Loadshedding is a painful reminder of a failed President, says GBM

as your lights go off so does the economic fortunes that depend on them says GBM

The aspiring candidate for the position of president for the Patriotic Front, PF, Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba, GBM, says the loadshedding that begins today is a painful reminder of a failed President.

Mr. Mwamba says it is painful because President Hakainde Hichilema told the nation a few months ago that his government has fulfilled his electoral promise to end loadshedding barely a year into his first term in office.

“His words of assurance are as fresh as though spoken yesterday”, Mr. Mwamba says, adding, “Words, especially promises by a head of state are believed by citizens because they hold the office holder in very high regard and never expect them to lie”.

However, Mr. Mwamba says today, as loadshedding begins, marks a major turning point in the public’s perception of the words spoken by President Hichilema. Going forward, Mr. Mwamba says the President has no moral right to ask Zambians to listen to him, let alone believe any word that comes out of his mouth.

In the history of this country, the former Defense Minister says, there has been no President who has told so many lies like President Hichilema has. He has warned Zambians that there is no indication that the President has stopped and that he has begun to tell the truth.

“As your lights go off today”, the veteran politician says, “so does the economic fortunes that depend on them”. He says in effect, “President Hichilema is loadshedding our productivity thus reversing our efforts to move forward and effectively undermining the promised economic recovery”.

The former Kasama constituency lawmaker says if President Hichilema had a plan for the energy sector, he would have spared Zambians the loadshedding that begins today by prioritizing investment in alternative sources of energy the moment he moved into office.

As a politician who was seeking to govern this country, Mr. Mwamba says Mr. Hichilema knew the energy challenges of this country and the strategic significance of the sector. Therefore, he says Mr. Hichilema should have come into office with a plan ready for implementation.

“It would have defined his presidency and demonstrated that indeed he knew why he sought office and that he deserved it”, Mr. Mwamba says, adding rather regrettably, “However, Zambians gave away their precious vote to a man who had no clue whatsoever about the country’s challenges, let alone their resolution”.

On its part, the PF government had invested over 3billion dollars covering hydropower generation and solar energy in addition to reviewing the 2008 energy policy resulting in the 2019 Energy Policy and the amendment of the energy act in the same year.

Consequently, a way was paved for the establishment of a new creditworthy off taker, Africa GreenCo which began operations in 2020. Up until this time, only ZESCO provided Power Purchase Agreements, PPPs, to Independent Power Producers, IPPs, a situation that resulted in placing heavy financial burdens on the utility company.

This year, Africa GreenCo has attracted about 15.5 million dollars of investment from InfraCo Africa, which is part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group, the Danish Investment Fund for developing countries, (IFU), and the EU-funded Electrification Financing Initiative, (EDFI ElectriFi) to scale its innovative offering as Zambia’s first renewable energy buyer and services provider.

“This is the direction that PF was taking as a way of reducing dependency on hydropower generation, achieving a diversified energy mix, and easing the financial burden on ZESCO as the sole buyer of electricity”, Mr. Mwamba says while posing the question, “But what plan did HH bring to the table? Nothing!”