Last week, the spotlight should have been on the government’s termination of Mota-Engil’s marine concessions on Lake Malawi for alleged breaches of concession requirements.
However, Donald Trump seized the limelight with his foreign aid suspension, which threw many international systems into disarray. The rest is history. Now, attention shifts back to Mota-Engil’s suspended 35-year concession mired in claims of inefficiencies, broken promises and, more broadly, Malawi’s water transport mess.
Firstly, President Lazarus Chakwera deserves a hearty round of applause for pulling the plug on the long-overdue marine deals, which had become a weight around the neck of Malawi’s water transport sector for over 10 years. Yes, the deals looked promising on paper, but they failed to make any progress. With last week’s termination, Malawians are liberated from empty promises and unfulfilled expectations.
Signed in 2010 and 2012 under the Bingu wa Mutharika administration, the concessions granted Mota-Engil full control over Malawi’s water transport services, which had long struggled under the State-owned Malawi Lake Services (MLS). The Portuguese investor also took charge of the country’s key ports—Chilumba, Nkhata Bay, Chipoka, and Monkey Bay—previously managed by the Ministry of Transport and Public Works’ Department of Marine Services.
Indeed, the echoes of past failures are hard to ignore. In 2009, the same Bingu regime scrapped the Glens Water project after it became clear that Malawians were sold empty promises. Signed in 2002 during Bakili Muluzi’s presidency, the project handed over MLS operations to Glen’s Waterways under a 20-year concession, with lofty promises to revolutionise the sector by introducing modern vessels for passengers and cargo, including container carriers and fuel tankers.
This was the first significant failure, and now, nearly two decades later, Malawians are grappling with yet another disappointing Mota-Engil deal. The hopes for a revived water transport system have disappeared again, and many citizens are asking whether history will ever stop repeating itself in this country.
Like the Glens deal, the Mota-Engil concession was supposed to bring efficiency and safety to transportation on Lake Malawi. Yet, the reality was far from it. Instead of modernising the fleet, and ports, and ensuring safe, reliable transport for Malawians, operations under the recently ejected investor were plagued with inefficiencies and a failure to invest in new and modern vessels. This left many people; especially communities along Lake Malawi, relying on the MV Ilala built in 1949, which should have been retired decades ago.
Unfortunately, the ship still dominates the water transport system, limping across Lake Malawi like a wounded war veteran who has fought many battles from the frontline. Every repair on the MV Ilala is a gamble with the lives of countless Malawians who have little or no other viable option. The continued reliance on it today is a ticking time bomb, reflecting a missed opportunity for progress and a persistent failure to prioritise the safety and efficiency of the system.
Again it is not a secret that the failures of the water transport sector are deeply rooted in political inaction, corruption and mismanagement and this dates back to independence.
However, the course correction has started. The government has repossessed MLS, hauling it back from the depths. What remains now is for MLS to seize the opportunity, grab the wheel with both hands and steer the sector toward real transformation rather than letting it drift into oblivion once again.
Otherwise, the dangers of Malawi’s water transport crisis are not theoretical. They are real, measurable and tragic!
