A govt of lies, by liars and for liars 

By Daily Revelation Editor 

Zesco has effectively declared a 21-hour loadshedding schedule in residential areas on the people of Zambia. We agree that the situation the country faces is so desperate, but even then loadshedding people for 21, out of 24 hours daily is unacceptable.

The manner the whole load schedule has been handled is nothing short of comical actually where from the gate-go, Zesco has not respected its own schedule. They have actually exhibited utter disrespect towards the consumers, and they have been urged on by those in government. Never has any load management been handled in such chaotic fashion, especially under an administration whose President boasts about being methodical in his dealings. If indeed the manner Zesco has handled the load schedule is what is called methodical, then we definitely have to find another word for that term actually. There is no way, any leader worth their salt would allow matters being handled this chaotically, against the same people they claim to lead.

So Zesco, after beating about the bush, as they have been doing, effectively imposed a 21-hour blackout schedule on Zambians, saying the utility company was only able to supply power for up to three hours per day in residential areas on rotational basis as opposed to the earlier announced 17 hours of load shedding.

In a statement, Zesco spokesperson Maumbi Matongo attributed the disaster to the company’s failure to receive the scheduled 160 megawatts from Namibia of which it is only able to receive 33 megawatts of electricity due to a converter transmission fault.

But consider that this statement was coming barely two days after the statement from Energy permanent secretary Peter Mumba, who supervises Zesco, when he told the nation that the recent prolonged loadshedding hours the country was experiencing – where one minute the power was on and the next minute off – before being taken away for good, was as a result of the connector fault on the Namibian power import route, “which has since been resolved and Zambia expects relative network stability.”

Now consider the parallel ‘methodical’ statements coming from Zesco and the Ministry of Energy. Totally contradictory and comical at the same time. You see the problem with lies is that they will need other lies to cover them up. But in the end the lies will be exposed for what they are, just like those in the Ministry of Energy are constantly exposing themselves. We can safely predict that even the seven hour nonsense that was earlier being alluded to was nothing but total hogwash. At the pace we are moving, we should not be surprised if they will manufacture another lie telling us that because of another inter-connector fault somewhere, the load schedule has been increased from 21 hours per day to three days per week, while we sit ndwii!!

Mumba during his briefing also said the government was putting in place measures to see to it that Zesco does not completely go down following its financial crisis.

“I will not dive much into what the government does but Zesco will be assisted,” said Mumba.

That statement from Mumba is actually very telling. We should not be surprised if we actually learn later that this crippling 21-hour loadshedding that has crippled businesses and brought untold suffering on Zambians was manufactured to help Zesco export the power outside the country, despite the fact that money can readily be sourced elsewhere to help the utility company, including channeling funds from UPND cadres and officials who are being rewarded handsomely after conniving with those in government to have them paid. Shameful!