‘Black market’ fuel traders invade filling stations

Black market fuel merchants, who used to sell petroleum products in secrecy, have now come in the open and are selling the flammable commodity in the open with reckless abandon in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, Business News has established.

The merchants, who previously used to operate in homes in several townships, can now be found in Area 23, 25, Biwi and Kanengo, Lilongwe’s industrial area.

However, it is at Biwi where a number of young men are displaying jerry cans full of petrol and diesel. They stop motorists to buy from them instead of the filling stations situated nearby.

One seller, who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity at Biwi near Petroda and Total filling stations, said they buy the commodity from Mozambique and sell it in the open because fuel products are abundant in the country.

“Initially, we used to sell the petrol in secrecy, but since the product is now in abundance we need to attract more customers, hence, the decision to come out in the open. Long back, we were afraid because government was blaming us for the shortage, but now we feel we are free,” said the trader.

He said they are selling fuel in the open because of lack of job opportunities.

He said their prices are competitive as compared to filling stations; hence, a number of motorists buy from them.

On the black market, five litres of petrol is sold at K3 200 and diesel at K2 900 while at filling stations the same quantity of petrol sells at K3 400 and diesel at K3 300.

This means that motorists, who buy on the black market, make a saving of K200 on petrol and K400 on diesel.

Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola said he had not heard reports of people selling fuel in the open and referred the matter to the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) board chairperson Lyton Dzinyemba.

Dzinyemba refused to comment and referred Business News to a booklet from Mera to understand how one qualifies to sell petroleum products.

But Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) executive director John Kapito blamed Mera, saying the body is failing to enforce regulations that govern the sale of petroleum products.

“As a regulatory body, Mera are failing to enforce and monitor how fuel is sold in the country and this is putting lives of Malawians at risk.

“Mera collects levies from motorists and yet they are failing to protect the motorists because one day an accident might occur which will kill a lot of people,” he said.

Kapito said with poverty levels in Malawi, it is not right to blame the vendors because everybody wants to earn a living.

He, however, advised motorists to desist from buying fuel from the roadside because most of the times the products are contaminated.