25 February 2008
editorial
Kampala — POWER theft is on the increase again. An average of 36% of electricity is lost every month, up from 32% last year. Masaka, Kamuli and Mbale are particularly bad. Over half of all power distributed to these districts is not being billed. In Masaka, power losses even reach 72%.
Umeme is faced with an almost impossible task. There might be up to 60,000 power thieves in Uganda. No private company in the world can deal with such numbers.
The thieves include big business people, foreign investors, army officers, as well as small-and-medium enterprises and poor households.
People steal electricity because of high power tariffs which affect Uganda's competitiveness in the region. But power theft, in turn, drives up the prices.
Honest people have to compensate for the dishonest. And bona fide investors are competed out of the market by crooked ones; or scared away altogether.
Electricity was cited as the single most important obstacle to investing in Uganda in the World Bank's 2007 Enterprise Survey.
Umeme is trying to fight the scourge. It is currently carrying out a verification mission all over the country, trying to catch power thieves. But it is fighting an uphill battle.
Of the 2,826 anomalies, such as illegal power connections and meter tampering, it found in Masaka town, only eight people were arrested and all of them were freed on court bond within days.
The stabbing of a security officer on a verification mission in a Kampala suburb on Friday shows how difficult Umeme's task is.
Though the law provides a penalty and a jail sentence of up to three years for tampering with the network, there has never been a successful prosecution.
A special unit of the Police and an Electricity Court should be set up to help Umeme in its struggle. People should be encouraged to report power thieves and be protected under the Whistle Blowing Act.
But above all, politicians, religious and traditional leaders should sensitise the public that power theft is bad: it is unfairly punishing the honest; it hurts the economy. and, ultimately, all of us.
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Power theft can only be minimised if the cost of electricity per unit is reasonable and affordable.