Energy ministry camps in Busia for mineral, electrification sensitisation

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The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has camped in Busia district for a public sensitisation on mineral exploitation and rural electrification.

The two-day public engagement is being held at Busia district local government offices in Busia municipality today (September 29 and 30, 2025.

According to Dr Patricia Litho, the assistant commissioner for communications and information management at the energy ministry, the engagement stems from concerns that were raised during the commissioning of the Wagagai gold refinery in August, saying they threatened value addition and mineral exploitation.

Such issues include lack of electricity access, unreliable and unstable power supply and value addition infrastructure in the district and royalties.

Mineral exploitation, including oil and gas, is one of the four pillars that have been prioritised by the government in the implementation of the fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV) that seeks to grow Uganda’s economy to $500b from about $63b in the next 15 years.

Here, the Government is targeting to undertake sustainable exploitation, value addition and commercialisation of the minerals to increase earnings from the resource and create jobs.

Agnes Alaba, the commissioner of mines at the ministry, described Busia as a gold mining hub with high tonnes of the mineral and that a greater part of the district has been licensed off.

She said it is the district where artisanal mining in the country in 1915.

Currently, the district has two licensed gold miners, including Wagagai gold refinery and Greenstone while the rest of the miners are artisanal.

Uganda has deposits of several minerals, including gold, tantalite, chromium, iron, lead, lithium, manganese, rare earth elements, bentonite, clay, diatomite, dimension stones (granite), feldspar, glass sands, graphite and, among others, geothermal.

Electricity

In the Citizens Manifesto, a survey conducted by Vision Group ahead of the 2026 general elections, 13% of the respondents mentioned energy as the main issue affecting their communities, placing it ninth on the list of priorities.

Under the energy sector, respondents identified ‘inadequate power supply and frequent outages’ as the predominant issue, affecting up to 82.8% of the community.

In Busia district, both frequent outages and lack of access to electricity topped the citizens’ concerns, with 42.9% citing each of them as the main challenge they are facing.

Addressing these concerns will be the topic of discussion on Tuesday as the ministry engages the public.