A social expert has expressed concern over the resumption of mobile money transaction fees by telecom firms as unfortunate considering the economic challenges Malawians continue to grapple with amid Covid-19 pandemic.  

In April this year, mobile operators removed person to person transaction fees following an agreement they had with government to promote use of electronic money transaction in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.

But almost four months down the line, the mobile operators have reestablished the charges on all electronic money transaction.

Reacting to the development, one of the country`s social experts Lucky Mbewe said it is surprising to note the operators have reinstated the charges at the time Covid-19 cases are surging in the country.

“I think it’s very surprising but not really strange considering that this is coming at the time the Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA) through the Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA) on the reduction of the tariffs that are used.”

“That’s the only way they would want to use continue robing poor Malawians during this very difficult time when we have the COVID-19 pandemic going up every day and night,” said Mbewe.

He has since asked government to intervene on the matter by treating it with urgency.

In the past 24 hours, Malawi has registered 42 new COVID-19 cases, 101 new recoveries, and no new deaths.