People decry power outage in Mzimba

People in Mzimba District have expressed disappointment with the prolonged power outage because of a transformer that developed a fault at Escom’s Raiply field yard a month ago.

Speaking in an interview yesterday, Aaron Phiri, who runs a barbershop at Mzimba Boma, said the situation has affected his business.

“My business has been affected with the frequent power cuts because I rely on it to feed my family,” he said.

Mzimba Boma Main market chairperson Fiskani Nyirenda said different businesses have been affected by the frequent power blackouts.

“People who sell soft drinks and water and those who run barbershops as well as welding and fabrication businesses are affected,” he said.

He said they are planning to engage Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) on the issue.

Mzimba South director of health and social services Prince Chirwa said they need power to deliver various services.

“We are forced to use a gen-set which is expensive at it consumes a lot of fuel. In 24 hours, we require between 250 and 300 litres of fuel which costs K500 000,” he said.

When contacted, Escom public relations officer Kitty Chingota demanded a questionnaire. However, she did not respond to the questionnaire despite several reminders.

But in an earlier interview, Mzimba Escom office manager Curthbert Ngwira attributed the problem to a faulty transformer at their Raiply field yard in the district.

“Our main transformer which supplies electricity to Mzimba Boma and surrounding areas developed a fault and we are failing to fix it. We reported the issue to the regional office in Mzuzu but I am not sure when the problem will be solved,” he said. n