Fuel queues resurface

Barely a day after Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) feared that truck drivers’ strike would affect the fuel supply in the country, most service stations have already run out of the commodity.

Spot-checks yesterday in cities of Blantyre, Zomba, Lilongwe and Mzuzu as well as districts such as Mangochi, showed that most service stations had long queues of motorists searching for the commodity, especially petrol.

In Blantyre only two service stations at Nyambadwe Puma and Clock Tower Petroda had both petrol and diesel. In Lilongwe, a few service stations had fuel. While in Zomba, a motorist Mike Mataka said almost all service stations had no petrol.

He said: “I have a very crucial engagement tomorrow [today] in Phalombe but I could not find fuel in Zomba.

“The situation is terrible and I was forced to spend extra money to source fuel on the black market.”

Mera chief executive officer Henry Kachaje on Tuesday told the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change that fuel deliveries have been affected by tanker drivers’ strike.

He said as of Tuesday, 40 tankers carrying 35 000 litres each were stuck at borders in Karonga, Mwanza and Dedza.

“If the strike continues, the country should see queues in filling stations resurfacing,” said Kachaje.

He lamented that the tanker drivers are receiving threats from those on strike.

“They are threatening to deal with the drivers for tankers right in their homes,” said Kachaje.

Professional Drivers Union of Malawi chairperson Major Mkandawire yesterday said  they had an emergency meeting with government officials.

He said the two parties reached an agreement that government will raise their salary to K300 000 effective January 2024.

He said: “Our demand was that our salaries should be increased to a minimum of  K450 000, nevertheless we have agreed that at the moment, our salaries should be raised to K300 000.”

He said next Thursday, the ministries of Labour and Transport, and other stakeholders are scheduled to hold a meeting to continue discussing the truck drivers’ demand for a minimum salary of K450 000.

The truck drivers began their strike on Monday demanding that government adjust their salaries and reduce passport renewal fees, among other demands.

Kachaje is also on record as having said sourcing forex remains a challenge, as the country requires $60 million to meet the monthly fuel demand.

Going by these estimates, it means government requires at least $720 million annually for fuel imports alone, yet tobacco, the country’s biggest foreign exchange earner, rakes in about $200 million.

Said Kachaje: “On average, $40 million is what is accessed per month and in some months, the country is only able to secure $20 million for fuel imports.”

In the past two years, Malawi has been reeling under an acute foreign exchange shortage due to supply and demand imbalances on the domestic foreign exchange market largely, evidenced by low forex supply, declining official foreign exchange reserves and widening spread of rates on the market.

Mera data shows that on average, Malawians use 1.1million litres of petrol and 1 million litres of diesel a day.