The retired Archbishop of the Church of Uganda His Eminence Luke Orombi has hailed power distributors WENRECO for doing every thing possible to ensure steady power supply in West Nile.
Orombi, who was speaking to journalists at his retirement home in Goli village, Kumi District revealed that the power problems currently being faced by people in West Nile go beyond WENRECO as the supplier and Electro Maxx as the generator.
His concern comes a few days after a group of people under a pressure group known as ‘Citizens Action for Improved public service delivery in West Nile (CAIPS)led by Zuberi Aloro and Mercy Grace Munduru, petitioned the Speaker of Parliament, seeking government’s cancellation of the concessional agreement signed with WENRECO and Electro Maxx, arguing that the two companies have failed to maintain a steady supply of power in West Nile.
However, despite the petitioner’s allegations, Orombi contends that WENRECO has actually done a great job at ensuring regular power supply in the region despite the challenges they face, top of which being lack of logistics to generate and supply power, plus fluctuating water levels at Nyagak River, which affect generation especially during drought.
Oromobi said that by the time he decided to settle at his retirement home in Goli, there was no steady supply of power but with the advent of WENRECO this has since changed.
Orombi said that; “When I came here, we found that WENRECO was not a steady supplier of power, so we decided to go solar, to complement them, so that side is solar, while this side is WENRECO. Installing solar in this home was Shs 22M and that was in 2015. During that time, we would have power for about four to five hours, using firewood to cook and solar for light.”
“For the last few years however, things have changed greatly. I think I can ably say that for the past few years, service delivery has improved incredibly; all our fridges are running, we have sufficient power supply, lights are on, we heat our water. For quite some time we’ve been having a reliable, steady supply in this home particularly,” he added.
He said he has no problem with those who petitioned Parliament or even the Speaker for insisting to inquire the agreement raised or disclosed in the petition but noted that the inquest should focus on the larger picture, while recommending broader interventions the government needs to undertake to sustainably address the inadequate electricity supply problems for West Nile, as opposed to merely targeting WENRECO or even Electro Maxx parse.
Orombi also noted that going forward, it is not justifiable for people to blame WENRECO, saying the services have really improved.
“I now have everything running almost 24/7, which shows that there is a change at least. What we should actually do is talk with government over and over again. What I can assure you is that unless the source of power is connected to the national grid, this problem will not be solved easily. This is because there are people having businesses in this place; so, the fridges and other machines have to be running. Being outside Kampala doesn’t mean we are not part of Uganda, all we need is equal service delivery.”
The prelate also revealed that electricity-related problems are also affecting access to other key basic services like clean and running water, which he said the National Water and Sewerage Corporation has done so well at availing although the effectiveness of the water system too continues to be hampered by electricity problems.
Orombi said such problems can only be sustainably solved through building more dams, leveraging on other rivers apart from Nyagak, plus ensuring that government connects the region onto the national grid connectivity.
Speaking about the same matter, Agnes Tabbu, the Managing Director Orange Sweet Potato Bakery, also praised WENRECO for improving power supply in the region.
Tabbu said that; “We make huge losses whenever power goes because we need it for production. But of late I don’t know what happened, because for the past few weeks there has been some improvement.”
“They have really improved nowadays, although I think they have a problem of fuel and the dry season also affects them because when the water level reduces generation becomes a problem. But at least at the moment I’m comfortable and things are moving on well, although there is no way we can be 100% perfect as human beings,” she added.
Tabbu added that she decided to get in touch with people at WENRECO who usually notify her whenever there is a scheduled power outage such that she minimizes the losses.
Tabbu noted however that the problem is being exacerbated by some politicians in the area who want to ride on the current situation to advance their political ambitions, that’s why they are blowing it out of proportion.
