The Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA) has renewed its call for the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) to implement regulated fuel price increases, citing the devastating impact of the current fuel scarcity on the economy and consumers.
According to CAMA Executive Director, John Kapito, the scarcity was inevitable due to import challenges that put pressure on financial instruments used for fuel imports, resulting in MERA accumulating debts of over two trillion kwacha.
He said the association lobbied for regulated fuel price increases to avoid these fuel scarcities that were eminent due to import challenges for fuel.
“We warned Malawians about challenges they would face like queuing and spending day and nights at filling stations and the impact of such scarcities on the economy as all business activities come to a standstill, unfortunately, this was met with negative comments from Consumers and one particular Member of Parliament who spoke under the influence of AMBWIYE NTENGENI liquor without understanding the implications of such comments,” states Kapito.
Kapito noted that the failure by MERA to use the Automatic Pricing Mechanism (APM) exposed the fuel industry and market to forex challenges and continued losses from fuel pumps. Kapito stressed that MERA’s independence is under threat, and its failure to implement its mandate has resulted in huge losses.
Emphasizing the importance of gradually regulated fuel pump prices, Kapito said, “The questions that Consumers should be having now is whether it is proper to have gradually regulated fuel pump prices or create unnecessary scarcities and queue for days and nights and buy the same fuel from the black market at double the pump prices.”
The association has asked MERA to conduct civic awareness sessions through the Natural Resources and Climate Change Parliamentary Committee with selected members of parliament who seem ignorant about the regulated fuel procedures.
In a related development, President Lazarus Chakwera on Wednesday announced that the government is transitioning from the Open Tender System to a government-to-government fuel procurement arrangement to ensure more secure access to fuel.
