Students threaten to protest lack of stable power supply

Students at the University of Malawi in Zomba have written to Chief Executive Officer of Malawi’s Electricity Supply Corporation (ESCOM) Kamkwamba Kumwenda asking the company to supply the university teaching area with stable 24-hour electricity, arguing that the institution offers an essential service, writes Innocencia Chikuse for Malawi24.

The students have threatened to hold protests at ESCOM if blackouts continue at the university. The leaked letter signed by the chairperson of concerned students, Humble CS Bondo, noted that the incessant load-shedding in the country compounded by the general lack of fuel to run the institution’s diesel-powered genset (generator) has caused untold “academic angst” among the students.

“Our library is not operating 24/7 as usual. Students are hardly studying. If no solution is found, their performance this semester will be greatly affected. Just imagine, sir, second-year students yesterday writing a Discrete Mathematics test, were literally forced to use torches to continue writing exams when a blackout suddenly hit them. Quite a colossal national shame, not so?” reads the letter in part.
Full report on the Malawi24 site