By Ezaruku Draku Franklin

A multibillion cereals factory lies idle in Nsambya village, Awindiri Ward in Arua Central division because of acute power crisis in Arua. The factory under the Markets and Agricultural Trade Improvement Programme was constructed to process cereals from the region and add value to it, but remains untilised today.

This is not the only business facing power crisis in the West Nile region. At Ajia division in Arua district, a giant cigarettes manufacturing factory, the Meridian Tobacco Company is struggling to remain afloat because of the constant power outages and high costs of running the factory on a generator.

A number of small scale industries and other businesses have all collapsed due to insufficient power supply.

The power crisis has pitted the residents and businesses in the West Nile region against the ministry of energy and mineral development, with the residents accusing government of deliberately sidelining the region from engaging in productive ventures.

For legislators from the region, the continued empty promises by the government casts a bleak political future, with many fearing that it will cost them political fortunes in the next elections in 2026.

Rose Obiga, the Terego district Woman Member of Parliament did not hide her fears. During the Natural Resources Committee sitting last week, Obiga told the energy ministry officials and those from WENRECo that the worst is likely to happen.

“We have been put on notice by our voters that no power, we lose. You have insulted us the people of West Nile and here we now find ourselves. The government and the party we have mobilised for for years has continued to give our people empty promises and the situation may be difficult for us in 2026,” she said.

Last week, the struggle to have the region connected to the national electricity grid made its way to the national parliament after protracted engagement with officials from the ministry of energy and mineral development failed to yield any tangible results.

West Nile region for its 108 years of being part of Uganda has never had access to the national electricity grid, save for Moyo and Adjumani districts which were connected about two years ago. The two districts, like the rest of the region also have erratic power supply, and with that, the suspicion that government is on a mission to deny the region the necessary infrastructures to spur development. The demand for electricity in region is estimated to be more than 15 megawatts, but currently receives less than 7 megawatts.

The region also has one of the worst road networks, with the road from Karuma to Arua in a terrible state, just like those connecting different districts in the region. This and the electricity crisis seems to have isolated the region from the rest of the country.

On Wednesday last week, Biyika Lawrence Songa, the Member of Parliament for Ora County, Zombo District moved a motion on the floor of parliament, urging the parliament to order government implement a raft of proposals to have the region connected to the national grid. The legislators were accompanied by more than 10 people from the region who camped at the parliament to witness the submission of the petition.

Biyika in his motion said while the people of the region have patiently waited for national grid connection, their patience have been stressed and now want immediate solution to the power crisis.

The motion also wants the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development to fast-track the bulk evacuation of electricity through 32KV line National Grid to West Nile and also speed up the works at the sub-stations of Arua and Nebbi to enable the region get connected to the National Grid.

For much of the time, the completion of Nyagak III project has stalled because of lack of funds to complete the construction work. Dott Services Ltd, contracted to build the 6.6MW Nyagak III Hydropower dam blamed the delay to the delayed release of government funds to complete the project. While the project, which started in May 2019, was set to be completed in September this year, Mr Maheswara Reddy, the company’s managing director, said the slow and intermittent disbursement of the funds is frustrating their efforts to meet the deadline.

The ministry of energy budgeted Shs22 billion for the completion of the hydropower construction, but so far the finance ministry is dragging its feet on releasing the money. Ruth Nankabirwa, the minister of energy and mineral development on Tuesday this week told the legislators on the environment and natural resources committee of parliament that if the money is released in time, West Nile will be able to access more reliable power by March next year.

However, judging by the finance ministry’s reluctance to release funds, chances are that the region may have to wait much longer. Nankabirwa said while she is committed to the agreed time line, much will depend on how soon the finance ministry releases the money.

“I have given you the time lines, but this will only be achieved if the ministry of finance releases the money timely,” she told the legislators.

While the bickering is ongoing, the legislators from West Nile region want parliament to urge Government to release all the required funds to speed up the completion of 6.6 MW at Nyagak III and replace the second turbine at Nyagak 1 in order to generate the 3.5 MW installed capacity instead of the current 1.7MW currently being produced.

