Nkhatabay communities not happy with oil exploration on Lake Malawi

As government plans to begin the exploration of oil on Lake Malawi, communities in Nkhatabay have expressed misgivings with the Peter Mutharika administration’s handling of the issue and have urged government to come in the open and address them since the locals do not want oil drilling on Lake Malawi.

Speaking in an interview, a local Chief who sought anonymity said communities in the district just heard through the grapevine that there will be oil drilling on the lake but they have not been approached so that they can express their objections directly to government officials.

“All we saw here at Kande beach in Nkhatabay were airplanes flying over the lake a couple of months ago and there have been no consultations with locals,” said the chief. “We just hear on the radio oil drilling in the lake is starting soon. We do not want oil drilling in our lake.”

One of the benefits of Lake Malawi for communities in Nkhatabay is that it brings tourists and with the coming in of tourists, a lot of business opportunities have opened up for locals. One such business is the selling of curios along the lake.

Gift Chirwa is a local curios and paint carvings trader operating near Kande Beach in Nkhatabay. He orders artistic carvings from young artists around the Fukamapiri Villages in the district who earn a living through artistic designs. There are many people like Chirwa surviving and earning a living through artistic work in the district.

In an interview, Chirwa who has been doing his business near the beach for nine years emphasised that oil drilling prospects have produced negative publicity that is leading to a low number of tourists going to Lake Malawi.

He expressed disappointment over the lowering standards of tourism on Lake Malawi and called on government to consult locals on the issue since oil drilling will kill their businesses.

However, government has over the past months shown that it is willing to go ahead with oil exploration on Lake Malawi.

“We will soon meet the oil companies that were given the licences so that they begin their processes,” Principal Secretary in the ministry of natural resources, energy and mining Ben Botolo told the media last month.

But speaking with Malawi24, a local environmental activist, Godfrey Mfiti said communities should be equipped to resist oil drilling since it is bad for Malawi.

“As we are getting closer to the actual start of oil drilling in Lake Malawi, a radical approach is needed to stop this process. Our local leaders must be well informed to resist oil drilling in Lake Malawi regardless of political divide. The issue of oil drilling in Lake Malawi in any form will negatively affect ordinary Malawians. Oil drilling will lead to evictions of locals, loss of jobs, loss of tourism and civil conflicts,” said Mfiti.

Mfiti who heads the aptly named Institute of Sustainable Development (ISD) called on government to shelve its plans to drill oil on Lake Malawi and instead channel its resources towards educating locals on how to conserve the lake so that it attracts green investments since oil drilling is not sustainable.

“The government of Malawi must consult local people and civic educate them on the importance of conserving the outstanding universal values of the Lake Malawi. Malawi’s economy is so much dependent on informal business and employment.

“In the tourist attraction areas the tourism business remains at low standards. The curios and artistic paint carvings are not formally unionized. The business is not regulated. There are no structured shops in areas like Kande in Nkhatabay. The country might be losing millions of forex since the export market for curios and artistic paint carvings is not regulated properly,” said Mfiti.

He also urged government to develop the tourism industry and attract investments in the industry along the lakeshore by locals. He added that banks in Malawi should open up to investors in the tourism industry and gave the example of Kenya where he says tourism has thrived due to availability of capital investment opportunities to local people.

Mfiti believes such investments will be sustainable unlike oil drilling which  has huge potential ecological, environmental, and public health impacts and  Malawi does not have safety nets for the local people in case of any accidents related to oil drilling processes.

“Oil drilling plans without proper legislations, production sharing agreements, safety nets, and no any successful track record of fresh water oil drilling will put Malawi at risk. It is advisable for Malawi government to acknowledge the importance of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,” he said. “Over the whole world oil prices are crushing and the world is moving away from crude oil by promoting renewable energy.”