Zambian Electricity Supply Company (ZESCO)

I have not blogged for quite some time. This is because I am working on my new campaign; to rename the above company ZECO. Basically to claim you are supplying electricity would centainly be contrary to the trade descriptions act back home. So since last Monday we have been off power from 5.30 - 9am every morning and then again from 6-9pm every evening. Minimum! These are my blogging times. On one occassion we have been without power for almost 48 hours.

Now, I realise that Zambia is a developing country, the infastructure is not good and there is not enough electricity to go round at peak times. However most people could cope with 'loadshedding' if it was done in a systematic way. It seems if you live in a rural area you are far more likely to be taken off supply so that those in the the urban areas can have electricity. Even amongst the poor there is a hierarchy it seems.

Last week I met with 2 directors from ZECO with some of the local commercial farmers. Since that meeting things have become 20 times worse. Even more depressing is that the generator we have here is old and very expensive to run. So far this year we have spent near 6000 pounds in generator diesel alone. That's a lot of money for us.

That said, I am constantly reminded that for most of the people around us, electricity is indeed a luxury. My feeling is that the failure to invest in the electricity infastructure on the part of Zambia mirrors the general attitudes in developing countries. Long term thinking, investment and planning runs against the grain of a lifestyle so rooted in the present. Why worry about tomorrow, when there is enought to worry about today? Proverbs 15v15 says this about the poor, "Their future is so uncertain and the need in the present is so pressing." It seems the idea of investment or saving has until now been so far away and obscure for the poor that it probably feels like a complete waste of a precious resource.

Maybe I shouldn't be too hard on ZESCO!