“The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development must upgrade the existing electricity network in West Nile Region to be able to carry the 132kv from the National Grid once evacuated to the region by March 2023 as promised by Government,” the motion states.

They also want the energy ministry to intensify expansion of the network to rural areas to cover all the districts, municipalities, town councils, Sub-Counties, institutions and Parishes in West Nile Region to support the parish development model and reduce the high rate of environmental degradation.

Calls were made to the ministry of energy to carry out forensic audit in the operations of Electromaxx to ascertain whether Uganda has obtained value for money for the period Electromaxx has operated in West Nile, and that the Electricity Regulatory Authority must institute and carry out a compliance audit on the operations of Electromaxx and WENRECO to determine whether these companies have capacity to supply power and meet their contractual obligations to the Government of Uganda. 

“Even after the two companies were engaged to supplement each other in power generation to achieve reliable, stable and affordable power supply in the region, West Nile has, to date, endured unreliable, unstable, unpredictable and costly power supply, which is characterized by constant power outages, interruptions and blackouts,” the legislators say.

Feta Geoffrey, the Ayivu East Member of Parliament said the power crisis has increased insecurity in Arua town and several other parts of the region.

“The security situation in Arua town has worsened because of lack of street lights, robberies have increased, people are being attacked and there is dishonesty from the current service provider,” he said.

Yovan Adriko, the Vurra County MP said enough is enough. In his combative way, he told off the energy minister, accusing her of “Lies and dishonesty” and said nothing sort of implementation will cool their tempers.

“The issue of electricity in West Nile we have suffered enough. You have been promising us 2021, 2022 and nothing has happened. We are tired of your lies and we cannot accept it. Your ministry is full of corruption. We need implementation and nothing sort of that,” he said.

Agnes Acibu, the woman MP for Nebbi told the house that government must stop talking but get down to implement its programme. She said enough talking has been done in the past and that time for action has come.

Jennifer Driwaru, the Maracha district woman MP said all languages have been spoken, but no action taken.

“Enough has been said but we need action. It is our humble prayer to you to help to go and convince our voters,” she said.

Joseph Gonzaga Ssewungu the MP for Kalungu County West wondered why government has continued to deny the people of West Nile access to power. He said the region is a business hub and their efforts are being frustrated by government inactivity to provide reliable power.

“I have been to West Nile and that region has business potential but are not being utilized. Why do we deny opportunities for these people yet they give you a lot of votes,” Ssewungu questioned.

Emotions ran high during the plenary as several legislators all castigated government for failure to connect the region to the national grid. They all agreed action must be taken now to save the situation.

In 2002, government developed the Energy Policy for Uganda with the main policy goal as “to meet the energy needs of the population for social and economic development in an environmentally sustainable manner”, and later in 2007, reinforced her commitment to the development and utilization of renewable energy resources and technologies through approval of the Renewable Energy Policy.

Government in 2003 through ministry of energy and mineral development granted a 20 year concession to the West Nile Rural Electrification Company to generate, distribute and sell electricity in West Nile for a period of 20 years.

The company has since reneged on most of its promises, including providing efficient, stable and cost effective power supply. While appearing before the natural resources committee, Flavia Amaguru, the WENRECo commercial officer told the legislators that they have tried their best amidst problems. She said for long time, the Nyagak 1 power plant was operating on one turbine because the other one had developed problems.

She also blamed the Electromaxx that operates the thermal plant in Arua city for sabotage.

“We have had challenges of climate change which has affected the water levels. Between 2016 and 2019, we have drought that greatly reduced the water levels and in 2019, government brought in Electromaxx to stabilize the situation. However on two occasions in December last year and in July this year when we had only one turbine, Electromaxx would switch off power when it was needed most. This seems suspicious, especially at times when they knew we only had one turbine running producing only 1.7 megawatts,” she said.

