By Patricia Kapulula

Lilongwe, July 11, Mana: President Dr Lazarus Chakwera has expressed concern that decades of slumber in the Southern Africa Development Corporation (SADC) has faced the region with a rude awakening from the Russia-Ukraine conflict which has exposed vulnerability and insecurity in the area of energy.  

Chakwera made the remarks in Lilongwe on Monday during the official opening of the 51st Plenary Assembly of the SADC Parliamentary Forum.

He described the energy insecurity as a threat to democracy saying there cannot be consolidation of gains when people are struggling with energy scarcity and high tariffs.

He emphasized on the need to diversify energy sources by transitioning to green renewable energy in order to solve challenges the region has been facing in the energy sector.

“We must realise that we cannot consolidate the gains thereof when our people are struggling with energy needs due to scarcity, inequitable distribution and ever increasing prices.

“We cannot progress when we are so stuck in reverse that a programme meant to electrify our people in rural areas only exerts more pressure on the national grid that is already failing to meet present demands,” he said.

President Chakwera hopes that the Plenary Assembly session will come up with meaningful resolutions that would help resolve energy challenges the region is facing.

Speaker of the Parliament of Malawi, Catherine Gotani Hara, appealed to the bloc to embrace home grown solutions to its challenges and move people from poverty.

She said such solutions should also include those that address challenges in the energy sector.

“We need to look at the energy crisis and find opportunities that this crisis offers,” she said.

SADC Parliamentary Forum Secretary General, Boemo Sekgoma, emphasised on the need for the region to counteract the impact of Covid-19 and the Russia – Ukraine crisis in order to recover the economy.

The assembly is being held under the theme “Towards Energy Sufficiency, Sustainability and Self-Sufficiency in the SADC region” which is in tandem with the Maseru 1996 SADC Protocol on energy which recognises the importance of energy in pursuit of the SADC vision of economic wellbeing and poverty eradication in Southern Africa.

SADC Parliamentary Forum is a regional inter-parliamentary body composed of Members of Parliament from all SADC member states national parliaments, representing over 3,500 parliamentarians in the SADC region.

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