The Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources has told the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) that the slogan of ‘power all day every day’ does not reflect the current power outages, hence the slogan must change.

The committee’s Chairperson, Werani Chilenga, made the remarks during a meeting with Escom officials, while on a project tour for the Malawi Rural Electrification Program (Marep). Chilenga urged Escom to revert to the ‘towards power all day every day’ slogan, which was implemented after the Consumers Association of Malawi argued that the ‘power all day every day’ slogan was far from the actual truth, as the country was suffering from lengthy blackouts everyday. Following arguments from consumers, Escom changed altered its slogan to ‘towards power all day every day’ but changed the slogan to “power all day every day’ after slightly improving its power supply. Chilenga took advantage of the tour to call out the company, as Escom had said that power outages will keep happening until 2022.

Chilenga is quoted saying “I think it is right and proper for you to bring back that word “towards”, because we still have persistent blackouts”. In response, the Escom Chief Executive Officer Alexion Chiwaya said that changing the slogan would mean the company is complacent.

Citing low water levels and hydrostation failures, Escom continues on its lengthy load shedding schedules, while depending on diesel powered generators to supply more power, while a permanent power strategy is said to be implemented in 2022.