Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA) says the Tonse Alliance led by Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and (UTM) made campaign promises which are unrealistic and unachievable.
In a statement signed by CAMA Executive Director John Kapito, the organization noted that Malawi Government is currently broke and bleeding with huge debts and its consumers are heavily choked with higher taxes and levies which have contributed to the high cost of living ever experienced by Malawians.
Kapito added Malawians are struggling to pay for the most basic essential services and goods and the economy has also been heavily battered by the Covid-19 pandemic making it even harder for Government to implement any social programs.
He then said that in a country where key sectors such as Health and Education have completely collapsed, it is shocking that the Government wants to implement a social program such as Free Electricity Connections which was one of its campaign promises.
Said Kapito: “It is high time therefore that Government stopped cheating about free services. Can Government explain in detail where it is going to get the money to provide such an expensive Free Electricity Connection Program? Can Government explain from where it is going to generate its electricity for the new planned Free Electricity Connections? The current levels of electricity generation in Malawi are pathetic and too low and require huge investments to have a program that will have the capacity to connect everyone and for that matter in electricity generation if it has such resources? ”
He added that government cannot implement a free program without subjecting the very same Consumers to pay high taxes.
Kapito, however, noted that Malawians are already paying higher taxes and one of them is for the Malawi Rural Electrification Program (MAREP) which is intended to provide electricity connections to Consumers in both peri-urban and rural communities.
“MAREP collects huge sums of money that for years the Government has failed to account for and show how much it has impacted on access to electricity,” said Kapito.
Kapito has since appealed to every Malawian to reject politically motivated projects that are poorly planned with no resources.
