By Mubanga Mubanga
United Liberal Party (ULP) leader Sakwiba Sikota has asked Energy minister Peter Kapala to resign from his position because he seems not to know what is happening in his sector.
And Sikota has challenged the UPND administration to have a heart for the people by reversing the recently hiked electricity tariffs which were announced by the Energy Regulation Board (ERB).
In a statement shared to Daily Revelation, Sikota called on the UPND to have a heart and give Zambians some relief from the unmanageable cost of living which would be worsened by the increased tariffs.
He observed that the levels of lying and deceit from the UPND government had reached levels that would make ‘Pinocchio’s nose grow so much that it would go round the world and poke him at the back of his head’.
He said Kapala should resign rather than lying and passing the buck to others.
“He seems not to know what is happening in the sector that falls under his portfolio,” Sikota said.
He said both Reynolds Bowa and Yohan Mukabe had been made sacrificial lambs and thrown under the bus. “The Energy Minister, Peter Kapala, is refusing to take responsibility for decisions made by two boards that he has appointed. Kapala appointed both the ZESCO and ERB Boards. Both these boards regularly report to him. If they have not reported to him since April last year (2023), he should tell us why this is so,” Sikota argued. “If indeed they have kept him in the dark since last year, why is he not dissolving the ERB and ZESCO Boards?”
He recalled that before April last year, ZESCO applied to ERB to increase tariffs each year from 2023 to 2027.
Sikota stated that upon receiving this request from ZESCO, the ERB Board advertised (in 2023) that the public were being invited to make submissions and to let their feelings known on the tariffs.
“Minister Peter Kapala is telling us that he was not aware of this notification to the public which was all over the print and electronic media. Kapala and the UPND are claiming that they did not see the statement released last year, on Friday 21st April 2023, by ERB which clearly indicated that the domestic rates would be increased in 2024 to Kwacha KWh from 0.40 to 0.44,” Sikota stated. “The statement also states that in 2025, 2026 and 2027 the tariff will increase to 0.54, 0.63 and 0.73 respectively. Can Minister Kapala confirm that he had no knowledge of the ERB statement of last year warning every one of the changes that were provisionally approved?”
Sikota stated that if Kapala did not see the Friday April 21, 2023 ERB statement then he was incompetent and not up to his job.
He stated that the Energy Regulation Act under Section 7(2) gave the Minister the power to “…give to the Board general or specific directions …. relating to the performance of its functions and the Board shall give effect to those directions.”
He asked Kapala why he could not reverse the hikes.
“After all a certain politician (President Hakainde Hichilema) said it was ‘foolish’ to raise electricity tariffs whilst there is load shedding,” he stated. “The truth of the matter is that these increases are part of the conditions pushed onto us to get the debt restructuring. UPND have sold our souls to the World Bank and IMF.”
Sikota said feigning surprise and lack of knowledge of these ZESCO hikes was just one instance of the long unending line of electric lies from the UPND.
He stated that in April 2024, ERB approved Zesco’s request to increase electricity tariffs by 10 percent effective May 1, 2024, and that Bowa, in an official statement, stated that the board approved Zesco’s multi-year tariffs for a five-year period from 2023 to 2027.
He said there has been extreme backlash from the public over the increase in domestic tarries by ten percent and the government had been trying to distance itself from the decision and claimed that it was executed without prior notice to themselves.
The ERB has since sent its director general, Mukabe, on forced leave and dismissed Bowa alleging that the tariff approvals were done without notice to the government.
