Okay HH declared national disaster late! So what next?

By Daily Revelation 

A significant section of our population  believes that President Hakainde Hichilema was late in declaring the national disaster, saying more could have been done to alleviate some of the challenges if only the President had acted on time.

They have a valid argument to say what they are saying as in if this were declared earlier fundamentals such as the national budget will already have been altered to attend to the more pressing needs occasioned by the drought.

But one could also argue that Hakainde like the other Zambians were probably of the view that the country would probably experience late rains from the latter parts of February and onwards to mitigate the drought situation experienced, given some of the examples the nation had experienced where in the most recent preceding rain seasons there were droughts in December and January for instance in the midst of the rain season.

However, whether the declaration came earlier or later and if Hakainde and his government should be the ones to blame is another topic. The main topic now is what is the nation going to do going forward, because whether we hold Hakainde to his supposed errors  or not won’t change anything at this point in time. The nation should now be focussing on finding solutions to the many challenges that will affect every Zambia especially the poorer in society. 

This drought is here now and the budget will be sent for re-allocation to address the most pressing needs. This is one area where our nation should focus its energies in terms of advancing proposals on where resources should be withdrawn from for re-allocation to other needy areas in order to get the maximum output from a depressing situation. The re-allocation should be channeled in such a way that will benefit every one, at least everyone should have a piece of cake from the little that will be made available.

It will be nice to hear more proposals than politicking on the matter. And the government must be open to all the sound proposals that have and will be offered. There should be nothing like a know-it-all attitude in this crisis the country is in, as that will just compound the problems further than actually addressing them. There is no harm in the government actually implementing some of the sound proposals that have been offered especially from their opponents in the opposition because they do not have the monopoly of wisdom. They have the mandate but not the monopoly of wisdom actually, and that fact alone places more responsibility on them to go a step further in terms of reaching out to the many stakeholders locally and internationally to navigate through this delicate period the nation finds itself in.

The country is right now suffering though 8-hours of load shedding daily. That will have its own effects on the socio and economic well-being of this country as  load shedding leads to reduced output. Those who earn money from barbershops and salons, those doing welding and electronic repairs in markets will experience reduced productivity and invariably lost income and more poverty. Industries will either have to produce during the hours when power is available, leading to lost production or invest in other more costly ways of producing their goods. With reduced production, companies will lay off manpower and more unemployment in the country.

The administration has been urged to reduce on electricity exports during this period of time in order to prioritise the locals who voted for them to get into power and are the main stakeholders they are supposed to consider in every policy initiative. If things are being re-looked into then this issue of energy exports should also be top of the agenda. 8-hours of load shedding is certainly too much for the people to endure and will have a huge toll on the economy, arguable beyond anything that will come in from electricity exports. Zambians deserve to be prioritised more than anything else. In the same manner the administration was urged against the indiscriminate exports of maize in order to secure strategic reserves for the future, the administration is urged to prioritise Zambians in terms of electricity exports. 

Criminals of all hues and sizes will treat this period of load shedding with glee as they go on rampage terrorising other innocent members of the public. The country should be hearing right now about the measures police has put in place in anticipation of this in form of increased patrols and other measures for instance.

There are a lot of issues than should actually inundate the minds especially of of our leaders in government and the opposition. And in a period such as this there is actually no shame in calling for a national indaba in order to put minds together to address matters.

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