The United Kwacha Alliance-UKA- is concerned that the two-fold blow of a fuel shortage and a serious energy deficit will completely cripple businesses and brings an already ailing economy to a total collapse.
UKA Chairperson for Communications Jackson Silavwe says Zambians are barely surviving in this harsh economy and to add a fuel shortage to the long hours of load shedding that citizens are grappling with is not only a leadership failure but also an act of cruelty.
Mr Silavwe has noted the explanation by Energy Minister Makozo Chikote that the fuel shortage the country is currently experiencing has been caused by the delayed berthing of ship carrying petrol at the Port of Beira, which led to congestion as some of the Oil Marketing Companies had locked orders for petrol, which was on this vessel.
He also notes that the introduction by the Zimbabwean government of transit deposits of between US$22,000 and US$30,000 for tanker trucks passing through that country with petroleum products to prevent transit fraud, has increased the operating costs for OMCs using this route, who have been forced to reroute their cargo through Chanida Border in Katete, which is 400 kilometers longer than transiting through Zimbabwe.
Mr Silavwe is concerned that instead of engaging the Zimbabwean government through diplomatic channels, government through the mission in Mozambique has opted to engage authorities at the port of Beira to expedite the clearing of the trucks.
He has since demanded that government urgently resolve through established diplomatic channels, the issue of transit deposits with the Zimbabwean government.
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