My Thought

What will jolt us into action?

We have a crisis. We have an energy crisis that has paralysed our economy which is already on life support machine. I feel this is a crisis, and so, too, does my neighbour and all Malawians both within and without.

Spending days in darkness has made me weary and angry that I sometimes wish I had the powers to single-handedly change things, but I know this is wishful thinking, and next to impossible.

To show how this energy crisis has affected me, just last week I had to throw away meat and dairy products because they had gone bad, as we hardly had electricity. My heart sunk on Wednesday when my maid called to say the last lot in the fridge also needed to be thrown away. I was moved because I had no money on me to replace the food stuffs. I have had several episodes of utter anger that paralyses my brain.

But, sometimes when I go outside my house, I see people going about their usual routines unmoved and unbothered.  It is as if there isn’t any crisis at all in this country.  Many of them have come to accept this crisis, which is reason enough for any leader, worth their salt to resign.

Is it death of a loved one that is due to power cuts while on a hospital operating table that will jolt us into action as citizens to demand that we be given what we deserve? Or is it the loss of a job because the company you are working for can no longer sustain running on a genset; hence, forced to downsize staff and production?

When calls for a peaceful march are made, Malawians have been known to chicken out and hide in their homes than to come out and express their dissatisfaction in situations such as this one. Government, Escom and Egenco are taking Malawians for fools. Their perennial lie of water levels no longer holds as God has been quite good to us—of late, it has been raining in most parts of the country.

But, the way I look at it, the ball is in our court as citizens to wake up from our slumber and demand that whoever is responsible for providing us uninterrupted electricity do their job. They may be sleeping on the job and it’s our collective responsibility to wake them up in case they have forgotten why they hold those positions. This 48-hour power outages cannot be the norm.

It is high time that as citizens you stop complaining on social media and think that’s it. Remember these people owe you an explanation as to why there is this crisis. Government, Escom and Egenco owe Malawians an explanation to this energy crisis, which has paralysed businesses countrywide.

It is unfortunate that the leadership of this country seems unperturbed by what is happening. It doesn’t see this as a crisis that needs urgent and special attention.  One would think that by now heads, not just one, must have rolled at Escom, Egenco and in government because they have failed to solve the problem.

But, this leadership knows that Malawians are very passive, they won’t demand anything from them. They can scream their voices hoarse, but the leadership will not act because they know, we as citizens are docile and cannot do anything about it. In fact, when we complain on social media it ends there.

Sellina Kainja

Online Editor | Social Media Expert | Earth Journalism Network Fellow | Media Trainer | Columnist

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