Over twenty Members of Parliament today visited the Kariba Dam to have a first hand sense of the load shedding problem that has engulfed the country.
Siavonga District Commissioner Lovemore Kanyama has told QFM News via telephone that the MPs were from the PF, MMD and UPND.
Mr. Kanyama says the MPs were accompanied by some officials from ZESCO and Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) and Energy and Water Development Minister Christopher Yaluma.
Mr. Kanyama is hopeful that the MPs will help government and other stakeholders in educating the people about what is causing load shedding in the country.
He says now that the MPs have seen for themselves the low water levels in the Kariba Dam, it will be easier for them to communicate the messages to their people.
The Siavonga District Commissioner has since urged opposition political leaders and other concerned stakeholders to visit the power generation sites so that they too get to sense of the load shedding problem.
I would rather visit the dam myself. Opposition MPs can be bribed of what to say. It is difficult to trust anybody now in this country. One moment they criticize government, a job is dangled, they snatch it and forget their attacks on PF
If Pilato sing something theywill arrest him again.
– More than 20 drunk MPS
– Each with a ladndcruiser, in fuel shortage country
-Each spent a night at a lodge
– Each with a prostitute
– And NONE fell off the dam!!
And these bad carpenters are blaming their tools, water.
Not even one photo shoot to show the “low water levels” as insinuated by visionless PF.
Last week, Lungu was there, with ZNBC, Daily Mail, Times, ZANIS & State House press aid at his disposal, ZERO photos could be shown by PF BANDITS. Now, these blind followers in the name of MPs also, have ZERO pictures to show the “low water levels”. Hope the MPs used their personal money, as Lungu with his entourage of State House already went, without finding a SOLUTION to date.
Since the MPs have visited, but have left WITHOUT a SOLUTION together with the clueless ZESCO!
Lazing around instead of finding solutions to the failing economy & kwacha. A minister of local govt can do the visit & not waste time & people’s money.
The Skeleton Key
~206~
Can Lusaka Times show us Lake Kariba Dam in pictures of the week?
Lungu pulled off nothing, and now these MPs yapping without even taking a picture using their own mobile phones. Bandits are very good at yapping with impaired PF illusions of Donchi Kubeba sickness.
So WHAT that “other MPs to come and see for themselves” got to be the SOLUTION? Actually, these saying other MPs to visit are promoting laziness & encouraging wasting time on tax payers. Let them visit with a SOLUTION.
Otherwise, visionless PF, when will you deal with the ECONOMY & KWACHA? Fuel, load shedding are on display of PF failures, the commodities prices too, are skyrocketing b’coz of VISIONLESS LEADERSHIP in Lungu.
11 months left for BANDITS to disappear!
The Skeleton Key
~206
They did not need to waste that precious govt fuel on a trip which would yield nothing. So, they have seen, so what now? The scheme is now to strengthen and preach the theory that the water levels are low.
When they talk out of ignorance and condemn the govt. you applaud them. Now that they are challenged to see for themselves so that they can speak from an informed position, you condemn them. In order words, you prefer they should be barking.
@observer…. What solution will an MP visit sort out for the black days Zambia is experiencing. What is needed is government to provide a lasting solution to this lengthy load shedding. This will paralyze the economy of not well managed. Sending MPs just for them to prove that the water levels are low is no solution in itself. Zambians open your eyes and demand better from politicians…
@Kakonkote
Thanks a lot for your comment on @Observer’s reply to my comment 2. I hope your comment helps him to see what you and I are pointing out here: MPs trip to Kariba yields nothing at all.
These trips are not free. Allowances, hotels etc. etc. incurred during this could have been put to better use. Every small saving made helps.
Yes water levels may be low. But is this the real reason behind power problems in zed.
Remember zed has always had blackouts.
allowances 1,750 per day per MP by 30 MP
Do we need to take engineers or MP’s to the DAM? We have seen the president at Kariba Dam and i guese he did not go alone, so what difference will the MP’s visit make?
I don’t think we need education of the low water levels by the MPs… What we need is a lasting solution to have normal power back and stop this lengthy load shedding. Infintu ni…….
You !*****s are very dull it’s on this same lt where they have shown you the other solutions to supplement power supply. These projects started started way back before pf came into power and they are nearing completion, The issue of taking opposition mps is to help !*****s like you being educated correctly by yo informers. There is nothing an engineer can do with the low water levels unless they redesign the dam to suit the low water levels. All you clowns are talking from without just making noise.
