Immediate past president Peter Mutharika has weighed in on the prevailing energy crisis in the country by blaming President Lazarus Chakwera- led Tonse Alliance government decision to cancel the Aggreko contract.

In a press statement released yesterday and signed by his spokesperson Shadric Namalomba, the former president faulted both Minister of Information and Digitisation Gospel Kazako and Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola for fingering his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration as the main cause of the current government power blackouts.

Former president Peter Mutharika

He said the two ministers missed an opportunity to tell Malawians the truth about blackouts, saying they are a direct result of the cancellation of “the only lifeline contract with Aggreko”.

Reads the statement in part: “Government has deliberately departed from the truth about the cause of the ongoing and endless electricity blackouts.

“President Chakwera cancelled the only lifeline contract with Aggreko which was providing an additional 78 megawatts [MW].”

Mutharika, who lost to Chakwera in the court-sanctioned June 23 2020 Fresh Presidential Election, said the decision was ill-timed as it was made at a time when the nation had lost 129MW at Kapichira Hydro Power Station on January 24 2022 due to the devastating Tropical Storm Ana.

A student studies the hard way because of power outages

During a press conference in Lilongwe last Friday, Matola accused the Mutharika’s admi n i s t r a t i on o f plunging electricity utility companies into the debt mess through political interference.

He said politicians in the previous administration were forcing the utility companies to mis-procure and by-pass laws governing operations of public utility entities such as Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom).

But Mutharika said Chakwera must exercise leadership and stop being indecisive about the situation.

He said: “A decisive leader does not cry in public. A decisive leadership cannot cancel a contract for 78MW without any replacement.

Since the damage of Kapichira Hydro Power Station, Malawians have endured long hours of loadshedding due to low power supply.

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