Friday, March 29, 2024

IMF’s secret conditions could be behind Zambia’s electricity shortages-Sean Tembo

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In a recent statement, Mr. Sean Tembo, the President of the People’s Party (PeP) in Zambia, has raised concerns over the possibility of power exports being a factor in the current electricity shortages, or “loadsheding,” in the country. In his statement, Mr. Tembo said, “This loadsheding does not make sense for several reasons. Firstly, Kariba dam only accounts for less than 30% of the total electricity supply in Zambia, meaning that even if production was reduced by half, the overall impact on national electricity supply would be less than 15%. It also follows that a 15% deficit in national supply of electricity would amount to (15% x 24hrs) 3.6 hrs of loadsheding per day, and not the current 12 hours that we are seeing. Unless of course the major cause of loadsheding is not the lower levels of water in Kariba dam, but the export of power to neighboring countries.”

Mr. Tembo also notes that the loadsheding has caused widespread public discontent, with people from across the political spectrum expressing their frustration. He said, “Additionally, this loadsheding has caused a huge uproar across the political divide. People are upset, regardless of whether one is a UPND, PF or PeP supporter, they are all upset. So for political expediency, President Hakainde Hichilema would have resolved this loadsheding by either ending it completely or at least reducing it. But he is firm in continuing the loadsheding despite the continued public uproar and possibly his dwindling political fortunes.”

Mr. Tembo goes on to cite several other examples of what he sees as retrogressive decisions made by the President and his government, including the lack of medicines in health facilities, the reduction in fertilizer allocation for farmers, and the introduction of monthly fuel price reviews. He suggests that these decisions may have been made at the direction of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and questioned, “Why did Government decide to keep some IMF conditions secret? What are they hiding? What happened to transparency which President Hakainde Hichilema often spoke about?”

Mr. Tembo ends by expressing his concern that the government may be hiding something and calls for greater transparency on the IMF’s conditions. He urged, “Our considered view is that, since the IMF imposed on Government to reduce the allocation of fertilizer under FISP, and now that we have shortages in the electricity supply, we strongly suspect that the IMF is imposing conditions that are not known to the public. We call on the government to come clean on this matter, and to be transparent about the IMF conditions. Zambians deserve to know what is being done with their money.”

16 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t hold you in high esteem but I concur with you here…. the secret lies in the planned making of electric batteries.. DRC has the lithium but no electricity and Zambia has the electricity. When signing that deal no proper calculation was done on how much Zambians would need and how DRC would require.

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  2. I should register a Political Party as well. My observation is that anyone can be a Party Leader even with zero common-sense. Just say anything you want, people will read. In other countries, this can’t even make it as NEWS. They can just ignore it.

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    • @william + Banda, you’re not being object. Tembo has raised important issues worth reflecting on. It is a fact that most of our electricity comes Kafue Gorge and not Kariba. Blind loyalty won’t build this nation. No matter how much you resent Sean, if he is making sense, acknowledge. Not ukulelemba ifya bupuba. Pasopo!

  3. The only thing that HH knows is to sell and lie. That is what HH has been doing from the privatization times. Load shedding is because of exports nothing else. This country is in ruins because the commands are coming from his trade partners IMF. By 2026 we will have gone back to Chiliba’s times were people lost their jobs when mines, Industries were sold and wide spread worker retrenchment that led to deaths.

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  4. ‘Zambians deserve to know what is being done with their money.’ If Zambians had money they would not be talking to the IMF.

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  5. Sean Tembo has No MP, No Mayor, No Councillor but the chap is busy making noise and talking trash.
    WHERE IS PRESIDENT HIGHVIE HAMDUDU?
    We need to hear from people who have representation in parliament and are capable of winning elections against the party in power.

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    • These are just Political and Social Commentators masquerading as opposition party leaders with absolutely no follower. Expect this Rouble rousing till election time, and when the votes are counted it is Noto noto

  6. Am sure majority of Zambians in the Diaspora want to see things improve in Zambia…..HH should work closely with the Zambian Diaspora not just making pronouncements and signing useless MOUs that don’t even help Zambians in the Diaspora….You had a Diaspora summit in Livingstone and nothing tangible has come out of that meeting…HH signed a thousand MOUs with Kagame in Livingstone and like always it turns out it was Just a photo op and doing things for the Camera…Kagame just came to Livingstone for a holiday but HH with his usual lies made it look like Kagame was in Livingstone for Investments….HH IS SO DECEPTIVE AND NOW HE IS USING THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT TO SWINDLE ZAMBIANS

  7. Ati Sean Tembo is making sense, really?
    You are praising him for this crap….when the ZRA and ZESCO. all have given you the reasons, you decide to believe Sean Tembo.
    Something is wrong here.

    Although, I don’t condone load-shedding (I dont think anyone does,,,), and indeed this has raised an uproar, but connecting this crisi to IMF? CRAZYYYY

  8. When we warned you about hh aka gulisa ziko, you said we were being bitter. This f00l hh sold our country during privatisation and you think he will stop today. Mwaaaneeya baficarla imwe!

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