NAIROBI, Kenya, May 16 — As African lawmakers push back against climate policies they say overlook the continent’s development realities, Zambia is emerging as an unlikely model for how African countries can tackle energy poverty while pursuing climate goals .

📻 Breaking It Down

At a regional parliamentary forum in Nairobi focused on methane reduction and climate action, Zambian policy expert Slyvester Kaonga outlined an ambitious government-backed plan to build community-owned solar plants in every constituency.

Delegates say the decentralised energy strategy delegates could offer lessons for countries such as Kenya grappling with rising energy demand, climate shocks and uneven electricity access.

Kaonga, a senior research officer at Zambia’s National Assembly and desk officer for the Zambian Parliamentary Caucus on Environment and Climate Change, described the Presidential Constituency Energy Initiative (PCEI) as a “fundamental shift” in how Zambia approaches development, energy generation and local governance.

📌 What You Need to Know

Under the initiative, Zambia plans to install 2-megawatt solar power plants across all constituencies, transforming local communities into energy producers capable of supplying electricity to the national grid while generating revenue for local development.

“This initiative is aimed at transforming constituencies into energy hubs,” Kaonga told lawmakers and climate delegates attending the Regional Parliamentary Seminar on Climate Action and Methane Reduction in Nairobi.

The model represents one of Africa’s most aggressive attempts to decentralize energy production and place renewable energy ownership directly into local communities.

Unlike many large-scale energy projects driven by central governments or private investors, Zambia’s approach channels money from the country’s Constituency Development Fund into local solar infrastructure, effectively turning public development financing into a long-term energy investment

The program was conceived after Zambia suffered one of its worst droughts in decades during the 2024–2025 rainy season, triggering electricity shortages and power cuts lasting up to 20 hours a day in a country heavily dependent on hydropower.

Faced with an escalating energy deficit, the Zambian government moved to decentralize electricity production by channeling part of the country’s Constituency Development Fund into renewable energy infrastructure.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya