Wrong turn to Canaan

Long and meandering queues are seen in most service stations as motorists wait for fuel—some don’t even get to refuel as it finishes before they reach the pump.

The country has now clocked a year since the fuel crisis started and from the look of things, Malawians must brace themselves for hard times because it seems like the problem is here for the long haul.

The fuel crisis has led to the increase in transport fares- -squeezing even more Malawians who are already facing the tough economic situation.

So much has been said and suggested as the solution to the crisis. There are suggestions that perhaps it’s the routes we use for transporting fuel that are problematic.

In the mix of this problem is the forex shortage. Unfortunately, the little forex that could have been prioritised in securing enough fuel supply is being spent on external travel draining the forex reserves more than they replenish. Government ought to be prudent on how it uses the scarce forex and some of the meetings that warrant internal and external travel can be followed via Zoom.

Government must do everything to resolve this problem instead of skating around it. This fuel crisis is slowly but surely sinking this already fragile economy even further. Fuel drives the economy and everything else that one can do.

It is rather strange that even though this has been a recurring problem for a year now, there seems to be no clear strategy from the government on how it intends to resolve this fuel problem once and for all. What has been clear though is the politicisation and trivialising of the problem.

I don’t think this is the way to Canaan we envisaged as promised by the Tonse Alliance. On this evidence, the bus that was supposed to take us to Canaan has taken a wrong turn.