Bukenya starts solar project
Jul 21, 2006
Vice-President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya has come up with a developmental initiative that will stop the rural poor shift from using tadooba (local kerosene lamps) and adopt solar energy.
By Josephine Maseruka
Vice-President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya has come up with a developmental initiative that will stop the rural poor shift from using tadooba (local kerosene lamps) and adopt solar energy.
Briefing journalists yesterday in his office at Parliamentary Building, Bukenya said the ‘solar for the rural poor’ campaign to be launched on Monday in Wakiso district would require between sh700,000 and sh1m to install a 3-bulb solar equipment in an average two-bedroom low-cost house, at an initial sh50,000 down-payment.
Bukenya said, “I don’t want to see anyone using tadooba because it is more reasonable to use solar than an inverter.†He added, “ The sh50,000 is little money to someone who grows an acre of upland rice and gets between sh700,000 and sh1.2m in less than 100 days.â€
The solar energy programme will also be channelled through nigiina (women’s groups) and micro-finance initiatives.
He asserted that 90% of Ugandans used tadooba that gave off carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas, which when inhaled caused fatal diseases.
“That is why a 40-year-old using a tadooba looks like an 80-year-old mzee,†Bukenya added.
He said tadooba gives off gas oil that damages the lungs, making people prone to TB infection.
He said the campaign would be channelled through the energy ministry.
Vice-President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya has come up with a developmental initiative that will stop the rural poor shift from using tadooba (local kerosene lamps) and adopt solar energy.
Briefing journalists yesterday in his office at Parliamentary Building, Bukenya said the ‘solar for the rural poor’ campaign to be launched on Monday in Wakiso district would require between sh700,000 and sh1m to install a 3-bulb solar equipment in an average two-bedroom low-cost house, at an initial sh50,000 down-payment.
Bukenya said, “I don’t want to see anyone using tadooba because it is more reasonable to use solar than an inverter.†He added, “ The sh50,000 is little money to someone who grows an acre of upland rice and gets between sh700,000 and sh1.2m in less than 100 days.â€
The solar energy programme will also be channelled through nigiina (women’s groups) and micro-finance initiatives.
He asserted that 90% of Ugandans used tadooba that gave off carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas, which when inhaled caused fatal diseases.
“That is why a 40-year-old using a tadooba looks like an 80-year-old mzee,†Bukenya added.
He said tadooba gives off gas oil that damages the lungs, making people prone to TB infection.
He said the campaign would be channelled through the energy ministry.