By Eric Chiputula:
President Lazarus Chakwera has ordered Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola to summon heads of the country’s power utility bodies ESCOM and EGENCO to establish the root cause of the nationwide blackouts which the country experienced over the weekend.
On Friday and Saturday the country experienced two nationwide blackouts which lasted over an hour a development which both ESCOM and EGENCO have described as abnormal.
Writing on his official page Chakwera said he has instructed the minister of Energy to hold meetings with heads of the two institutions to establish what really happened.
“I have deployed the Minister of Energy to hold meetings with the Heads of ESCOM and EGENCO to get to the bottom of the cause of the system shutdown that resulted in a nationwide blackout over the weekend,” wrote Chakwera on his official Facebook page
Chakwera said he has also instructed the minister to track the progress on the rehabilitation of the cyclone-damaged Kapichira Power Plant.
In related development on Monday the state president held virtual discussions with the President of the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank, Mr. Admassu Tadesse.
The meeting was aimed at securing a debt-restructuring agreement aimed at relieving the economy of some of the fiscal pressures emanating from the distress occasioned by the enormous debt left by the previous Administration.
