Are imported poles more tree than local ones?

Judge Mbadwa: This is the second time in few weeks that this court is handling a matter involving Escom and the citizens. The citizens first dragged the corporation’s management to the court after being dissatisfied that it was blaming weather experts for its failure to supply power to the populace as per its mandate. This court found out that Escom had no basis for attributing its reduced power generation capacity to rains, floods and drought and or their absence.

But it is the Indigenous Traders Association of Malawi (Itam) that has an issue with Escom today. Can the president of Itam Pike Momba summarise the basis of the association’s arguments in the new case against Escom?

Pike Momba: Thank you, your honour. The fact that Escom is spending K56 million importing poles when, we, indigenous traders can supply the same quality of poles at cheaper rates is worrying us. It is bad for the economy which should have benefitted from the money Escom is spending to pay foreign suppliers. The corporation’s defence that we do not have capacity and that quality of our products is compromised does not hold water. Nobody bothered to check with our members about our capacity.

My Lord, where is our patriotism? Why is everyone obsessed with foreign products? What happened to the ‘Best Buy Malawian’ concept? Does a pole harvested in a forest reserve in Zimbabwe, for instance, look more ‘steel’ than the one harvested in Malawi? The economy needs rejuvenation by creation of more employment, yet a government-owned institution thinks our money should enrich foreign companies.

In short, my Lord, we need the corporation to compensate us for loss of business and for making a fool of us by ordering poles they are failing to collect. It should also pay for the storage of the poles we harvested in anticipation for payment. The affidavits we have presented to this court support our position that Escom erred in engaging foreign companies to supply trees we have in abundance here.

Judge Mbadwa: As stated by the Ministry of Natural Resources in Itam’s affidavit. I agree that we cannot allow the corporation to deplete the country’s ‘much-needed and scarce foreign exchange resource’ through this act. Importing something we can access cheaply smacks of gross negligence. If one were to look at the basic definition of a wood pole accepted by this court as ‘a long, slender piece of wood’, where the poles come from does not feature anywhere. It is the position of this court that Escom has failed to demonstrate why it needed to import the poles and pay exorbitantly for the same. The decision is not guided by any sound technical reason.

The court is also failing to appreciate the opportunity costs justification cited. I hereby order that Escom not only compensates the indigenous traders but also buys the poles locally at the rate being given to the foreign companies for the next two years. As a punishment, senior management will oversee loading of the ordered poles and participate in the exercise so that they should appreciate the need to promote local businesses. I hope this is the last time this organisation is being taken to task by citizens. We need to see change.

Court Clerk: All rise as the judge leaves the courtroom!