We normalise catastrophe when we treat load-shedding as weather commentary rather than economic emergency. Eight hours without power daily shutter factories, crash SME profits and deter investors comparing Lusaka to Kigali and Nairobi.
ZESCO blames drought; critics blame mismanagement. Ordinary citizens blame both and suffer equally. War footing means Cabinet suspending vanity projects, redirecting every available dollar to generation and transmission, and publishing weekly public dashboards on megawatts available versus demand.
Solar imports can be deployed within months if bureaucracy is cut. Community mini-grids should receive tax holidays. Industrial users willing to self-generate must face streamlined licensing, not three-year permit queues.
Parliament should hold televised hearings where ZESCO executives explain Kariba operational decisions without jargon. Transparency builds patience; secrecy breeds riot.
Until the lights stay on, no investment conference speech about Zambia’s potential deserves applause. Fix power first. Everything else — Kwacha stability, job creation, education technology — depends on electrons flowing reliably through the grid.
