LOAD SHEDDING, COST OF LIVING WILL COST UPND DEARLY, WARNS KATEKA
NEW Heritage Party leader Chishala Kateka says Zesco’s lack of adherence to the load management schedule has already made the UPND unpopular.
She adds that the high cost of living, load shedding, among other things, will cost the UPND dearly.
Commenting on Copperbelt Province Minister Elisha Matambo’s lamentations that Zesco was making the UPND government unpopular by not adhering to the load management schedule, Kateka said it was surprising that Matambo was making the observation now.
“I am very surprised that the minister is only making this observation now because we’ve been making this observation forever. We have accepted that this UPND government has chosen to sell power out of the country at the expense of citizens. We’ve accepted that there’s very little we can do”.
“We’re not the ones in government, we can only talk about it. What we are very concerned about is that very failure by Zesco to adhere to its schedule. If you tell me I’ll get three hours of power between such a time, that doesn’t need foreign exchange. It’s simply a matter of discipline and professionalism and Zesco has not been doing that,” she said.
“I have written about the importance of SMEs to this economy. They are the ones being most affected and impacted and they’ve got the least capacity to negate or handle this situation because they can’t afford alternative means of power. Planning is everything. If you don’t know when power is coming or how long it’ll come for, it becomes extremely difficult to run a business”.
“We’ve constantly encouraged Zesco to at least manage that aspect of this load shedding issue. The load management schedule is just them being able to adhere to that schedule which they don’t do. What that shows is the complete disregard of Zambians, the people that make this economy grow or not to grow”.
However, Kateka argued that UPND was not the right party to be in government if they were only worried about their popularity in the 2026 general elections.
“The minister is very correct but in one sense when he says it’s making, it has already made the UPND unpopular. I can assure you this issue is going to cost the UPND very dearly. There are a number of issues however that are going to cost the UPND dearly. One of them is this Zesco issue, power cuts”.
“Another one is the high cost of living, high cost of everything. It has already cost the UPND very dearly and for them to start waking up now that you’re going to cost us popularity, it shouldn’t even be about popularity. We’re tired of governments going there and making popular decisions,” said Kateka.
“As New Heritage Party, we’re saying it’s high time we run the government based on the correct decisions for the nation, not on popularity. Popularity is not going to take this country anywhere. What is going to take this country somewhere is a government that starts to put in place policies, laws that are needed to put this country back on track so that Zambians can start to live a normal life”
“So if he’s only worried about popularity, then the UPND is the wrong party to be in government. If they’re only worried about their popularity and 2026, they’re definitely the wrong party to be in government and Zambians must vote them out and put in people who are serious about running this country the way it ought to be run”.
News Diggers
The irony of coming to correct things in the last minute is that we shall call it campaign gimmick, Rupiah did that in the last minute, and we made him cry, so what is so special this time around.
ZESCO has been a huge let down, what kind of management fails to follow a schedule just to switch on and off power? The management is extremely incompetent and people are just getting paid for absolutely nothing. They don’t know what they’re doing and in future please refrain from addressing us a esteemed customers. It’s unfortunate there’s nothing we can do but please get this message that you’re a bunch of extremely incompetent people.
One very funny thing is that it’s ZESCO that prepare the same schedule, it’s not like we impose it on them no, Zesco, Councils etc have many wrong chaps, people who get paid but have no passion for what they are paid for.
Leaders are there to solve challenges. To oppose without proposing a solution is pointless. And raises serious questions about the capability of the opposer’s motive to be in politics.
I have not heard a single word of how this misleader would do things differently.
We all know the genesis, the cause of the cost of living challenges. Reckless PF borrowing beyond our capacity to pay. HH REnegotiated the terms of that kaloba. Without that renegotiation, the current cost of living would have sparked a revolution. Or a coup de etat. We would have been paying everything we earn to clear that kaloba. No or delayed civil service salaries, no free education, no meal allowance for UNZA students. Government would have been forced to raise money to pay back by increasing ZESCO tariffs, amongst other punitive measures to raise the money to pay back. The kwacha would have been worse than the Zimbabwe dollar.
As for load shedding, that is work in progress. Some citizens have already shifted dependency to their own solar generated power. Several mega solar plants will be commissioned before the end of the year.
These statements come from politicians and individuals who have not thoroughly analysed the current situation. If Kalaba, Mpundu, Kateka, Lubinda, and others can solve the high cost of living—which stems from previous debt and corruption of the pf—then they should replace UPND and address all issues within 24 months, as Zambians have expected.
What have observed is that the small towns are not very much affected, so now madam what is the cause of the loadsheding and what solutions do you have
Some of the comments coming up here are out of context as anybody who critises objectively is taken to be anti government. Blame game is the order of the day as if UPND came into power yesterday but it is over four years but they have not yet settled down which will take us nowhere let them show real leadership not campaign promises