Uncle Harvest: Railway Infrastructure destruction stinks of sabotage

CEAR, the sole rail company in Malawi recently announced the cancellation of its passenger service between Blantyre and Balaka due to what it says is destruction to the rail infrastructure.

This is a passenger service that has been running for a long time.

The timing of the occurrence of such destruction on the rail line is most suspicious. It stinks of sabotage.

In the recent past, CEAR has rehabilitated the line and some major bridges, bought new engines and commenced the transportation of fuel from Nacala.

Around the same time, the country witnessed a strange phenomenon of Transporters, business people, joining an industrial strike by its drivers. They forsook their business contractural obligations in this pursuit.

It is therefore easy for anyone to infer that the destruction of rail infrastructure on this strecth is sabotage by fuel transporters aimed at stopping the importation of fuel by rail.

This destruction cannot be by the villagers whose sole source of public transport is the use of the train.

They maintained the rail line even in its poor state so as to remain open and accessible to the rest of the country.

The rural communities along this rail line are beneficiaries that would protect the rehabilitated rail line and not destroy it.

It is my hope that the country's intelligence and security entities would pin down the culprits, the lines point to them clearly.

Malawi's exports and imports are very expensive because we overdepedent on road haulage.

Malawians must protect their strategic installations like rail and roads, if we are to progress towards MW2063.