Africa-Press – Malawi. By Daniel Zimba & Veronica Kafumphe
The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) has said it is losing about K3 billion to vandalism per year.
The trend is predominant in the Southern Region districts of Phalombe, Mulanje and Chiradzulu.
Escom Chief Executive Officer Kamkwamba Kumwenda said the acts of vandalism would be countered through mindset change.
He said this in Blantyre during the 2025 World Public Relations Day, where he also emphasised the need for professional and strategic communication to address the challenges facing institutions across the country.
Kumwenda said the utility company has increased its customer base from 560,000 to approximately 760,000 connections between January and July 2025, representing 85 percent of their projected connections for 2025.
He expressed confidence that the corporation would be able to complete the remaining connections by December.
Kumwenda also acknowledged the funding support from the World Bank through the Malawi Electricity Access Project (Meap), under which he said 180,000 new customers have been supplied with power out of the targeted 154,000 connections by June 2025.
Kumwenda then hailed the Accelerating Sustainable & Clean Energy Access Transformation grant of K250 million, which is expected to help Escom connect power to nearly one million customers by 2030.
The 2025 World Public Relations Day was organised by the Public Relations Society of Malawi (PRSM), with funding from FDH Bank and Escom.
In his remarks, PRSM President Benson Linje underscored the importance of strategic and professional communications in addressing communication-related aspects of national development, especially amid widespread misinformation and disinformation facing the country.
“In society, we need change, and PR [public relations] has the power to drive change,” Linje said.
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