Random Thoughts on Standards

I read a lot of things in these social networks and here is one of my favorites from the past week. It is about electricity of course.

"Nkula Hydroelectric Power Plant has a design capacity of 124 MegaWatts. The first unit was commissioned in 1966 and the last in 1992. Tedzani Hydroelectric Power Plant has a design capacity of 92 MegaWatts. The first unit was commissioned in 1973 and the last in 1995.  Kapichira Hydroelectric Power Plant has a design capacity of 129 MegaWatts. The first unit was commissioned in 2000. Wovwe Mini Hydro has a design capacity of 4.35 MegaWatts. Mzuzu Diesel Unit has a capacity of 1.1 MegaWatts. Likoma Islands Diesel Units have a capacity of 1.05 MegaWatts. Chizumulu Islands Diesel Units have a capacity of 300 KiloWatts.

The total pojected installed capacity for the ESCOM system, inclusive of standby thermal plants is around 353 MegaWatts, however the present distribution is 288 MegaWatts.

Initial plans in 1966 was to produce 300 MegaWatts for a projected 30 year period to 300,000 homes and industries. However, 50 years later it seems no plans were made after the 30 year period elapsed to improve the infrastructure or increase the electricity generation.

At the moment Malawi requires 1 GigaWatt (1,000 MegaWatts) of electricity generation capacity for a projected 1 million homes, including industries. The reason there are massive blackouts is due to the fact that ESCOM can only generate 288 MegaWatts instead of 1,000 MegaWatts. That's a whopping 712 MegaWatts shortfall."

Well. Some of you are wondering why I am posting that. I am not working for ESCOM, by the way and I am just sharing something I saw on Facebook and later on WhatsApp.

Some of you might think that I would like to take a swipe at ESCOM yet again. Not at all. I just dragged ESCOM into this because I wanted a relatable example.

When the above "statement" was posted on Facebook in the so called My Malawi My Views group, it attracted a diverse range of views. People were divided into two groups; pro-ESCOM (those who heavily defended the supplier) and pro-electricity (those who still questioned why we still have blackouts). Of course there were some unclassified fellas who were calling for the head of Peter Mutharika. We always have some votes turning out to be null and void during general elections, anyway. I guess these are the people.

The people that caught my attention from the discussion were those that were pro-ESCOM. Some argued rationally to say that the supplier had a limited capacity and cannot make up for the deficit as it is. These has the voice of reason and what I had for them was the question as to why they were not finding the means to make up. They failed to give convincing answers, anyway, because the question was probably way above their pay grade.

The other group that came to the party provided the lamest arguments I have ever heard in any of the electricity talks anywhere: "There are people out there suffering with wars around them, hunger and disease outbreaks and all you can complain of are blackouts?" That statement and other similar expressions got me worried about the adults we are keeping in this country and if you are with them on this, I am worried about you too.

I have a problem with that argument because what we have here is that we either we have someone trivializing the issue or rather that someone has no  regard of something called a standard.

Since the coming of civilization, man has made many important advances that his life easier and more comfortable. That is very important and I consider electricity to be one of such important inventions. I actually think that everyone should have access to electricity (as opposed to electricity having access to people which is the case in many low income countries including ours). In fact to me electricity is a basic need for everyone but just as some inventions like the plough haven't yet found many of us after thousands of years of being used in ancient civilizations, more than seven tenths of the nation is yet to have access to the commodity. The rest of the people have intermittent access to electricity; 18 hours of darkness and 6 of lights everyday. Pretty much.

That has me wondering as to why someone would have the courage to go on a public forum to say that we should not voice our views on the lack of power because we are enjoying peace. No one said that you can only have one of these, anyway and there are some countries where a consistent and universal power supply nicely coexists with national peace.

There is a spirit of lack dwelling among us and it cries out loud to justify the mediocrity around us. While the challenges we have around us may be inevitable, we should always acknowledge that they are challenges and they need to be addressed for us to have a better life.

We have grown in a country where we have a lot of challenges but we need to rise above our challenges when defining the standard of life for ourselves. There is something called a standard in life and all of us need to define that of our own and for the people around us. We need to create our own worlds for us and for others in this so-called failed state where a basic need will be such. It is probably the only way through which some of our friends and family will get to live the best lives they can live.

Back to the ESCOM statement, I like to believe that knowing a problem is the first step to solving it. I hope that the same rule applies to dear ESCOM otherwise I only see problems being highlighted there with no accompanying solutions. Worrying. Very worrying.