NEMA, minister disagree over water levels

The National Environment Authority has however dished the assertion that water levels are to blame for the erratic power supplies in the region. Dr Barirega Akankwasa, the NEMA Executive Director while appearing before the natural resources committee said the ministry has carried out water volume assessment and found out that Nyagak has sufficient water flow to power 3.5 megawatts on Nyagak one and 6.5 megawatts on Nyagak two. He said when West Nile Rural Electrification Company applied for abstraction of water for power generation, the authority assessed the application and allowed the company to abstract out to 6.8 cubic metres per second for power generation. He said this is sufficient enough to generate the 3.5 megawatts.

“The permit allows the developer to abstract a maximum of 6.83 cubic metres per second during the peak period where power generation is at its peak. From our assessment, the water levels support this abstraction because from our current monitoring and river flow is averaging at 8.14 cubic per second as of July 2022 which way above the maximum requirement of the dam. The water levels are okay and there shouldn’t be any problem with the power generation as of now,” he said.

Asked if the current power fluctuation in the region has nothing to do with water fluctuations, he said the water levels are sufficient enough to generate power.

However, Ruth Nankabirwa, the minister of energy and mineral development disagreed with the NEMA boss. Nankabirwa said the water fluctuations affect power generation because in situations where water levels drop, not all turbines can run.

“The performance of Nyagak one is affected by the fluctuating water levels of River Nyagak. During the dry season, power generation from the plant sometimes falls below one megawatts,” Nankabirwa told the committee.

Put to task to explain her explanation and the divergent presentation from NEMA, Nankabirwa told the committee that her explanation is based on the technical details provided by her technical team on the ground.

“This what my technical team has provide and this is true because of the climate change, which has affected the flow of the river over the years. We need to consider these factors because NEMA is basing its assessment on the 2002 report when the dam construction was launched. World over, hydrology affects generation of power. You cannot exactly base on the exact amount of water that you will have at any given period because nature is nature and anything can affect the volumes of water…the speed at which we are experiencing climate change is very high,” Nankabirwa said.

However, NEMA officials said their figures are based on the latest data as of July 2022, which are the latest readings.

Speaker directs energy ministry

Thomas Tayebwa, the speaker of parliament said it is hard to believe that while the country has excess power not being used, West Nile is in total darkness and government looks on. He directed the committee of natural resources to make on-spot assessment and report back within seven days.

“We have gloated, talked and done everything about it but nothing has been done. While they were drawing money for 8.2 megawatts, Eletromaxx were supplying power less than 5 megawatts. ERA found out this and started deducting the money from the payment. It is shame when I read Okasai’s statement that we have more than 1000 megawatts, but we cannot supply power to West Nile and people are dying in hospitals. I direct the committee of natural resources to visit West Nile together with the minister and report back within seven days,” Tayebwa said.

Nankabirwa, on her part admitted that the people of West Nile have suffered the power crisis and that both short term and long term measures are being taken.

“There are two things here, first is to handle the problem of Electromaxx not having fuel. We will need Shs5 billion as start up to make sure that we have new route to supplying fuel to Electromaxx. Wenreco will be things of past because we are going to amalgamate the so many suppliers of power because when we get our own company, WENRECO will be past. We need Sh22 billion to ship on the turbines to generate the power,” she said..

She added that “Uganda Electricity Distribution Company has been availed resources to construct powerline to connect West Nile to national grid. UEDCL will complete the construction by October this year.”

Judith Alyek (Kole District) said the unreliable power problem in West Nile has denied the region access to gainful economic activities.

“If there was reliable electricity in West Nile, then this region would never be the same again. Poverty would have been reduced because there would be quite a number of employment opportunities,” she said.

Jane Pacuto (Pakwach District) said the power crisis has hit efforts to skill the youths because the machine they are supposed to use for skilling have remained idle due to power outages.

“A team of youth are undertaking presidential skilling in tailoring, welding, carpentry and quite a number of them require reliable electricity. It cannot move our people to the right socio-economic transformation levels that we all desire,” she said.