Foul play alleged in ESCOM fire as board says they have a system back up

The fire that gutted down the ESCOM building ground floor in the early morning hours of yesterday has been linked to foul play, FaceofMalawi can report with authority.

An observation carried out by FaceofMalawi indicates that some Malawians commenting on social media have linked the fire to the recent corruption crackdown campaign by the state President, Joyce Banda.

Most people commenting on the fire have greeted with skepticism the fact that the fire could have been accidental rather than incidental. To them, some ESCOM staff must have been involved in the fire as a way of concealing their tracks that are not so clear in the eyes of the law.

Some have gone further to allege that the fire started at the Accounts Department of the Electricity Supply body building before spreading to the other parts. FaceofMalawi, however, has failed to independently verify the allegations or even the allegations that the fire started while power was out at the building responsible for power itself and, thus, removing the possibility of an electrical fault.

However, speaking at a press conference organized by ESCOM in conjunction with the Ministries of Information and Energy, Minister of Information Brown Mpinganjira indicated that it was too early to indicate foul play in the fires. He asked for patience as a full investigation into the fire.

At the same press conference, it was indicated that ESCOM operations have not been disrupted by the fire. According to Energy minister, Ibrahim Matola, and ESCOM CEO, John Kandulu, ESCOM operations have not been disrupted by the fire as the Electricty Supplying body has a back-up system which has all the information pertaining to its cutomers’ accounts.