Socialist Party (SP) Copperbelt Provincial spokesperson Reagan Kashinga says the UPND Government is killing Zambians and businesses over its failure to fix the electricity crisis compounded by prolonged hours of Zesco load shedding.
Mr. Kashinga said it was regrettable that load shedding was getting out of hand without the Government enforcing short-, medium- and long-term solutions to the national power deficit.
He charged that if the UPND regime was wise it would have quickly invested people’s money in alternative sources of energy amid the power deficit.
“As Socialist Party in the Copperbelt Province we wish to express our grave concern over the issue of prolonged hours of Zesco load shedding which is getting out of hand and negatively affecting the people of Zambia. Load shedding has been with us for some months without any signs of ending any time soon. What is more unfortunate is that Zesco has continued to cut power at will and without following the schedule they themselves made. We won’t develop as a nation with these long hours of load shedding that are not only killing businesses but people as well,” Mr. Kashinga said from Mufulira.
“Production of goods and services has drastically gone down with many of our people losing jobs especially among the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises. What kind of leadership is the UPND regime providing when it is failing to provide for its people? The UPND has failed to fix the power problems which is contrary to its campaign promises. Zambians are regretting voting for leaders who are just good at talking without being pragmatic,” he said.
Mr. Kashinga noted that the UPND Government has not prioritized the power deficit problem which has negatively affected productivity.
“As Socialist Party in the Copperbelt Province we regret the failure by the UPND to quickly invest people’s money in alternative sources of energy amid the power deficit. We have not heard Government highlight short-, medium- or long-term solutions to the challenge of load shedding. Load shedding has exposed UPND leadership that it is a bunch of failures. UPND has not prioritized the power deficit problem. We remind the Government to think about the people. People voted for development which they have not seen,” he said.
Mr. Kashinga declared that capitalism which the UPND champions has failed to work in Zambia.
“We warned the people of Zambia that capitalists will fail them. Time is ripe to try Socialism. As Socialists we put people at the centre of development. We believe in Zambians first and a more humane society,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, to address the ongoing electricity challenges, the UPND government has announced its decision to recall at least 100 megawatts (MW) of power currently being exported.
This decision was revealed during a media engagement held by the Minister of Information and Media and Chief Government Spokesperson, Hon. Cornelius Mweetwa, alongside the Minister of Energy, Hon. Peter Kapala.
Mr Kashinga, you must realize that issues about climate change are real.We used to hear and see on Television from far places but today it is on us and we are feeling the effects.Mr Kashinga us in Zambia we chose hydro as our single source of power supply.Other counties chose Solar source and Nuclear.We chose hydro because we have had abandance of water all along.In Zambia we have been having excess water such that we even get rid of it through the flood gets at Kariba to protect the walls of the dam from breaking.The last rain season was pathetic we all know that of course due to drought.We have suffered low crop yields especially on our staple food maize.Now Mr Kashinga, this natural calamity brings blame game how and why?We have had different political parties and leaders in this country changing power,to day we have the UPND headed by Dr Hakainde Hichilema and President of Zambia who has just been in power for less than three years.My advice to you and our fellow Zambians is let us all workup and realize the climate change has come let us invest in infrastructure water harvesting,more dams, Solar power generation, and many more,that is development.But we must realize it requires money and commitment.HH has proved to be a good leader and let us rally behind him and give support we shall archive the goal together as one.Put politics aside eyes on the ball.