Energy ministry speaks out on UEDCL top managers 'sacking'

__________________

The energy ministry (MEMD) says no staff of Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL) had been sacked.

The ministry adds that they have requested the board to carry out an investigation into allegations raised in the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) and submit its findings.

A December 5, 2025, statement released by the ministry assistant commissioner, communications and information management, Dr Patricia Litho, indicates that the ministry will wait for the report from the board before making corrective actions to address the identified lapses and restore confidence in UEDCL.

The statement comes in the wake of Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja halting the energy minister Ruth Nankabirwa-sanctioned sacking of UEDCL's senior management team (SMT).

“MEMD is aware of information circulating in the media regarding a letter from the Prime Minister, requiring the halting of the termination of UEDCL senior management. The ministry is also in receipt of a performance assessment of the UEDCL by the ERA. The ministry required the Board of the UEDCL to investigate and report to the ministry in a clear, actionable and time-bound manner; make corrective actions to address the identified lapses and restore confidence in UEDCL,” Litho says.

Litho adds that the UEDCL board was required to undertake a standard internal inquiry into the issues raised in a routine audit and performance review, in a manner that ensures clarification, transparency, accountability, and due process.

“The Board is in the final stages of undertaking the inquiry and will submit its findings to the ministry. To date, no staff member has been dismissed from the UEDCL, awaiting the findings of the internal inquiry, and we encourage the public to allow this procedure to be concluded without speculation. However, whoever will be found culpable will be handled in line with the relevant law and company policies,” Litho added.

Litho said they “will continue to work with all relevant Government entities and will subsequently brief the entire Government in Cabinet, to ensure that the consumer receives a reliable and continued electrical power supply; the electricity subsector promotes accountability, due process and professionalism in the management of the distribution network; and there is confidence in the management and performance of the national electricity sector.”

Litho said, further updates will be provided once the internal process is complete.

“The Ministry remains committed to ensuring that Uganda's electricity distribution system is managed effectively, safely and in the best interest of all citizens,” she stated.

Blocking of new players

Nabbanja also blocked attempts by Energy minister Ruth Nankabirwa to bring on board private players to manage Uganda’s electricity, saying the decision must first be discussed by the whole government in Cabinet with adequate guidance from President Yoweri Museveni after this heightened political season.

In her letter dated December 3, 2025, Nabbanja instead directs Nankabirwa to support the current UEDCL team, ‘stabilise the network which I am told was left in a sorry operational state by UMEME’.

“I have been informed that you directed the UEDCL board to review and thereafter cause massive terminations of the UEDCL Senior Management Team (SMT), following an ERA confidential performance review report covering the last six months following the takeover of UMEME service".

Nabbanja says the minister’s instructions to the board raised the following concerns:

The probable unintended consequences of such uncoordinated and massive termination at this critical time, ith lessons learnt from UMEME, your proposed reintroduction of private power suppliers in the form of joint ventures needs to be well structured, studied and discussed by the whole government in Cabinet.

“I am informed that, the recent transition from UMEME to UEDCL pooled together up to 2,712 permanent and 1,760 temporary staff, who are now undergoing training and getting support and supervision under the UEDCL SMT. Your proposed massive termination of the SMT will significantly cause unnecessary destabilisation in the general UEDCL workforce, increase power outages and adversely affect the Industrial sector in addition to other programs and Government image,” she says.

Nabbanja adds, “We need to make all efforts to ensure a stable power supply to the industries and Ugandans at large since I am informed that most of the procured network materials are now in transit. Support your SMT to complete the massive connections and complete the ongoing network upgrades, so that a steady power supply is assured.”

She then directed the minister to suspend all plans that are aimed at reintroducing private partnership/Joint Ventures in the power distribution sector until the Rationalisation of Agencies and Public Expenditure policy (RAPEX) is concluded.

"Wait until the end of this election period for further guidance from Cabinet and H.E the President on this matter. In the meantime, please furnish me with a copy of the ERA confidential performance review report that you have relied on," she writes.

“The board is instructed to halt all the processes that it is undertaking, or it intends to undertake in connection with this matter. In the meantime, support the current UEDCL SMT, to stabilise the network, which I am told was left in a sorry operational state by UMEME. By copy of this letter, the UEDCL Board Chairperson and members should take note of my directives,” Nabbanja writes.

New Vision Online has learnt that the minister’s letter had left most of the SMT team and UEDCL panicking, and sources said UEDCL Secretary Easther Mulyagonja submitted her resignation last month.