HH has breached election promises…ZESCO proposed electricity connection fees will hurt the poor more – GBM

GBM

HH has breached election promises – GBM
…ZESCO proposed electricity connection fees will hurt the poor more
17.11.2022

Patriotic Front Chairman for mobilization and aspiring candidate for the position of party president Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba, GBM, says President Hichilema has breached his electoral promise to lower the cost of living.

Mr. Mwamba says the proposed fees by the state-owned electricity company that will see new connection fees rise from K769 to K4,600, for instance, is a serious breach of electoral promises which motivated the voters to hand over their mandate to him.

The veteran politician says the willful failure to meet electoral promises is a flagrant display of disrespect and disregard for the voters and a threat to the integrity of politics. He says it is conduct of this kind that has brought the otherwise honorable practice of politics into disrepute earning the term “politics is dirty” and that “politicians cannot be trusted”.

It is clear, Mr. Mwamba says, that President Hichilema has failed to introduce the required public policies to improve the living standards of the majority poor and to reduce the cost of living. Instead, the former Member of Parliament says, the cost of living has eluded him as he helplessly watches prices of every essential commodity rising before his own eyes.

“This man boasted so much about his economic management credentials”, the businessman/politician says, adding, “he made most voters believe that indeed he held a magic wand in his hands which will, immediately following August 12, 2021, all prices will suddenly go down”.

“iF this man is not careful”, Mr. Mwamba has warned, “he will go down Zambia’s history as the greatest betrayal in public service that ever was”.

Access to electricity, affordable electricity for that matter, Mr. Mwamba says, is recognized globally by governments, international development institutions and development experts as foundational to improved living standards.

Electricity is not a luxury to be available only to the rich and a few middle-class families, Mr. Mwamba says, adding, “it must be the goal of every government to facilitate access by all”.

Using cost-reflectiveness as justification for the proposed increase in electricity connection fees, Mr. Mwamba says will leave more people in the dark who will be forced to turn to charcoal which in turn will perpetuate deforestation.

“Eventually, all the efforts being made in the context of climate change and decarbonization will be mere rhetoric”, the former Defense Minister has lamented.

ISSUED BY GEORFFREY BWALYA MWAMBA, GBM
CHAIRMAN FOR MOBILIZATION, CENTRAL COMMITTEE AND ASPIRING CANDIDATE FOR THE POSITION OF PRESIDENT OF THE PATRIOTIC FRONT.

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