Consumers to petition electricity, water utilities,Consumers to petition electricity, water utilities
by: Aubrey Mchulu,Aubrey Mchulu, 1/13/2004, 4:38:17 PM

Disappointed electricity and water consumers in Blantyre are this Friday set to hold a peaceful march to the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi Limited (Escom) and Blantyre Water Board (BWB) to present a petition where they are expressing concern over continued disruption of services by the two utility parastatals during the past four weeks.
Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) executive director John Kapito said in a letter calling for the petition that the disruptions were a concern because water and electricity are a necessity and their disruptions cause a lot of health and social problems.
Kapito, who indicated the march would start from the Independence Arch at 2 PM on Friday, said as consumers they believe that Escom and BWB have a contractual obligation to provide consumers with uninterrupted supply of electricity and water respectively.
“Because of disruptions in the supply of water, people are being forced to draw water from unprotected water wells and streams which is not safe for domestic purposes like drinking and cooking,” reads the statement in part. “This water is a concern to out health and may cause the spread of water-borne diseases like cholera, diarrhoea and skin rash.”
On electricity, Cama said its disruption has also adversely affected businesses and industry at large while household consumers have had their food going bad and, in some cases, their appliances getting damaged.
“We consumers can no longer accommodate apologies and empty promises. We have had them for a long time and enough is enough. It is through this march and petition that the two institutions and other stakeholders will wake up and take our concerns seriously,” said Kapito in his appeal to “concerned and responsible” consumers to join the march.
But Escom public relations officer Edward Chitsulo said it was strange that Cama is planning to stage the march when Kapito has an appointment with Escom management scheduled for 2:30 PM this Wednesday to discuss problems of power supply.
“While it is perfectly within their rights to march, I think what Cama is doing now is politics and not to do with electricity generation. For your information, nobody at Escom is happy to switch off electricity but the machines automatically stop when there are problems,” said Chitsulo.
Kapito confirmed in an interview that Cama is meeting Escom management on Wednesday and said the petition will be his lobbying tool to indicate to Escom that if there is no improvement in power supply there is a storm heading its way.
On Chitsulo’s assertion that the move is political, Kapito said one cannot separate politics from economic and social issues.
“He [Chitsulo] is right. This is now politics, economic politics because Escom is a public institution using public money hence it has to deliver,” he said.
BWB public relations officer Flonny Musasa, when contacted for comment, said she would come back with feedback. However, she did not call by press time.
Last Wednesday, fed-up captains of industry met Escom management and also expressed concern that their operations are being negatively affected by the rationing of power.,
Disappointed electricity and water consumers in Blantyre are this Friday set to hold a peaceful march to the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi Limited (Escom) and Blantyre Water Board (BWB) to present a petition where they are expressing concern over continued disruption of services by the two utility parastatals during the past four weeks.
Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) executive director John Kapito said in a letter calling for the petition that the disruptions were a concern because water and electricity are a necessity and their disruptions cause a lot of health and social problems.
Kapito, who indicated the march would start from the Independence Arch at 2 PM on Friday, said as consumers they believe that Escom and BWB have a contractual obligation to provide consumers with uninterrupted supply of electricity and water respectively.
“Because of disruptions in the supply of water, people are being forced to draw water from unprotected water wells and streams which is not safe for domestic purposes like drinking and cooking,” reads the statement in part. “This water is a concern to out health and may cause the spread of water-borne diseases like cholera, diarrhoea and skin rash.”
On electricity, Cama said its disruption has also adversely affected businesses and industry at large while household consumers have had their food going bad and, in some cases, their appliances getting damaged.
“We consumers can no longer accommodate apologies and empty promises. We have had them for a long time and enough is enough. It is through this march and petition that the two institutions and other stakeholders will wake up and take our concerns seriously,” said Kapito in his appeal to “concerned and responsible” consumers to join the march.
But Escom public relations officer Edward Chitsulo said it was strange that Cama is planning to stage the march when Kapito has an appointment with Escom management scheduled for 2:30 PM this Wednesday to discuss problems of power supply.
“While it is perfectly within their rights to march, I think what Cama is doing now is politics and not to do with electricity generation. For your information, nobody at Escom is happy to switch off electricity but the machines automatically stop when there are problems,” said Chitsulo.
Kapito confirmed in an interview that Cama is meeting Escom management on Wednesday and said the petition will be his lobbying tool to indicate to Escom that if there is no improvement in power supply there is a storm heading its way.
On Chitsulo’s assertion that the move is political, Kapito said one cannot separate politics from economic and social issues.
“He [Chitsulo] is right. This is now politics, economic politics because Escom is a public institution using public money hence it has to deliver,” he said.
BWB public relations officer Flonny Musasa, when contacted for comment, said she would come back with feedback. However, she did not call by press time.
Last Wednesday, fed-up captains of industry met Escom management and also expressed concern that their operations are being negatively affected by the rationing of power.