MALAWI, one of the poorest countries on the planet, plunged into darkness due to a major power outage affecting the whole nation yesterday, said national energy company Escom.

It apologised for the blackout at about 6pm, saying that “efforts are being made to restore power supply at the earliest possible time”.

The country has been experiencing massive blackouts, which sometimes last up to eight hours, for several months.

Malawians were without power for three days after tropical storm Ana hit in late January, damaging one of the main power stations in the country and killing dozens in southern Africa.

The latest national outage angered many.

“Let us just admit that our country is poor and broke,” one person posted on Facebook.

“In other countries, ten-minute blackout, the minister comes out to apologise to the people.”

Malawi is facing great economic difficulties and numerous political scandals linked to corruption.

Less than 15% of the 19 million population has access to electricity, according to the World Bank. – AFP, June 19, 2022.