Accountability Matters

Chakwera’s burning charcoal

President Lazarus Chakwera attended the Conference of Parties (CoP 27) in Egypt a couple of days ago. His minister responsible for environment, Eisenhower Mkaka was also in attendance, as was the whole host of close to 200 Malawian delegates. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres reiterated the warning that climate change is now ravaging the globe with devastating disasters. CoP 27 was not short of evidence from droughts in Kenya to floods in Pakistan.

When it was his turn to deliver speeches, Chakwera as usual mesmerized as the international audience gyrated to his poetic antics punctuated with rhetoric. At the very moment Chakwera spoke on the need for developed countries to honour their obligations under various climate protocols, dozens of charcoal merchants were cycling out of Kasiya, the president’s home village. This is an area of Lilongwe rural west that harbours other well-known rural trading centers such as Kabudula and Nsaru.

The area also borders with Santhe, another famous trading centre in Kasungu district. Santhe is connected to Lilongwe city through the newly constructed tarmarc road that was initiated and completed when Peter Mutharika was president. The beautiful road has facilitated easy movement of charcoal from president Chakwera’s village of Kasiya and the other surrounding villages. Chakwera’s charcoal sells like hot cakes in the rapidly growing Lilongwe city.

I made an effort to count the outflow of charcoal loading bicycles one morning. Thirty cyclists each carrying, on average, four bags of oversized loads of charcoal passed by my counting post every single hour from Kasiya. They cycled with apparent anticipation to make a sale to waiting customers in the city. Chakwera’s charcoal does not stop to flow at night. The cover of darkness is a favourite time for moving the charcoals as cyclists do not have to worry about the sweltering heat from the blazing sun. Some of the cyclists carrying Chakwera’s charcoal move long distances all night long as they hail from the far located hinterlands of Kasiya.

The story is not too different as the trend is seen in Lilongwe East and parts of Lilongwe Mpenu which is the cradle of Honourable Mkaka, Minister of Environment. Troops of charcoal loading bicycles bellow from this area. They sometimes cycle at competitive speeds like Olympic cyclists aiming to outdo each other as they scramble for charcoal buyers in Lilongwe City.

When Mkaka was making ministerial statements at CoP 27 in Egypt, one would be left thinking Malawi is a champion and pacesetter at exemplary practices on fighting environmental degradation. However, the truth is that Malawi senior government officials cannot even stop charcoal burning wantonly practiced in their constituencies.

Parliamentarians watch helplessly as dozens, scores, and hundreds of charcoal bags burn right under their nose. They even participate in the trade as some MPs have no shame in buying charcoal just minutes after passing legislation for cracking down the malpractice.

Current state of energy crisis is helping to worsen the charcoal problem. Electricity blackouts are facilitating an increase in the trading of Chakwera’s charcoal. Kasiya charcoal burners smile at the load shedding programme unashamedly released by Escom daily. Load shedding is a catalyst to the production of Chakwera’s charcoal.

Power outages are motivation for cutting down of trees and wanton destruction of forests at the promise of availability of ready buyers in the city. Mkaka’s charcoal is given a boost by the acute shortage of fuel. Apparently, there is no more remorse or fear of the law as more bags of charcoal flow in large numbers from Bunda and Salima sides into Lilongwe city. Meanwhile, Chakwera and Mkaka continue to deliver flowery speeches on climate change when more environmental crises are occurring in their home villages and constituencies.

Back to top button