Former UPND aspiring Parliamentary candidate for Mufulira Central Constituency Geoffrey Luchele has warned the New Dawn Government that prolonged load shedding is one of the factors that made the people of Zambia to kick out the PF from power.
Energy Minister Peter Kapala last week confirmed that Zesco power load shedding will start on 15th December 2022 owing to the low levels of water in the Kariba Dam.
In a ministerial statement in Parliament, Mr. Kapala said the load shedding will be up to a maximum of six (6) hours daily until the water levels improve.
“ZESCO will implement a load management regime aimed at rationing power generation at the Kariba Complex to avoid a complete shutdown. This will be done with the view to minimize the impact on key economic sectors as well as preservation of the integrity of generation units at the Kariba Complex. We anticipate that based on the water levels, this will translate into a load management regime starting on 15th December 2022 of up to a maximum of six (6) hours daily until the water levels improve,” Mr. Kapala told Parliament.
On July 27, 2022, President Hichilema told the nation that the New Dawn government had succeeded to end load-shedding in less than a year of being elected.
Commenting on the pending load shedding, Mr. Luchele said the load shedding announced by the Government is unjustifiable.
He said the UPND should not forget so easily what made people to vote out PF from power and using the same methods PF used to solve electricity problems which never worked.
Mr. Luchele said the UPND had 23 years in the opposition which was enough to plan how to govern the nation and handle issues such as load shedding.
He said the People of Zambia understands fuel increases in recent times owing to the Russia and Ukraine war but won’t tolerate load shedding.
Mr. Luchele further questioned why Zesco was still exporting power when the nation is facing a deficit.
“UPND should not forget so easily what made people to vote out PF from power and using the same methods PF used to solve electricity problems which never worked, is a very bad sign to me, 23 years in opposition was enough for us to plan for this, and 1 year 3 months to see the implementation,” Mr. Luchele said.
“People understand that fuel increases because of Russia and Ukraine wars but not with load shedding, Zesco should not aim at making prodigious profits at the expense of a common Zambian. If this government is thinking about the lowest common Zambian in Kawama and Zambia compounds, let them reduce on the electricity exportation to Zimbabwe and Namibia or create a stimulating 3 months budget to cushion the problem if water level is the problem at Kariba Dam,” he said.
Mr. Luchele said the Minister of Energy and Zesco Limited must put the interest of Zambians first as they make decisions.
He said load shedding will kill many medium and small scale businesses.
“Common Zambians and small and medium Zambian businesses, understand that the country’s economy is not doing fine. Load shedding will be the easiest way to kill the efforts Zambians are making to survive; I believe this is a very small problem that is not affected by international issues to fail to solve it. The Energy Minister Peter Chibwe Kapala and Zesco should always put the interest of a lowest common Zambian first in making decisions, who voted for change,” Mr. Luchele said.
“If you can spend 1 hour explaining what you have done then you have done nothing” Lumumba
Zambians are the easiest people to dupe…..Unip had blackouts and this came to be known as load shedding in MMD to date. Zambia has grown while energy sources have remained static…..HH and his friends knew this but used to their advantage. Only a blind person can fall for that and it appears Zambians are blind.
There will be no loading shedding—–Lies
Fertiliser will be K250…..Its now K1200
Fuel will be K10/lItre …….its now K27
Dollar will be K5/dollar when I am sworn in……..Its K17/Dollar
Mealie meal will be K50/25Kg……. Its now K180
There will be no corruption…… ( Minister caught collecting “diaries” at Sinoma)
No corruption…… Husband to minister awarded contract to supply fertiliser.
Iam an elder in the Church. I dont tell . lies …..kikikiki….bufi !!
Ati” within 8 months we have done away with loading shedding.”……. Iam a church elder
I am out on bond. You upnd azzholes how do you feel about that? Go kill yourself with hate. I am home
It is important that companies and other small medium companies buy Gensets to offset the six hour load shedding.
We must be proactive in all we do. totally depending on ZESCO should be minimised by buying GENTSETS by companies. Companies concontribut together and buy bigger GENSETS that can help production continue. Bringing politics in this issue is useless. Like in Kitwe, most companies are near each other.
Lets be real Zambians by solving issues in true Zambian spirit.
Mealie meal will 200+ come election time it will be reduced to 100 and the poor Zambians will thank government, vote for them only to increase the price to 300
Who among you above HH come to your house to promise you all those things you mentioned above?
Just stay in your rat hole.
Yes HH or the UPND made some of the pronuncements but you PF cadres dont understand is that those ponuncements were not meant to you “PF caders” but Zambians. And we are the Zambians those promises were made and we understand the sabotage that is done by you PF carders who are still in Government_thats why HH should just fire the whole of you so that we can take that responsibility of failure when things dont go according to plan. As long as PF cadres are still in GRZ nothing ll be achieved of all promises made cos they are busy in the background pulling the opposite way. Look the health scandal? Fertilizer? & now Zesco? PF cardres are the ones that gave Zimbabwe the authority to abuse the water there,including the buring of poor & very cheap chinese plastic turbines. It was PF. and…
Yes it was one of the reasons and if upnd is not careful it will be one of the reasons coupled with others that will lead to them being kicked out also.
We all know the real kz is behind bars but who’s this imposter with the Union Jack flag pretending to be a free bird.
Some time ago I wrote on a sloution to Zambias load-shedding. It was published here, on this site, the Lusaka Times.
If it had been actioned then, we would not have this load-shedding now. In any case, it remains a viable and valuable proposal for the future. I am here, waiting to hear from anyone that has any queries on this. Otherwise I expect to see it being implemented. Or are thoseb in charge too incompetent to make it work? It really is a very simple solution, and I have the answers to any and all objections that may be put forwad.
Here it is –
https://www.lusakatimes.com/2017/02/24/load-shedding-look-facts/
https://www.lusakatimes.com/2017/03/01/zambia-short-water-power-generation-can-done/