Namibian official and energy exports from Zambia

By Daily Revelation Editor

This week, we saw a video where Namibian Secretary to Cabinet George Simataa paid a courtesy call on Vice-President Mutale Nalumango at her office, where he was thanking the Zambian government for continuously supplying that country with energy despite the challenges facing this country.

Simaata, who spoke like he was here to mock Zambians, said he was aware of the electricity problems the country was facing, but went on to say that despite the problems Zambian had with the blackouts, the government still supplied Namibia with electricity.

Zambians have continued wondering why their government is prioritising other countries over its own citizens, saying it’s unreasonable and unpatriotic for the government to subject its people to unprecedented load shedding at the expense of providing power to our neighbors.

For many Zambians, it has now become normalised to only have energy availability after midnight, with the same taken away from them before they even wake up from their sleep. Many have literally forgotten how electricity is supposed to look like in their homes. Like the other millions in this country, we have kept wondering what the logic is in giving power to the people at that awkward hour when they are sleeping and can’t literally do anything with it, yet we have our good neighbours in Namibia rejoicing from the same electricity we generate in this country.

The situation is getting worse every day as people’s businesses have gone down, with many others finding it difficult to plan ahead in terms of buying food rations in their homes, in this economy beset with an ever rising cost of living.

No sector has been spared the wrath of these blackouts. In clinics, patients are asked to carry their own lights to be attended to. Despite protests by some, our government has not been moved to recall the electricity being supplied to our neighbors so that it can be given to its own citizens.

It is disappointing to see that this government is not moved by the suffering of Zambians and continues to make decisions without regard for the welfare of its people.

We urge the government to re-think and do the right thing. They must be alive to the fact that the citizens who voted them into office, deserve primacy in whatever their government is doing.

Some may argue that the government is prioritising these electricity exports in order to make some money, and as they argue, to respect contracts. However, more money is being lost out locally here from the many businesses that have closed down on account of the blackouts, with many driven into destitution and poverty.

The government argues that Zambians are being kept in the dark because of the severe drought situation, despite these continued energy exports to other countries.

 It is just heartwarming that the country is now receiving excellent rains, and we hope there won’t be other excuses created that the hydro-power plants did not fill-up enough to enable 24-hours daily provision of electricity this year.

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