The Minibus Owners Association of Malawi (MOAM) and the Passenger Welfare Association of Malawi (PAWA) have jointly called on the government to prioritise fuel access for passenger service vehicles in response to the persistent fuel shortages affecting the country.
In a joint statement released after a strategic meeting, the two organisations stressed that minibuses, taxis, motorcycles, and buses play a vital role in transporting people and goods across Malawi, and must therefore be given special consideration at filling stations.
“MOAM and PAWA are therefore appealing to the Malawi Regulatory Authority (MERA) to come up with a deliberate policy to make it compulsory for every service station to designate one petrol pump and one diesel pump to give priority to passenger service vehicles (i.e minibuses, taxis, motorcycles and big buses) since they play an important role in the movement of people and goods,” said MOAM Secretary General Coxley Kamange and PAWA President Don Napuwa in the joint statement.
They argue that such an arrangement would help stabilise public transport by ensuring uninterrupted movement of commuters and reducing the need for constant fare hikes.
According to the statement, the ongoing fuel crisis has forced transport operators to increase fares to cover rising costs of tyres, spare parts, lubricants and other essentials, whose prices have soared by over 200 per cent, making public transport unaffordable for many Malawians.
The organisations are also appealing to the Minister of Transport and Public Works to convene an urgent meeting involving MERA, the Department of Road Traffic and Safety Services (DRTSS), the Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC), Police Traffic Department and other key stakeholders to consider the proposed fuel access policy and other outstanding challenges in the public transport sector.
MOAM and PAWA have emphasised that ensuring a reliable fuel supply to public transport operators is critical not only for the convenience of commuters but also for maintaining economic productivity and social stability.
