The genesis of the power crisis
In 1999, then energy minister Richard Kaijuka came to Parliament to get an amendment to the Electricity Bill passed that would allow his office the right to license independent power producers for six months as appropriate legislation was being put in place.
By Paul Busharizi
In 1999, then energy minister Richard Kaijuka came to Parliament to get an amendment to the Electricity Bill passed that would allow his office the right to license independent power producers for six months as appropriate legislation was being put in place.
Parliament threw the amendment out, insisting that the appropriate laws be expedited. The MPs argued that the amendment was like treating a fracture with a plaster.
A visibly bewildered Kaijuka later on told journalists that he was shocked that the amendment was thrown out. He thought the urgency was clear and the need for speed obvious.
“Uganda is a small portfolio run by a middle level manager in Deutsch Bank. It can be turned around like this,” he said as he snapped his fingers.
“Our problem is politics,” he concluded before jumping into his ministerial car and zooming out of the car park.
The laws, when they were eventually passed, led to the breakup of the Uganda Electricity Board, the privatisation of its component parts and the creation of a regulatory authority.
In understanding the genesis of our current power crisis, this moment probably has pride of place on the time line.
I remember thinking that the minister was a bit politically naive to expect the amendment’s success without prior lobbying.
But it also left me wondering why the major legislation was taking a long time to be brought to the house, considering its strategic importance.
That, notwithstanding, couldn’t Parliament find it within itself to negotiate a middle way that would involve not throwing out the baby with the bath water?
The current power crisis has its origins much further in the past than I know, but a few inflection points stand out for me.
There was the disastrous contract to Chinese firm Sietco in the early 1990s to expand the capacity of the Nalubale Dam – Owen Falls Dam then, to its current 180Mw from the previous 150Mw.
That fiasco not only led to the termination of Sietco’s contract for corrupt practices but also put paid to local insurer Pan World Insurance Company (PWICO), who failed to make good on a sh33b performance bond.
The net effect was to delay construction, yet demand continued to grow regardless.
In 1995 when former US commerce secretary, Ron Brown, committed US business to build a dam at Bujagali, one would have been forgiven to think that by the turn of the century, work would be in advanced stages on the 250mw facility and the dam would be done by the middle of that decade.
Determined sniping by foreign environmentalists, with the help of people like John Ken Lukyamuzi, delayed American firm, AES Nile Power long enough that financial pressures in their South American operations forced them out 10 years later.
The result again is we have fallen further behind in catching up to ever growing demand.
During this sad episode with AES, the World Bank and foreign donors refused to bankroll the simultaneous development of the Karuma Dam because they argued that there was not enough demand to sustain both dams.
Norwegian-backed NORPAK was planning a 700Mw dam on the northern Uganda site.
In fact, as a donor condition to release funds for Bujagali, then energy minister, Syda Bbumba, had to shuttle around the region soliciting guarantees from neighbouring capitals that they would consume Bujagali’s power when it comes online.
Bujagali’s delay coupled with the falling levels of water on Lake Victoria have forced us to contract expensive thermal generation plants that have added salt to injury.
In fact, AES was committing to sell power to the grid at US6 cents a unit, a figure that would have brought power to our homes at US9cents a unit in 2006.
This figure was lurched upon by Lukyamuzi and company to bog down the dam’s development because at the time, the Ugandan consumer was paying a heavily subsidised US$4 cents a unit for power.
Today, thanks to Lukyamuzi et al, we are paying about US$12 cents a unit of power, a figure that is unsustainable as it is also heavily subsidised.
The cumulative effect of this circus, orchestrated by donors, our own leaders and do-gooders, is our current 24-hour load-shedding debacle.
Obviously, when Bujagali’s 250Mw hits the grid, we will have temporary relief – a few months at most – before the specter of day-long load-shedding rears its head once again.
It would make for good comedy if it were not sad, to see power distributor Umeme being pilloried for the power deficit problems.
The power distributor is not beyond reproach, but given the genesis of our current power crisis, Umeme is just a convenient scape goat, deflecting attention away from the real culprits in this sorry episode.
pbusharizi@newvision.co.ug