Malawi Transport Information System (Maltis) at the Directorate of Road Traffic and Safety Services (DRTSS) is yet to be restored, a week after the system crashed, it has emerged.
Speaking in an interview yesterday, Ministry of Transport and Public Works spokesperson Watson Maingo said the works to get the system up and running have taken long because it involved identifying the cause of the malfunction.
However, he said the restoration efforts were progressing well as the error has since been removed in the system and the team of technicians was expected to pre-test all aspects of Maltis later yesterday.
Said Maingo: “We are certain that with this progress, come Monday, January 13 all centres that use the Maltis will be able to provide services.”
The system was failing to give results when fed with information, halting production of driving licences and certificates of fitness (CoF) as well as provision of other services.
On Thursday, Minibus Owners Association of Malawi general secretary Coaxley Kamange expressed concern that drivers with newly-expired licences and CoF risk being fined during traffic inspections on the roads.
However, Malawi Police Service national deputy director of traffic Alexander Moyo assured that motorists with newly-expired licences or CoF would not be penalised in the meantime.
Last month, the directorate also experienced network challenges at its regional office in Blantyre which led to long queues of service seekers.
Problems with Maltis have been hampering revenue collection at the road traffic directorate for years.
Malawi Annual Economic Reports for 2023 and 2024 show that Road Traffic revenue fell from K13.7 billion in the 2020/21 fiscal year to K9.4 billion as of November 2023 which was four months before the end of the 2023/2024 fiscal year.
