By Mast Reporter
GOLDEN Party of Zambia (GPZ) president Jackson Silavwe has scorned the ‘magnanimous’ United Party for National Development (UPND) government for carelessly exporting electricity amid an unprecedented crisis just to win cheap praises from neighbours.
Silavwe wondered why the UPND had continued to be indifferent to the crisis its own citizens were grappling with.
Last week, Secretary to the Cabinet of the Republic of Namibia George Simataa heaped praise on the Zambian government for continuing to supply Namibia with electricity despite Zambia experiencing serious power shortages.
“Go to Mandevu and listen to stories of Zambian manufacturers there… Those who rear chickens have stopped because they cannot endure the expense of buying charcoal. This is the reality on the ground and yet you have an official of that country thanking our government for being too magnanimous… And you should have looked at the face of the Vice President. It was a slap on the face of the Vice President and the entire Zambian people by extension. President Hakainde Hichilema and his government are not serious about sorting out the economic problems that this country is facing,” Silavwe said.
During a meeting with Zambian Vice President Mutale Nalumango, Simataa described the decision by the government of Hakainde Hichilema to continue exporting electricity to his country as a sign of brotherhood.
“I am also aware of the electricity problems that Zambia is facing. But despite the problems that you have with the supply of electricity in Zambia, you still supply us with electricity. Again, you would have said ‘we cannot sacrifice our power when we have a shortage’, but you still give us,” Simataa said.
“Katimamulilo town where I come from is supplied with power from Zambia. When you have a power outage here, we also have a power outage. But that is the brotherhood we are talking about, the neighborhood we are talking about. We should only be grateful and continue to exist in this manner.”
But Silavwe told The Mast yesterday the continued exporting of electricity showed that the government did not care about what happened to Zambians.
“The opposition has been singing about this situation that the power crisis in the country would have been better and properly handled. And the ruling party has continuously called us names, including our own people who have believed the lies of the ruling party. And now you have heard from a leader, an official of that country, Namibia, thanking the Vice President [Nalumango] and, perhaps, if the President [Hakainde Hichilema] was around, I am very convinced that that meeting was supposed to take place at the State House,” he said.
Silavwe said the UPND had exposed itself as an uncaring government which felt proud of inflicting hardship on its own people.
“Now they have spoken for themselves. It is in black and white. And Namibia is not the only country in the region. We know for a fact that this government is selling power to countries like Botswana… they are also selling to specific mining countries in the DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo]. We know that. The Zambian industry right now is completely paralysed, the local industry, because of the same and yet they have not taken tangible steps to ensure that they avert the energy crisis.”
Silavwe said small businesses had closed because of erratic supply.
The UPND has been selling power from the time it came into government, a situation that has drawn fire from the opposition, the Church and civil society.
However, it has defended the exports as a necessary source of revenue and fulfillment of regional obligations.
Silavwe does not agree.
“President Hakainde Hichilema and his government have got no economic solutions to lift millions of Zambians out of poverty. To them it is business as usual. That is why in the midst of all this power crisis, they can be able to blame the Zambian people to say the reason you are not having power is because your power is too cheap,” he said.
He said the UPND government’s economic policies lacked a human face.
“So, they can raise the connection fees, they can raise the electricity tariffs, they can raise the prices of fuel which keeps on dancing gule wamukulu, every time they announce every month, they are insensitive. UPND’s and President Hakainde Hichilema’s economic policies lack the human face… they lack the basic understanding of how the Zambian economy operates. They have gone to tax everything that moves in terms of the local Zambians,” he said.
“They have taxed Facebook adverts, they have taxed mobile money transactions, they have taxed a lot of things and they have left big companies that make money in Zambia scot-free. Where are the tax incentives for the Zambian small businesses? Right now, as we are talking, businesses in Lusaka are being taxed by what they are calling the Lusaka City Council Tax Force. They are being taxed to pay business levy and trading licences. Right now, as we are talking, citizens are being harassed… ‘no you, you haven’t paid this…’”
Silavwe said the UPND government was failing to extend relief measures to local businesses which were struggling as a result of power challenges.
“If you look at our colleagues, they are so comfortable to put on suits and fly to Tanzania, fly to Japan claiming that they are in the champions league and yet they have no idea of how their economy that they have structured is hurting their own people. The UPND government has no solution for the Zambian people. And the solution is not for them to ask what the opposition will do. The solution is for them to kick these people out of power. We need to change government like yesterday and the people of Zambia must be able to demand it,” Silavwe said.
He said the opposition had practical alternatives.
“We have people like ourselves who are able to put things in order for the Zambian people to benefit. It is time we had leadership that does even 60 percent of what the Zambian people are suffering from. You cannot have a government that only represents the interests of the handlers, the interests of their friends at the IMF [International Monetary Fund], the interests of their friends that fund them…”
