Livingstone Okello Okello
30 December 2006
opinion
Kampala — The greatest challenge facing Uganda today is the crisis in the power sector. The drop in the installed hydro-power capacity of 380 megawatts (mw) to 135mw as of May 2006 is unacceptable. And yet the downward trends have continued without any permanent solution in sight.
Various reports, including the recent one by the Parliamentary Committee on National Economy, have recorded a big fall in the national economic growth. All accusing fingers point to the power crisis. This could have been foreseen and addressed in time by a caring government. Power shortage grew over many years till it reached the present crisis level.
Blaming the "opposition" in the 6th or 7th Parliament is diversionary. Members of the opposition belong here. They, their supporters, relatives, friends and well-wishers suffer the negative effects of the power cuts just like other Ugandans.
On the contrary, the 6th Parliament on which I served, struggled in vain with the President and his minister of energy then, Ms Syda Bbumba to get the building of power stations at Bujagali and Karuma both started at the same time. The President and Bbumba vowed that Karuma would never take off until Bujagali was commissioned. Karuma did not, and still does not, have any problem.
The intended investor, M/s Norpak, had its own funds for the project. There was absolutely no reason why a sensible government would insist on building Bujagali before Karuma. The Karuma project should be embarked on immediately if Uganda is to solve the power crisis. Thermal projects are not sustainable due to the resultant high electricity costs to the final consumer. Bujagali still has environmental and other problems.
There have been several surveys of hydro-power sites in Uganda: Bujagali (Jinja/Mukono) 150-250mw; Kalagala (Mukono) 400mw; Karuma (Masindi/Apac/ Amuru) 250mw; Murchison Falls (Masindi/ Amuru) 650mw; Ayago A (Amuru) 450mw and Ayago B (Amuru) 350mw.
There are several other small and micro-hydro sites all over the country, some already studied and surveyed while others are not yet. At a glance, Uganda has the greatest comparative advantage to supply East Africa, the Great Lakes and the Nile Basin countries with cheap hydro-power. Unfortunately, it cannot satisfy the power needs of its own citizens due to an apparently chaotic energy policy of government or even total lack of it. As a result, the country is fast losing the opportunity to be the chief hydro-power supplier in the region.
Power cuts in Uganda, glorified as load-shedding, are now taken for granted. Sometimes a home looks strange when power comes on after protracted darkness. The current relief from power cuts in some areas, as a result of thermal generation, is short-lived. In a country where people wallow in abject poverty, they simply can't afford even if thermal power was made available in abundance.
The effects of power cuts on all sectors of society have been devastating. It is not possible to gauge which sector is most affected. Industries have had to operate on alternate days, resulting in much lower production levels and greater overhead costs. Many have now imported and installed their own generators, but with much higher production costs which are passed on to the final consumer.
The cottage industries--- the carpentry workshops, the welders, the hair salon operators etc, who cannot afford generators, operate less than half of the time in a month. Naturally, many have been forced to scale down or close their businesses and go home. The long-term effect of environmental pollution by generators, the noise is yet to come. Certainly, our ears will not remain normal amid all these generator noises.
Even important institutions like Parliament, hospitals etc have not been spared by power cuts. Some patients could meet their worst in hospital theatres during surgical operations. Parliament is sometimes adjourned pre-maturely, because its own generator is about to go off. The list is endless. But the question is: how and why did these terrible power cuts come about?
In 1986, the late Captain Thomas Sankara, the then President of Burkina Faso, visited Uganda. On his visit to the source of the Nile in Jinja, he was accompanied by his host President Museveni. Mr Museveni was not happy to see a monument with its inscription that John Hannington Speke discovered the source of the Nile in 1862. He ordered the monument to be removed and replaced with a more appropriate one, which now reads: "THIS SPOT MARKS THE PLACE FROM WHERE THE NILE STARTS ITS LONG JOURNEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA THROUGH CENTRAL AND NORTHERN UGANDA, THE SUDAN AND EGYPT." (emphasis mine).
This was courtesy of the NRM "revolution". This monument was not a mere history, but more importantly, it was a great tourist attraction, which had over the years brought in millions of dollars to the country. Tourists, who visited the source of the Nile could be seen taking photograghs with it in the background as a valuable memory to take back home. It is said the number of tourists to the place has significantly dropped since its removal.
It was after the removal of the monument at the source of the Nile that the management of the then Uganda Electricity Board (UEB) was summoned to State House in Entebbbe to give information on Owen, after whom our only power station, Owen Falls Power Station (OFPS) was named. The UEB bosses reportedly had not been told why they had been summoned and therefore, didn't carry any information on Owen. They were, according to my source, given two weeks to comply.
When they returned with information on Owen, they were directed that the name Owen Falls Dam (OFD) or OFPS must be changed. The question then arose, changed to what? The dam was (still is) between Buganda and Busoga. Re-naming it in favour of one side would offend the other and could lead to loss of support for NRM on that side.
Then a "suggestion" came up that an extension of the dam be built so that one could be named in favour of Buganda and the other in favour of Busoga . Now we have Nalubaale Power Station (NPS) and Kiira Power Station(KPS) for Buganda and Busoga, respectively. OFPS had to go. Another courtesy of the NRM "revolution." This was the genesis of our current power crisis.
It took government 13 years to build just one "silly" little dam extension (KPS). Yes, 13 years, 1993-2006, because the last two units at KPS were installed in May 2006. The planned project life was initially only three years. How on earth could a serious government spend 13 years on construction of a dam/power station with an installed capacity of 60mw, against the estimated annual power demand growth of 80mw, and in a country with several studied and surveyed better sites?
At the launch of KPS on May 19, 2000, all sorts of statements were made: "The day to smile" , "Owen Falls dam extension: Government to take power to the villages", "Load shedding to end in 2004", and so on (The New Vision, May 19 2000). What can those who made these statements tell us today? It is sad.
Lake Victoria, the second greatest fresh water lake in the world, is being drained in our full view. The estimated fall in the lake's water level is now more than two metres. To blame this on the recent long drought is laughable.
The main culprit is the KPS. If you have a tank full of water with two outlet taps at the bottom, and you open both taps simultaneously, the water level in the tank will fall faster than if you open only one tap. This is what has been happening to Lake Victoria when KPS started operating. The drainage, the outflow from the lake, is now double.
Another cause is the dragging of sudds in Lake Kyoga. Kyoga regulates the flow of River Nile. Opening the sudds removed this natural control. The Uganda government must take full blame for shamelessly inviting Egyptians to clear the sudds.
After the commissioning of OFPS in 1954, Egypt opened two offices in Uganda, one in Kampala and another in Jinja, to monitor the Victoria water level.
After the removal of sudds from Kyoga and the completion of KPS, the offices were closed. The water going to Egypt is now too much. However, the Egyptians should not get too excited and start celebrating pre-maturely. With the uncontrolled falling of the water levels, Victoria will dry up or its water level will fall to a level whereby it can no longer adequately feed the River Nile.
What is the solution? Block KPS completely. Government should invite East African and Nile Basin countries and our development partners so that together we fill up the artificial channel of KPS within the shortest time possible.
The author is Chua County MP
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