The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) Limited has bemoaned growing attacks and hostility towards the corporation’s staff members when they visit homes to discharge their duties in Mangochi saying this is affecting service delivery.
ESCOM Chief Operations Officer, Engineer Maxwell Mulimakwenda said this when he visited four staff members who were assaulted in Mangochi Town location of Ndata resulting into serious head injuries for one of them, Chipiliro White Banda, on Monday, March 24, 2025.
“Please give our people a safe space and environment for them to operate. You will be making our job very difficult if you end up assaulting our people,” he said.
He warned the public that denying assigned ESCOM staff access to premises is an offence attracting a maximum jail term of 10 years and a K50 million fine, according to the Electricity Amendment Act of 2024.
“Members of the communities out there, please cooperate with ESCOM so that we can help you. Electricity is a developmental issue. It doesn’t matter whether there is a pole or transformer within your compound, that is ESCOM’s property. For that line to be found within your property it has also crossed properties of other people,” Mulimakwenda said.
He said he visited the affected staff members to comfort and encourage them as ESCOM’s Executive Management values the safety of its employees in line with the corporation’s Integrated Strategic Plan for 2023 to 2027.
Gift Saidi, a leader of the assaulted construction team, said the compound owner Mr. Yusuf ordered them to stop connecting electricity to his neighbour from the pole within his premises, saying he wanted the pole removed.
Mangochi Police Station have since arrested a Mr. Yusuf for allegedly assaulting Banda and his colleagues when they entered his compound to install a meter and pull a direct service for a neighbour as part of the Malawi Electricity Access Project’s implementation.
