By SHERRY CHABALA
The introduction of load shedding which is clearly against the ruling party’s campaign promises, shows that President Hakainde Hichilema has failed the Zambian people, Patriotic Front Presidential hopeful Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba has said.
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 load shedding barely a year into his first term in office.
“His words of assurance are as fresh as though spoken yesterday. 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,” he said.
Mr Mwamba said the President has no moral right to ask Zambians to listen to him, let alone believe any word that comes out of his mouth any more.
In the history of this country, the former Defense Minister said, there has been no President who has told so many lies like President Hichilema has.
He said “President Hichilema is load shedding our productivity thus reversing our efforts to move forward and effectively undermining the promised economic recovery.”
The former Kasama constituency lawmaker said if President Hichilema had a plan for the energy sector, he would have spared Zambians the load shedding that began yesterday by prioritizing investment in alternative sources of energy the moment he moved into office.
Mr. Mwamba said Mr. Hichilema knew the energy challenges of this country and the strategic significance of the sector, therefore, he 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.
“However, Zambians gave away their precious vote to a man who had no clue whatsoever about the country’s challenges, let alone their solution.”
On its part, the PF government had invested over US$3 billion 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 credit worthy 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,” he said.
