12 November 2009
editorial
Kampala — President Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday night met with energy minister Hillary Onek and permanent secretary Fred Kaliisa-Kabagambe to iron out the differences between the two that have come into full public glare in recent weeks.
Onek, who took over the ministry earlier this year, has set about reforming the energy ministry with much zeal, riding on the populist agenda to reduce power tariffs for end users. He has taken public swipes at power distributor UMEME and the Bujagali hydro-electric power dam project, among others.
The minister also set up a probe committee into power tariffs that was chaired by Gen Salim Saleh, which recommended a slashing of existing power tariffs.
In a recent letter to the President, Kabagambe criticised the probe committee's recommendations on the basis that they had no technical input. He warned that if implemented, they could reverse the forward momentum achieved so far and have irreparable damage on the sector.
Ugandans consume about 58 KWH per person annually compared to South Africa's 4,162 KWH. There is a strong co-relation between energy consumption and development. Clearly, Uganda is far behind in the development ladder.
Electricity powers industries, which generate jobs and improve incomes.
Availability of power also improves the general standard of living through widening the availability of education, health and other socials services as well as support for recreational alternatives.
Barely five years ago, we were suffering daily loadshedding for lack of capacity. The situation has improved a lot with the coming on line of several thermal power plants.
We have had to make hard and not always popular decisions to see improvement.
We should be concerned what happens in the energy sector and fight any forces bent on disrupting the sector's forward trajectory. The public should not be held hostage by bickering officials. We need a singleness of purpose in tackling our energy deficiency. The Government needs to move quickly to resolve this issue.
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