@Kakonkote l completey concur with you! In fact my question as a technocrat would be to find out what the technical solutions would be. In the Nevada desert, they rediverted the water by employing powerful pumps to pour back into the dam (Hoover). I have never heard of loadshedding in the casinos because of low rainfall! And this is in the middle of the desert! May be we need another mini ‘Clive Chirwa’ at Zesco to create a vision!
what do these politicians take us for…they think we all children…a visit to the dam is all rubbish…we had a serious drought in 2001 and 2002 in a row…we also had on in 2005..never did we witness such blackouts…I was very disappointed when a senior member of ZESCO said…’ we cannot stop exporting power because we shall be abrogating the agreement and may end up paying huge penalties…’
how da hell was the agreement formulated..??…the most important clause should have been that….’this agreement is bases on the capacity and ability to supply excess power after adequately satisfying local consumers….’if we had to cut off the exports we cannot have 6/8hrs load shedding…now because they need the forex badly….trying to hoodwink us with such useless visits….
We are all affected by this problem in a way. Some of you are talking as though you have answers to all the problems Zambia is facing. Learn from the mistakes Sata made(MHSRIP) of trying create an impression like he had answers for all the problems, when his time came, what did we see? Even his own illness was in secrecy when he had challenged others to be open. Zambians please learn to be sober about National issues.
@ UKO it is people like you who will keep Zed as an under developed country despite having great minds. FYI collectively we have answers to all problems if you put things in perspective
More tax payers money to wasted in Siavonga by the orders of the lazy bun in State House!!
If you people don’t want MPs to see the dam, then provide solutions and not just barking like a rabid dog.
The truth is Zambia is load shedding not because of low water levels, but failure to take action fot the last 23 years knowing the rain pattern in Zambia and we have been their before. The intent of having generators down stream and up stream was to increase the capacity and avoid load shed by using the same amount of water. Eg if half of the current generators were installed down stream, we could have been generating twice as much power we are generating under the load shed with the current low water levels. And no load shed would have taken place. The low water does not justify the cause of load shed, but lack of common sense not to apply series, & series – parallel laws. Zesco has been sleeping, just installed 1 generator at Kafue Gorge lower & is installing 1 up stream.
@Nostradamus, senseless.
The Kwacha is getting weaker and weaker against major currencies. This is a reflection a weak economy and poor management of national affairs. Donors and other co-orporating partners are equally tired and ruuning out of resources to donate.
Let president E Lungu ask MPs to visit all donor countries to see for themselves.
NO MATTER HOW MANY MPs AND HOW MANY NUMBER OF TIMES THEY VISIT THE KARIBA DAM IT WOULD NEVER HELP LOAD SHEDDING AVOIDANCE. THE LOW LEVELS OF THE DAM ISN’T THE CAUSE OF LOAD SHEDDING. EVEN IF MPs GO BACK TO EXPLAIN TO PEOPLE ABOUT THE LOW LEVELS OF WATER IN THE LAKE/DAM THAT WOULDN’T BE THE REAL REASON FOR LOAD SHEDDING. THE REAL REASON FOR LOAD SHEDDING LIES IN THE ADAMANT AND THICK HEADS OF AFRICAN LEADERS AND TECHNOCRATS. OUR LEADERS CAN’T PLAN OR EVEN ENGAGE TECHNOCRATS TO PLAN FOR THE INFRASTRUCTURES OF THE COUNTRY. POPULATION HAS INCREASED, LARGE MINING OPERATIONS HAVE ALSO INCREASED IN NUMBER, FARMS HAVE INCREASED AND EXPANDED. BUT, OUR LEADERS THINK ALL THESE WILL FEED ON THE SAME POWER OUT PUT WHICH DOES NOT INCREASE. LUAPULA AND NORTHERN PROVINCES HAVE VERY BIG RIVERS BUT…
…WITH NO HYDRO DAMS BUILT ACROSS THEM AND PEOPLE OF THESE PROVINCES DON’T EVEN KNOW THE MEANING OF ELECTRICITY OR FLASHED TOILET. LUAPULA RIVER SHOULD HAVE HAD AT LEAST TWO MAJOR HYDRO DAMS, CHAMBESHI RIVER WHICH IS JUST THE ORIGIN OF CONGO RIVER SHOULD HAVE HAD TWO OR MORE HYDRO DAMS- ALL THESE RIVERS ARE JUST ABSOLUTELY UN UTILIZED BECAUSE ALL THESE CAN’T JUST SINK INTO OUR AFRICAN LEADERS.
Building and running an hydro power dam are all expensive undertaking. Zambia only needs 1000mw of power which kariba alone can afford. To build more dams for electricity generation is just a waste of resources . What we need is simply harness and recapitalize the already existing structures and move on. The 800 mw thermo power plant will be in operation by Sept meaning it will cushion the power deficit by 175percent and you call that as not a solution .
