Inflows of fuel, especially petrol appear to be improving in the past two or so days, but they do not seem enough to clear queues of motor vehicles at services stations, especially in the Central and Southern regions.
Yesterday, a Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) daily fuel deliveries update showed that 73 service stations nationwide were scheduled to receive fuel: two in the Northern Region, 44 in the Central Region and 27 in the Southern Region.
On Sunday, the schedule showed that 63 service stations received fuel: three in the North, 23 in the Centre and 37 in the South.
The Nation checks yesterday showed that supply remained erratic in Thyolo, Blantyre, Mangochi, Lilongwe, Salima, Mzimba and Mchinji.
Minister of Energy Jean Mathanga and her ministry’s spokesperson Joan Thaundi could not be reached by phone yesterday. The duo did not respond to questionnaires sent via WhatsApp.
National Oil Company of Malawi spokesperson Raymond Likambale could also not be reached on a WhatsApp call or a normal phone call.
But the Transporters Association of Malawi (TAM) has indicated that more of its members have now sent their trucks to haul the commodity into the country.
TAM spokesperson Frank Banda said in a telephone interview that at first, some of their members were reluctant because Malawian trucks had spent four months without loading, as priority was being given to foreign transporters.
He said that after government intervention, about 100 trucks loaded and delivered fuel into the country.
“Those trucks are now going back to load fuel. More trucks have been sent now, I can’t say exactly how many, but they are more than 100,” said Banda.
Mathanga is on record as having said that the government procured 23 million litres.
Speaking to his press secretary Cathy Maulidi on Saturday on arrival from his fifth private trip to South Africa, President Peter Mutharika said the main problem was the logistics involved in transporting fuel into the country.
He said: “I know there have been problems about fuel, we will take care of those.
“The problems are objective conditions beyond our control. It is a question of transporting the fuel. The fuel is there, we have it in all the ports in Tanzania, Nacala and Beira [in Mozambique].”
But authorities have previously attributed the recurring fuel scarcity to acute foreign exchange shortages facing the country due to low export revenue that pales the import bill on a ration of three to one. Malawi imports goods worth $3 billion against $1 billion exports.
The current fuel crisis is clocking close to two months.
