President Edgar Lungu says he has no time to politic about climate change because the ripple effects are there for everybody to see.

In his Facebook post, Tuesday, President Lungu shared pictures of an extremely dry Victoria Falls in Livingstone, reflecting that Zambia was one of the poor countries failing to cope with climate change.

“These pictures of the Victoria Falls are a stark reminder of what climate change is doing to our environment and our livelihood. It is with no doubt that developing countries like Zambia are the most impacted by climate change and the least able to afford its consequences. We have no time to play politics with climate change. We must come together and provide solutions for mitigation and adaptation. As Whit Ayres, Republican Political Consultant observed recently: “Denying the basic existence of climate change is no longer a credible position,” President Lungu stated.

President Lungu also urged citizens to embrace the spirit of oneness in overcoming the effects of climate change.

“Let us pull together as a people. Like the spirit of the eagle on our national flag, we shall rise above every challenge we may face today and tomorrow,” stated President Lungu.

But reacting to his post, one of his followers only identified as Mwanakaaba stated that while chimate change was real, the Head of State should not use it as a scapegoat for every problem.

“Climate change is real but it cannot be a scapegoat for the problems we currently face. Climate change is not responsible for debt acquisition and the pilfering of borrowed money. Neither is it the cause of many other problems,” wrote Mwanakaaba.

Another follower, Chola Mwewa, stated that instead complaining, President Lungu should inform the nation what measures he had put in place to tackle the challenges.

“The problem with our president is that he behaves like just any other citizens. Come on you are here complaining about climate change instead of telling us what measures have you put in place to tackle climate change. Climate change has been preached about almost 10 years ago but what have we done about it? Despite showing us dry Kariba Dam you still building hydropower stations around the country where is the logic?” asked Mwewa.

“If by now we could have diversified our energy sector load shedding could be a thing of the past. Have you empowered farmers with loans or grants to help them migrate from seasonal farming to all year farming by using irrigation? We blame you because you have failed to be proactive in the challenges of the country. Clearly it’s because of poor planning that’s why we in this messy. It’s your fault Mr president.”

And Peter Fulela also commented saying: As I quote Mr president ‘We have no time to play politics with climate change. We must come together and provide solutions for mitigation and adaptation.’ End of quote. Here are some points you didn’t want others to help. HH wanted to donate mealie meal in Kalomo [but] you blocked him, HH wanted to donate a genset at the clinic [and] you blocked him. And today you are telling us that we should come together and provide solutions.”

Meanwhile, another follower named Tobert Choongo stated that government should stop exporting power to neighboring countries during this period of the power shortage.

“Stop exporting power to Malawi and DRC so that Zambians can utilize the little power that is generated from Kariba dam by that you will be able to fight deforestation due to charcoal burning which has brought about climate change,” stated Choongo.