‘Life is hard for majority poor’

The Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) on Saturday adjusted upwards the pump prices. Petrol is now selling at K1 150 from K899.20 per litre, representing a 27.89 percent hike. Diesel went up by 24.72 percent from K898 to K1 220. The regulator attributed the pump price upward adjustment to depreciation of the kwacha and the rising cost of fuel on the international market due to growing demand as global economies recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Human Right Defenders Coalition (HRDC) warns that the effects of the fuel price hike will trickle down to other goods and services, thereby making life tough for most Malawians. In this interview with MOSES MICHAEL-PHIRI, HRDC national chairperson GIFT TRAPENCE talks about this and other governance issues:

Why are you taking government to task over the fuel pump rise?

Malawians have been going through economic hardships where they have suffered for so long. First was the issue of the elections, when the country was at a standstill for almost two years. Then came Covid-19, which disrupted the economy as businesses collapsed.

So, economically the country has been facing a myriad of challenges that have had direct adverse impacts on the livelihoods of citizens of the country. The raising of fuel pump prices is going to add another layer of suffering to Malawians who are already pinned down by the rise in prices of essential goods.

But come out clearly, what is your main issue. Globally, prices of fuel are going up, is that not so?

We know that. Our biggest issue is why we still have this scenario where our economy is still not working. Our view is that the Tonse Alliance administration has no clue as to how they can turn around this economy.

In the first place they could have come out clear with an economic recovery plan which would spell out measures of cushioning the shocks of the economic malaise.

We could be talking of job creation, promotion of investment and other measures, but what we can see as of now is that they have no clear vision for economic recovery. Actually, Malawians should expect more suffering due to this fuel price hike. This Tonse Alliance administration has made the lives of Malawians more miserable.

Are you not harshly judging them?

You have to understand that the fuel price hike is coming into an already ailing economy; an economy that is not ticking. Like I said, the suffering of Malawians has been for far much too long.

Therefore, what it means is that the recent hike of fuel will only complicate things. Prices of essential goods and services have already skyrocketed. At the end of that is the poor Malawian.

So, if you ask me, the basis of this problem is government’s failure to fix this economy.

It seems HRDC talks too much! Have you attempted to engage government on such matters?

4We have been engaging presidential advisers on governance issues and there has been no change. In fact, it is disheartening to hear President Lazarus Chakwera go on the podium to say he is suffering together with Malawians due to the price hike.

To us, this is an insult because; firstly, he is not suffering with the masses at all. Everyone knows that he enjoys a tranche of benefits paid by the public—free housing, free water, free electricity, free telephones and what have you. So to come out and say he is suffering with us is a lie.

Secondly, what the President said is like a father whose children are crying of hunger and the father has the audacity of telling the children that he is also suffering of hunger with them.

Instead of putting up measures for Malawians to find relief, the President should not be acting funny on a serious matter. That statement is an admission of failure.  The President must bring solutions, showing a clear road map he is taking the country, instead of bringing hopelessness in the people. 

Questions have been raised before on the administration of the fuel Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF). This week we heard the Mera CEO, saying the fund is depleted. What is your take on this?

5A5 First and foremost we are calling on government to show transparency and accountability on how the PSF is administered. Malawians want to know how much the fund raises, say per year.

Secondly, we need to have the PSF audited because citizens do not know how much is generated annually and how the funds are used. So, the first thing that we are demanding is an audit of the PSF.

Let the government come out clearly to display how this fund designed to stabilise fuel prices is used. Our suspicion is that these funds might be prone to abuse. The reason we are saying this is because someone cannot just wake up and declare that the PSF is depleted when every single day fuel is being sold.

 HRDC has spoken on governance and accountability issues. Do you think the government has fully addressed the issues?

There are so many outstanding issues which this government has failed to address. Somehow they have chosen to be silent on the matters raised. We believe that these are real problems and will not go away by themselves. We would like to say to the government that they have become a spectator to their own failures.

Malawians have now lost hope in this government because they are not practising what they preach. They promised a Cabinet assessment, which they failed to carry out and failure to fill in four vacant Cabinet positions for almost a year. The government has also failed to release the Public Sector Reforms report and failure to create a million jobs that it promised, among others.