In the grand, dimly lit theatre of Malawian infrastructure, a new tragi-comedy has taken centre-stage: ‘The case of the missing megawatts’.
For months, Malawi has stood with its metaphorical three-pin plug in hand, staring across the border at Mozambique. We are waiting to connect to the regional electricity grid. Yet the much-anticipated commissioning of the electricity interconnector remains trapped in bureaucratic purgatory.
Of course, we are told the delay is for our own good. Our leaders say they are negotiating “better terms”. One must sympathise with the negotiators. Rushing into a power-sharing agreement might result in Malawi accidentally buying electricity that actually works. That could completely disrupt the cultural fabric of the nation.
In Malawi, darkness is no longer simply an engineering failure. It is becoming a national heritage.
We are told that tariff structures must be carefully negotiated and that the agreement must contain iron-clad safeguards. Fair enough. But at what point does careful negotiation become an excuse for endless delay?
While officials play bureaucratic chess in air-conditioned rooms, presumably powered by heavy-duty diesel generators, the rest of the country continues to operate under an increasingly unreliable grid.
Blackouts have graduated from a minor inconvenience to a full-blown economic lifestyle.
For a country dreaming of industrialisation, this is no laughing matter. We talk grandly about transforming the economy while manufacturers struggle to keep machines running. Businesses lose production time. Workers lose income. Investors lose confidence.
And ordinary entrepreneurs pay the price.
Consider the barber whose clippers fall silent halfway through a haircut, leaving a customer looking like a poorly mown lawn. Consider the welder whose sparks fly only when the Electricity Supply Corporation decides it is spiritually appropriate. Then there are township grocery shops, where small petrol generators consume precious profits simply to keep drinks cold and freezers running.
These entrepreneurs do not have the luxury of negotiating “better terms”. Their only terms are survival.
The irony becomes even sharper when we consider mining. The government has identified mining as a major pillar of future economic growth. It is an ambitious and potentially transformative strategy.
But modern mining needs reliable, large-scale electricity. You cannot run serious mines on candles, optimism and a generator that coughs every 20 minutes.
If Malawi wants to attract major mining investments, investors will quite reasonably ask a simple question: ‘Can you keep the lights on?’
That is why the Mozambique-Malawi interconnector should not be treated as another project that can sit comfortably in the waiting room of government bureaucracy.
We understand the need for a sound agreement. Malawi must protect its interests and secure affordable, reliable electricity. But negotiations cannot continue indefinitely while businesses close, factories lose production and households spend more money coping with darkness.
The country needs urgency.
The interconnector is not a luxury. It is an economic necessity. Every additional month of delay carries a cost that ordinary Malawians, businesses and the wider economy ultimately pay.
So, let us finish the negotiations, sign the papers and plug Malawi in.
We have spent enough time discussing the cord.
