{"id":6953,"date":"2012-02-01T12:37:04","date_gmt":"2012-02-01T12:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.faceofmalawi.com\/?p=6953"},"modified":"2012-02-01T12:37:04","modified_gmt":"2012-02-01T12:37:04","slug":"fuel-hunting-in-malawi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/2012\/02\/01\/fuel-hunting-in-malawi\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuel hunting in Malawi"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cThere is fuel in Monkey Bay!\u201d a text message reads. A game of telephone quickly transpires. \u201cGet there quick! No queues! Will be out soon!\u201d<\/p>\n

Filling up in Malawi has become increasingly difficult and expensive.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s five-day drought is said to be the worse since the fuel crisis in 2009, forcing drivers to queue sometimes for days.<\/p>\n

Due to a shortage of foreign exchange in Malawi, the country can only afford to import half the needed fuel per month, according to a report by Petroleum Importers Limited (PIL), a company mandated to import petrol in Malawi.<\/p>\n

After driving to Lake Malawi from Blantyre with a group of friends the fuel light is flashing. We hurry to Monkey Bay\u2019s filling station. When we get there the attendant tells us the fuel has already run out.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the police officer just told us there was fuel still here,\u201d insists my Malawian friend. An argument ensues and we are forced to leave\u00ad the pump.<\/p>\n

Down the street a man waves us down and he saunters up to the window. \u201cYou want fuel? I can get you fuel,\u201d he whispers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only buy fuel from the station,\u201d my friend protests.<\/p>\n

Fake fuel has been flooding the black market, which has now become a major industry in Malawi. Men carrying jerry cans full of fuel around town can sell gas for $6 per litre. More then three times the government recommended pump price of $2.30 per litre. In Canada fuel is selling for $1.20 a litre.<\/p>\n

Fuel and forex shortages have caused prices in Malawi to skyrocket. Maize prices, the country\u2019s staple food, rose by 22 per cent in September and a further 15 per cent in October, according to a cost-of-living survey by a local NGO called the Centre for Social Concern (CFSC). Price increases have caused desperate situations for the majority of the population, who live on less then a dollar a day.<\/p>\n

The man trying to procure fuel for us continues on, \u201cI can get it from the station. They aren\u2019t out. They won\u2019t sell to you because they are holding on to extra fuel to sell it for more later.\u201d<\/p>\n

We follow him.\u00a0 Soon the Toyota SUV is quietly parked behind a tree with its headlights off.<\/p>\n

The plan is that another car is going to fill up at the pump and then exchange the gas with our car. We watch from a distance in order to ensure it\u2019s real fuel coming from the pump. I feel like I\u2019m apart of a drug deal- no longer simply filling up at the fuel pump.<\/p>\n

The man, who is a tour guide of the Lake, reports back. He tells us the attendant refuses to fill up the car worried it will cause a huge commotion and vehicles will line up demanding fuel. We ask to speak to the owners.<\/p>\n

A few minutes later we are sitting behind the gas station at a local bar having a few beers with the owners.\u00a0 Small talk is exchange before the real reason we are sitting in the bar is brought up.\u00a0 \u201cMy friend I need fuel. Can you help us? We can pay extra,\u201d asks my friend.<\/p>\n

The brothers, who own the station, also happen to be fishermen.\u00a0 The owners tell us they keep extra fuel for their fishing boats and will sell us some.<\/p>\n

After three hours of searching for gas and tough negotiations the deal is secure. Tomorrow at 4 in the morning we can fill up for selling price.\u00a0 The next morning, an employee fills up the car\u2019s tank in complete darkness in order to avoid spreading rumors that there is gas in the village.<\/p>\n

Finally, our fuel hunt has come to an end. With half a tank we can get back to Blantyre to start the hunt all over again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere is fuel in Monkey Bay!\u201d a text message reads. A game of telephone quickly transpires. \u201cGet there quick! No […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[755,258],"class_list":["post-6953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news","tag-fuel","tag-malawi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.faceofmalawi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}