President Peter Mutharika on Wednesday reaffirmed Malawi’s commitment to protect the ownership and interest of Lake Malawi against encroachment.
Speaking when he attended the National Water Day conference in Mangochi, Mutharika said Malawi is the sole owner of the lake, and warned that his administration will not tolerate people that will be interested to twist the ownership information.
Recently, Malawi and Tanzania have been entangled in an ownership wrangle for some parts of the lake in the Northern Region, which has seen negotiations to end the disagreements stalling due to failure by the two countries to reach a compromise.
But Mutharika spoke strongly that nobody should make a mistake to start thinking that they own part of the lake, saying the whole Lake Malawi belongs to Malawi and this cannot change.
“Let’s all take care of the lake. This is our lake and when I say our lake, I mean the whole of it. Let nobody make a mistake to try to change this ownership which has been there for the past 124 years,” Mutharika said.
He also emphasised the importance of the lake to the country’s social-economic development. He said Lake Malawi is the most treasured item that the country has, and his administration will work towards safeguarding the interests of Malawians towards the lake.
“We must keep the lake clean for its use as a heritage site. Let me also assure you that if we decide to drill oil from it, we will use some on-shore modern technologies that prevent the oil from polluting the lake. Therefore, don’t be afraid that the lake will be polluted.
“However, you must also be aware that as a country, we need to move forward,” he said.
Government Spokesperson, Nicholas Dausi, said in an interview that the President’s remarks are a position of the government.
Dausi further said Malawi cannot negotiate with anybody regarding the ownership of the lake because the whole lake has always belonged to Malawi.
“The whole negotiation thing was wrong because you do not negotiate with somebody for something which is already yours. When this issue started, it was proper for the people who were in power to go and consult some documents that are available to make sure that this discussion was closed long time ago,” Dausi said.
Commenting on the water challenges facing the country, UN resident representative, Mia Seppo, said water scarcity is limiting the country’s economic development and job creation for its citizens.
She called upon government to take some serious action to solve the water challenges before the water crisis reaches unmanageable levels.
Leave a Reply