the main part of problem leading to persistence power outages is low water levels which have gone down so much that ESCOM is unable to pump enough water to generate 90 Mega Watts.

President Mutharika expressed optimism that if the rains come soon, then water level problem will be gone.

Then he mentioned that his Government is finding other alternative sources of electricity to supplement current dependency on Hydro Power.

“We are trying to move away from that. That is why we have Kamm’wamba (Coal Fired Power Plant) project of 300 Mega Watts in Mneno which when completed it will add another 300 Mega Watts.

We are also trying to go into other forms of energy like Solar” said Mutharika

He also indicated that two agreements have been made with two Solar companies. They are coming into the country “very shortly” he said and will particularly be in rural areas offering their economical off-grid electricity which can power the house for more than 16 Hours.

“For the time being the Minister and ESCOM are doing their best to make sure that the situation of terrible blackout that is happening now is corrected. So I just want to ask everybody to bear with us as we are trying our best.” Pleaded Mutharika

On Monday afternoon, President Mutharika had an audience with Members of Press to highlight some of development activities and number of bilateral meetings he had in Malta, UK and South Africa from November and December.

He among others did indicate that he met with number of potential investors with interest in various sectors containing in the Projects Compendium as well as held bilateral talks on Malawi's efforts to eradicate poverty and the need for support.

President Peter Mutharika arrived home on Sunday, 6th December from South Africa where he attended Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit. He left the country on November 21 for Malta where he attended to the Commonwealth Heads of State and Government (CHOGM) meeting then stopped in London UK where he performed a number of official engagements.