THE POWER-GATE SCANDAL

By Namakando Nalikando-Sinyama So, I take it the ever gullible lot was made to believe the reason they have an erratic supply of electricity countrywide was due to reduced water levels right? We even had a horde of cadres recruited going about defending the indefensible that the power situation was not unique to their country but was everywhere in the region and as such, cannot and should not be blamed on anyone as it is not a direct consequence of maladministration at any level. There were several attempts made by, believe it or not , even people from Academia, who really ought to have known better and come to the defence of the uninitiated many to correctly and accurately inform them. It is, I believe, to these we pledged and vowed to save after the many years of academic rigors we subjected ourselves to. But, sadly we have remained quiet and as a result have let them down and we continue to do this. This, I find, utterly shameful and it should go down in history as an indictment of the collective intellectual ineptitude of anyone of us who claims to be schooled in any school of thought. We have allowed a lie to be repeated so many times unchallenged. “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”- Josef Goebbels, Adolf Hitler's Chief of Propaganda. Well, if you believed Climate Change triggered draught was to blame for the blackouts, all I can say to you for now, to paraphrase Brother Malcolm El Malik Shabbaz X, is , you have indeed been had, Hook, Line, Sinker, Floater and Rod! The latest asinine escapist approach angle we are getting is where attempts are being made to explain away the situation as an Error of Attribution of the real causes of a commonly shared regional problem. If there is poverty in the land and your youngest child approaches you as the protector of your household and enquires why they have not eaten for the past two days, you telling the innocent infant not to worry because even the next three houses along your street have equally not had food would make that one of the lamest excuses ever to come from a lazy incompetent father. It was, and still is for all intent and purposes, reeking of cluelessness on how to most effectively run his home amidst a barrage of unfortunate happenings in the community. You as a family have to strive to keep your noses above deep water despite what everyone else may be going through. This is typical survival instinct that is not taught to anyone. In the last piece I wrote, I asked whether I was the only one missing something. The Fuhrer’s Chief Propagandist one Dr. Josef Goebbels crystallised it this way, “There will come a day when all the lies will collapse under their own weight and the truth will triumph again.” - Dr. Josef Goebbels. Amidst all the frustrations, denials and counter accusations, the truth lay hidden in plain sight all along but people’s eyes were too wide shut to see it. Allow me to explain, A Hydro Power Station’s inability to supply enough power could not possibly be due to insufficient water for the simple reason that it is was constructed on a Dammed river period! This is so annoyingly basic I wonder why people are refusing to see it. Look, what is a Dam by definition? In Civil Engineering, a Dam is defined as a barrier of concrete, earth, etc built across a river to create a body of water for a hydroelectric power station, domestic water supply. This is a reservoir of water created by such a barrier! That is the work of a Dam, it stores water! To the best of my memory the Zambezi River has been flowing for Millennia and has never not, even once been reported to have suddenly stopped flowing with water mostly due to the many tributaries that drain into it. Unless you were told that that spring at Kalene Hills had finally run dry, then there is no way on earth a Dam situated down such a big river would fail to have water. A Dam is supposed to hold and keep water, to be used in a regulated manner as and when you want it, in the measured quantities. Just what water levels are they talking about? There has never been a single day that water has not flowed along the Zambezi so where does it all end up then? At the dam wall!!! So, when you find yourselves grappling with power outages, my guess is, this is due to something else more sinister and serious other than the lack of water. "Since the great masses of people at the very bottom of their hearts tend to be corrupted rather than purposely evil, and that, therefore, in view of the primitive simplicity of their minds, they fall more easily victim to a big lie than to a little one – since they themselves lie in little things, but would be ashamed of lies that were too big." "Such a falsehood will never enter their heads, and they will not be able to believe the possibility in others of such monstrous effrontery and infamous misrepresentation; yes, even when enlightened on the subject, they will long doubt and waver, and continue to accept at least one of the claims as true. Therefore, something of even the most insolent lie will always remain and stick."– Mein Kampf (Adolf Hitler) Let us, however, assume for one minute that, when you choose to single source the supply of cheap quality turbines from only god knows where and these quickly breakdown or fail to handle the pressure of the power demand then it is not really be due to lack of water now is it, right? Let us just all quietly succumb to Pavlovian-style conditioning and embrace the thick darkness as an acceptable part of our lives now even when we are not exactly Bram Stoker’s lycanthropic creatures from Transylvania. We just need to saddle up and make a claim to a fair share of the pitch Blackness of the Night and compete with Vampires and Zombies for it because let us face it, there is really no telling when we are likely to have the much needed respite or when the situation will abate. What we need to prepare for though, is the possible impact or effect these power outages will have in the long run. Consider for instance to what extent will the human living environment and behavioural pattern be modified by the changes triggered by constant power losses? According to the dictates of the basic precepts of Evolutionary Biology and Population ecology there is bound to occur what I can only term Sociological Speciation. This is where I foresee our collective behaviour being so changed that we will become totally different people in the manner we behave so as to adapt to this unexpected or disruption to what we had hitherto considered some degree of normalcy. One thing is for sure, there will be a yet unrealised change and impact caused on the societal fabric by the power challenges we are faced with. There are areas where they might experience a peak in criminal activity due to the darkness that prematurely descends on suburbia effectively rendering Thomas Alvo Edison’s invention of the electric bulb to light up the streets seem pretty much useless at that particular time. There are families that have since modified the way they buy fresh foods like meats due to poor refrigeration. They either have to buy just enough to cook and eat or have resorted to drying their meat for fear of it rotting due to the persistent power outages. Others have opted to be taking early baths because power is directly connected with water supply in some areas. Not forgetting the many that have since lost electrical appliances due to the power surges and we are not familiar with the power utility firm ever compensating anyone because they do not think they are liable in any way. Most people may also experience some dietary changes as beans will not be a regular constituent of their meals because it easily goes off with the heat. The level of environmental degradation will be unprecedented as trees are being cut in greater numbers to burn the now highly lucrative charcoal needed in ever more greater quantities. It is a well-known fact that when there is no power most families quickly disperse after evening repast and retire early for bed with the attendant implications on their reproductive health and fecundity. It will not be a far-fetched expectation to have many conceptions occurring round about this period.