By Dickens Kamugisha
DEAR Mr President, I join you to thank the World Bank for approving funding for the construction of Bujagali dam. I have been one of those Ugandans opposed to the construction of this dam. I still maintain my reasons for opposing the dam but since I have been defeated and the construction may soon begin, I must concede and join you and the rest of Ugandans to make Bujagali different from the previous failures.
As we commence the construction of Bujagali dam, our major concern should be on how to address the poor planning in the power sector. We have seen reforms after reforms in this power sector failing to deliver anything useful to Ugandans compared to our neighbours in Kenya and Tanzania.
Do you remember that in 1991 at Makerere freedom square you told Ugandans that after the renovation of Nalubale dam and the construction of Kiira dam, Uganda would produce over 350mw by 2001 and darkness would be no more. These dams are in place and the only achievement we can see is increased darkness and tariffs.
These dams have come amidst a number of reforms but have you ever taken your time asked yourself the impact of the following reforms on the livelihoods of your people?
The June 1999 power sector and privatisation strategy.
The November 1999 electricity Act
The April 2000 establishment of the Electricity Regulatory Authority, the 2001 unbundling of the Uganda Electricity Board (UEB) and the creation of numerous energy firms such as Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL), Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) and the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL). The 2002 concession for power generation to Umeme. The 2003 creation of the Rural Electrification Board (REB).
The 2002 National Energy Policy and the Rural Electrification Strategy and Plan.
Dear Ugandans, what do we have to show for all these reforms? What guarantee do we have that power produced from Bujagali dam will not be injected into the grid, making losses of over 33%. why is Uganda’s electricity more expensive at over US$ 23 cents per unit compared to Kenya’s $19 and Tanzania’s $9 and these two countries produce over 300 mw and 70 mw of their electricity from thermal respectively compared to our current 100 mw thermal.
Mr. President, why have we kept our power sector, the engine of economic growth, with profit-minded investors? What is it that these energy firms have done for this sector that should keep our hopes high to the extent that we can be that they will manage Bujali which is costing us over US$750m for the benefit of Ugandans? There are many examples in and outside Africa to show that power sectors are best run by national governments and not private investors.
For instance, in Africa, Algeria produces 6,468mw, Morocco 4,687mw, Ethiopia 1,200mw and South Africa 40676mw but their sectors are still being run by the national governments. Outside Uganda, countries like Canada produce 104,371mw, China 116,287mw, Japan 268,287mw and South Korea 54,673mw but these governments still run their power sectors.
So how safe is Bujagali dam in the hands of profit minded investors who have for the last 8eight years of Uganda’s power sector reform failed to eliminate power losses and innocent Ugandans have to continue paying high tariffs on the pretence that it is because of thermal fuel when we all know that in Kenya they use more thermal and pay less.
We have also seen how the current multiple energy firms with their Chief Executive Officers earning over US $35,000 a month increase power tariffs from sh6.53 in 1986 to over sh450 in 2007 amidst retrenchment of our sons and daughters and increasing darkness.
My fear has been and still is that we may build any number of dams but if we are not guided by good planning and we are not conscious of how best to manage our power sector, we cannot be sure that increase in the number of dams perse will end our current power problems.
Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is calling upon all poor countries to factor climate change in all their poverty reduction programmes and their development and investment agendas, but here in Uganda our planners are cursing environmentalists who are calling on government to put such strategies in place if Bujagali must be built.
Bujagali may end up like Kiira dam which has only succeeded in mortgaging Uganda to the World Bank and increasing power tariffs. It’s these good but badly planned huge projects that have kept Uganda and our leaders perpetual beggars for debt forgiveness and incapacitated these leaders to deliver the common good to their subjects.
The writer is the Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Centre for Energy