By Isaac Salima:
National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma) has attributed the latest stretch of fuel scarcity to post-election demonstrations in neighbouring Mozambique.
Mozambique has been facing protests after some quarters expressed discontent with results of presidential elections that were held in October this year.
Governing Frelimo presidential candidate Daniel Chapo was declared winner.
This, according to Nocma spokesperson Raymond Likambale, has affected the supply of petroleum products to the country.
“Currently, we are relying on one route, the Tanzania route. We are, however, managing the situation.
“Currently, all Malawian tankers are being re-routed to Blantyre,” Likambale said.
He added that, as of Tuesday, 10 petrol tankers were already in Blantyre.
“More [tankers] are on the way. We are uplifting the products from Lilongwe. It will be done every day until the situation in Mozambique normalises.
“We are closely monitoring the situation. Malawians should be made aware that there are sufficient fuel stocks in the country,” he said.
Fuel challenges have resurfaced over the past weekend as most of the pump stations had run out of the commodity. This comes on the backdrop of a fuel scarcity problem which motorists have been grappling with for about two months now.
Previously, the authorities were attributing the problem to forex shortages.
A fortnight ago, in his address to the nation, President Lazarus Chakwera said his administration was looking for ways of addressing the problem once and for all.
0 Comments