Sponge bob, are you sure after this plant comes on line we will have no blackouts?. for clarity is it a coal plant or a thermal one, I truly don’t know.
Which media are you reading? The total installed capacity of the new thermal power station is 800 MW and only 150 MW will be ready by December according to an earlier article on LT.
Patrick. Thermal means heat. The heat is required to boil the water to produce steam which runs steam engines which are connected to generators to produce electricity. These generators can also be connected to a petrol or diesel engine. Steam can also be obtained from fuelwood or nuclear energy. A thermal power station usually implies the heat is obtained from coal unless specified such as as a nuclear thermal power station. In hydro instead of the steam engine a turbine which is spun by water connected to a generator is used.
I don’t buy the issue of low water level the Zambenzi is still full you go to livingstone Victoria falls is pouring to its capacity and where does the water go? Kariba. Now every year from October to january the water at Victoria falls dries up and what do we expect at Kariba water body to lower but this does not happen because Kariba dam is a reservoir. When ever you see water falling at victoria falls that water goes to stay in a reservoir tank which is Kariba. The only water that passes through Kariba Dam is through power Generation and is not more than the water falling down the victoria falls. And for those who doesn’t know the kariba dam it is not just a ka small dam like Goma lakes at UNZA it is the biggest lake in the WORLD and is about 223 km long and 40km wide and you don’t…
Well said, the best analysis I have heard. If Vic falls is not dry and the water leaving the dam downstream is less than the water falling off the falls, how can the dam be empty?
@Patrick . Storage is defined as inflow minus outflow. When the inflow is more, usually in the rainy season, water goes into storage. Inflow is the Zambezi waterflow. Dry years mean less waterflow. Ouflow is the water used by the machines and water spilled. Those machines use a lot of water which cannot be met during the dry season and hence the need to store water from the rainy season to the dry season and from the wet years to the dry years by having a reservoir. The water you are seeing at the Vic Falls is less than the water required by the machines. This means additional water can only be met by drawing from the reservoir or else the reservoir will dry up. On the Kafue River in very dry years the waterflow drops up to 10 m3/s and yet the machines require 180m3/s.
Really? No photo of any MP in this scrap news.The problem DCs they like yapping thinking they are a marketing themselves. Was the DC the spokes person for the MPs? Who organized this trip,What was the mission and why can’t the organize give us the results of the mission? The issue at hand is whether the water levels a low or not, this is a a planning disaster. In short as a country we Managing By Wondering About. No long term plans at all. We need to have long strategic plans that can help us avoid such bluffs. Imagine the consequences now, production has gone down in a country affecting the little exports we make resulting in low forex hence further depreciating of the ZMW. 1) Consequences increase of fuel despite the barrel price falling down,
The low level of the kariba dam is not the issue . If Zesco was a private company it could have invested in other source of energy . Solar farm is one option as Zambia enjoys free sun energy . Zesco does not have the money to divert its resources as it is a cash cow for the ruling party.
This leadership does not inspire. There has never been any admirable pronouncements and concrete actions on any of the key issues hampering our development. Perhaps we can learn from “Chuundu Chaitwa” so that we can at times have “ba Engineers baitwa” or any other technical group of citizens called to come up with a solution. In leadership, you don’t have to know everything but we need to know where to get the necessary info and when & how to use it. Resources are abundant for this country.
@ufo, you are damn right. In fact kariba south bank on the zimbabwean side are running all their generators at full capacity using the same water in the dam. So what is this nonsense that the dam has low water levels with vic falls spewing lots of water? The locusts want to turn a technical incompetency into polical stupidiity. Actually, zesco can still run 4 generators at full capacìty.
that is why media like LT do not show any pictures of the so called low water levels.
Blaming pf for load shading won’t solve anything
its incompetence and lies on behalf of PF, where there is no accountability that we are blaming, we can not just keep quite and who do we appropriate the blame to ?…
@patrick, that is correct. It is the incompetency that is on test here. Just because someone is pf supporter and a locust does mean you can blindly support anything including nonsense.
We are just wasting money by sending MPS.Did they go minus their allowances?If they had gone with allowances it is a waste of resources and time for the Zambian people who are paying tax.On top that we are having loadshedings .What answers are they going to bring by seeing the water level?
The picture of Kariba dam you have shown is spilling water meaning that the reservoir is full contrary to the message you are trying to portray of low levels. Please note also to the best of my knowledge Zimbabwe has not increased its generating capacity whereas Zambia has increased its capacity from 600 MW to about 1000 MW. If its generating only 500 MW according to earlier reports it means that it is not utilizing about 500 MW of its new total installed capacity.