By SAM PHIRI and MUNAMBEZA MUWANEI –

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu recently gave a directive to Zambia’s power utility company Zesco to shed and share electricity equitably among all Zambians as the country grapples with a power generation deficit.
The pronouncement has without doubt elated many Zambians, especially those in lowly-rated townships who are the major victims of the load-shedding.
They feel President Lungu really has a heart for them and that by sharing power equally with those in the highly-rated residential areas, there would be no cry as there would be equal benefit.
However, there are still some shades of gray in the implementation of the presidential directive as there is no printed schedule in the dailies to show how power is being shared and distributed.
A survey by the Sunday Times revealed that most townships were still not getting a fair share of the power compared to other high-rated residential areas.
A likelihood of finding power in Kanyama Township and Bauleni after 19:00 hours is less than 10 per cent, while in other areas like Kabulonga, the opposite is seemingly the case.
But Zesco public relations manager Henry Kapata says the power utility company is following the presidential directive with the importance it deserves.
He says though complaints are still coming in mainly on the fluctuating timing of disconnection and reconnection, the directive is being respected.
“The system is dynamic, yes we can announce through SMS to our clients that power would be restored at 20:00 hours but you will find that we slightly delay by maybe 30 minutes, this is not deliberate. It is a technical measure that we need to observe,” he says.
On the transparency of equal power sharing through published schedules, Mr Kapata says as much as the company appreciates the fact that the print media is one of the best ways of guiding clients, the company has adopted a more engaging system – SMS.
“We have used the newspapers before but we have discovered that many people would skip our page and go straight to sports and dump the paper, so we feel SMS is one of the best ways,” he says.
He says the company has gone further by sending teams to work with regional managers in different parts of the country, especially the remote, to explain to the clients the electricity challenges the country is faced with.
But critically scrutinising this SMS system, and the one-on-one engagement, it still leaves a huge shade of gray where transparency is concerned as it remains secretive to the recipient.
The only way Zesco can probably show to the people of Zambia that the presidential directive is being followed is through printed schedules in the dailies.
Already Isaac Siwo of Chunga Township in Lusaka feels nothing has changed from the time President Lungu made the directive.
“The President is very right and we are happy for his consideration but we can’t know whether our friends in Kabulonga experience load shedding the way we do, why can’t Zesco print out the schedules so that we can see the parity?” he says.
The gravity of power deficit is relatively huge prompting a major reduction of power from an average of 1000 to 560 megawatts though there is need to reduce it further by 60.
The electricity deficit in the country has affected a lot of productive sectors though Government is putting measures in place to quell the situation.
Some of the measures announced by President Lungu recently when he undertook a tour of the Kafue Gorge and Kariba North Bank Power stations include importation of 150 and 200 megawatts of power from the neighbouring Mozambique and acceleration of the implementation of the Maamba coal power plant.
Once completed and commissioned in November this year, the Maamba power plant is expected to generate up to 300 mega watts.
The President also discussed issues to do with the promotion of alternative renewable energy technologies that would not depend on water for electricity generation such as solar, geothermal and biomass.
The aforementioned measures are meant to sustain and support the current and future economic activities in the country.
The Head of State, who vowed that no company in Zambia would be closed on account of the current electricity deficit, appreciates the fact that production has generally gone down, hence the haste measures to address the situation.
He says the power utility firm and neighbouring Zimbabwe Power Corporation are working round the clock to ensure electricity is generated in the joint countries that came as a result of low water levels at Kariba.
Now, as much as this may be a huge national challenge to the majority Zambians, others have seen it as an opportunity and money spinner and would even wish it lasts longer. It has come as a blessing in disguise to charcoal traders!.
Charcoal traders have cashed in during this period and even increased the price of the commodity as it is on high demand.
In Ndola, following the increased demand for charcoal, the price of charcoal has also gone up in some parts of town.  Initially a 25 kilogramme bag of charcoal was K35 but now it was between K40 and K50 while a 90kg bag of charcoal is now K125.
Some charcoal traders have told the Sunday Times that business has improved during the last few weeks.
Rose Chisenga said the load shedding has increased their sales because members of the public were buying charcoal in large quantities which was a plus to her business.
According to her, load shading has brought some joy and less complaint as she would say: “So far so good we can’t complain because this load shedding has improved our business here.”
Another trader Miriam Mwansa said she ordered 130 bags of charcoal to sell at Masala Market last week and she was only remaining with less than 10 bags.
The electricity deficit currently being experienced is likely to continue up to November as the water levels continue to reduce, hence the caution from Mr Kapata, “switch and save”.