Irate motorists in Lilongwe on Friday and Saturday booed President Lazarus Chakwera’s siren-blaring motorcade as it drove past fuel service stations where the motorists were scrambling or waiting for fuel.
Video clips that went viral at the weekend showed that the motorists, who were in a queue to along the M1 near Chitukuko in Area 15, booed the President’s convoy and emptied their chests over the current fuel shortage which is leaving people hunting for fuel for days without success.
Some of the disgruntled voices were overheard chanting “achoke! [you must resign]” as the President’s motorcade passed by.
The first video clip shows that the President was booed on his way to Lilongwe Gold Club to tee off the Annual Military Veterans Thanksgiving Golf Tournament on Friday while in the second clip, he is seen being booed en route to Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) from where he departed for Egypt to attend the 27th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (CoP27).
In his address during the presentation of the inaugural Chakwera Prize for Public Speaking at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe on Friday evening, the President said he heard the motorists’ frustrations as his motorcade got past the fuel service stations in the capital city.
He said he shared the motorists’ concerns on the fuel crisis which has worsened in the previous week, largely due to foreign exchange shortages in the country and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict which has disrupted the global oil market.
Chakwera said: “I have seen and heard the frustrations that Malawian motorists feel from the lack of information about the status of the fuel situation from the government institutions mandated to address the matter.
“It is important for me to hear these voices, for it allows me to know who it is in my administration I need to hold to account for failing to create an organised system for managing the equitable and timely distribution of the short supplies of fuel until the crisis is resolved.”
The President said the concerns expressed by Malawians on the fuel shortages will further compel him to take into account whoever in his administration is keeping the citizenry in the dark about how, where and when they can access fuel without having to run around town with no confidence of finding it.
On Wednesday, the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) said full recovery of the fuel supply chain has been affected by foreign exchange challenges and recovery will be gradual.
The statement said players in the fuel sector continue to collaborate and strategise to minimise the extent of disruptions and optimise available supplies.
And speaking during a media briefing in Lilongwe on Saturday, Minister of Information and Digitisation Gospel Kazako said government is also concerned with the current fuel scarcity.
Meanwhile, the Consumers Association of Malawi has faulted the President for failing to address numerous challenges, including the fuel shortages that have adversely impacted on Malawians’ livelihoods.
In a statement on Friday, Cama executive director John Kapito said Malawians should not expect Chakwera to fix the current economic and social challenges, stressing that it has become clear that the President lacks capacity.
He said: “President Chakwera has no social economic or social plan to stimulate the economy, he still believes in making false promises as a way of getting to the top.
“The President has made many and keeps on making unrealistic promises now even at a time when it’s obvious that his ship is sunk and people are asking from where he gets all these funny unrealistic promises that he makes and is never short of them and is never ashamed of making these promises.”
In the past three months, motorists have been forced to spend long hours at fuel service stations to fill up their cars and the situation has given room to a flourishing parallel market where fuel is selling at between K3 500 to K5 000 per litre. The official pump price for petrol is K1 746 per litre while diesel is K1 920 per litre.
Motorists started facing erratic fuel supply since August this year which Mera and importers have attributed to forex shortages
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