In a recent statement, Mr. Sean Tembo, the President of the People’s Party (PeP) in Zambia, has raised concerns over the possibility of power exports being a factor in the current electricity shortages, or “loadsheding,” in the country. In his statement, Mr. Tembo said, “This loadsheding does not make sense for several reasons. Firstly, Kariba dam only accounts for less than 30% of the total electricity supply in Zambia, meaning that even if production was reduced by half, the overall impact on national electricity supply would be less than 15%. It also follows that a 15% deficit in national supply of electricity would amount to (15% x 24hrs) 3.6 hrs of loadsheding per day, and not the current 12 hours that we are seeing. Unless of course the major cause of loadsheding is not the lower levels of water in Kariba dam, but the export of power to neighboring countries.”
Mr. Tembo also notes that the loadsheding has caused widespread public discontent, with people from across the political spectrum expressing their frustration. He said, “Additionally, this loadsheding has caused a huge uproar across the political divide. People are upset, regardless of whether one is a UPND, PF or PeP supporter, they are all upset. So for political expediency, President Hakainde Hichilema would have resolved this loadsheding by either ending it completely or at least reducing it. But he is firm in continuing the loadsheding despite the continued public uproar and possibly his dwindling political fortunes.”
Mr. Tembo goes on to cite several other examples of what he sees as retrogressive decisions made by the President and his government, including the lack of medicines in health facilities, the reduction in fertilizer allocation for farmers, and the introduction of monthly fuel price reviews. He suggests that these decisions may have been made at the direction of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and questioned, “Why did Government decide to keep some IMF conditions secret? What are they hiding? What happened to transparency which President Hakainde Hichilema often spoke about?”
Mr. Tembo ends by expressing his concern that the government may be hiding something and calls for greater transparency on the IMF’s conditions. He urged, “Our considered view is that, since the IMF imposed on Government to reduce the allocation of fertilizer under FISP, and now that we have shortages in the electricity supply, we strongly suspect that the IMF is imposing conditions that are not known to the public. We call on the government to come clean on this matter, and to be transparent about the IMF conditions. Zambians deserve to know what is being done with their money.”