Senior Lawyer Alaka Caleb Pens a Letter to Refute Fake News by Bloggers Pertaining a Petition on Electricity Outage in WestNile Region.

Dear Mulengera news, 

The Petitioners did not lie to the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament Among about Power problems in West Nile. 

My attention has been brought to an article by Mr. Musa Mbogo which was run on Opera news yesterday titled ‘ the Petitioners lied to Speaker Among about West Nile Power Problem’ 

This headline is erroneous and does not depict what the Petition was all about. 

I was the lead Petitioner to the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament and the gist of our Petition signed by over 300 individuals across West Nile was as follows. 

The Petitioners by way of a background indicated that they strive broadly for service delivery in West Nile and in particular expediting the process of connecting West Nile to the National grid, advocating for affordable and reliable power and holding accountable WENRECO and Electomaxx for non-fulfillment of their contractual obligation leading to lack of industrialization, poverty, loss of lives and livelihoods, environmental degradation and insecurity in West Nile sub-region.

 

The Petitioners then stated their Problem Statement by reciting Article 8A of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda (herein the Constitution) which provides that Uganda shall be governed based on principles of National interest and common good enshrined in the national objectives and directive principles of state policy. The objectives of specific interest to the Petitioners were firstly, Objective XXVII (III) (27) (3), of the Constitution which  provides that the state is mandated to promote and implement energy policies that will ensure that people’s basic needs and those of environmental preservation are met. Second, Objective IX, (9) which provides that the state shall facilitate rapid and equitable development and encourage private initiative, third, Objective XIV, (19) which provides that the state shall endeavour to fulfil the fundamental rights of all Ugandans to social justice and economic development.

 

The Petitioners further stated that to achieve the Constitutional Directives, the goals for its National Development plans, its Vision 2040 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Uganda enacted its Electricity Act in 1999, (as Amended by the 2022 Act). In 2002, Uganda developed and passed its Energy Policy (EPU). Uganda’s Energy Policy was passed not only to sustain the economic growth the Country had achieved since 1986 but also to ensure widespread access to affordable modern energy with the main policy goal “to meet the energy needs of the population for social and economic development in an environmentally sustainable manner. The policy is supported by sub-polices as the Renewable Energy Policy of 2007 and the National Oil and Gas Policy of 2008.

 

It is upon this basis that the Petitioners asserted firmly that ‘The energy needs of the population of West Nilers for social economic development in an environmentally sustainable manner has never been met from the year 2002 to-date when the energy policy was passed. West Nile sub-region has never benefited from the Constitutional imperatives nor the Energy Policy fundamentally because it has never been connected to the National Grid.’

Perhaps at this point, I would wish to ask whether West Nile has ever been connected to the National Grid, if not, was this a lie to the Speaker of Parliament? 

The Petitioners then proceeded to state that to address the acute shortage of power in the region, a concession for the generation, distribution, and sale of electricity in West Nile was awarded to the West Nile Rural Electrification Company (WENRECo) in 2003 for a period of 20 years. Owing to the failure of WENRECo to supply stable, reliable, and affordable power over all these years of concession, The Citizens of West Nile Petitioned the 10th Parliament and Government undertook to connect West Nile to the National grid by September 2022 and to address the short-term power issue, Electromax was introduced. 

Again in the spirit of fairness 

where is the lie in this aspect of the Petition? 

The Petitioners further stated that the power situation worsened. Both companies have succeeded in generating, distributing, and selling darkness in West Nile Sub-region as a result, the sub-region has never had a reliable, stable, and affordable power. Instead, West Nile has endured energy poverty. This has led to a sad energy mix where locals have relied on wood fuel, lighting using dry grass, use of charcoal with a concomitant effect of untold environmental degradation.  To exacerbate this issue some parts of the subregion for instance, Lower Madi, and Obongi Districts have never witnessed the presence or sight of even one idle single pole for electricity. As regards rural electrification, the line stops at Yumbe, instead of the same being extended all the way to Moyo. The project has stalled as transformers for the extensions have not been procured. Major Current electrification works have likewise stalled, and lines have never been commissioned and a crisis of a white elephant proportion is in the making. Even the small power connected from the National grid to Adjumani and Moyo covers the towns and does not cover most of the sub-counties let alone the parishes in these two districts. The past couple of weeks has even been more bizarre as the sub-region has been subsumed into total darkness with an average supply of four hours of power every day. On the 13th September 2021, while in Arua city, the state minister for Energy Hon. Sidronius Opolot Osakai re-affirmed publicly while in Arua City that West Nile would be connected to the National Grid by September 2022 and its ominously clear that this will not happen.

where is the lie in this paragraph, does Obongi and Lower Madi have power lines, are there on going works, is there a reliable affordable stable power, is there no energy poverty in West Nile?

 

The Petitioners then recalled the fact that the country adopted a robust industrialization policy leave alone the Parish Model development. Under the National Industrial Policy of 2008, objective 3 underpinned industrial development as an integral and important part of the Governments development strategy through creation of industrial parks. West Nile by virtue of its geographical location bordering three vast hinterlands of Eastern DRC, Congo Brazavile (which is a mere 700 Miles from Vura custom point in Arua District), and South Sudan would have been the first region to benefit from Governments industrial policy. Indeed, we have idle and unused Industrial parks in Arua City, Koboko, Yumber etc.

where is the lie on this aspect of the Petition?

The Petitioners then dwelt on the impact of lack of reliable, stable and affordable power and stated that as a result of failure to be connected to the National grid and failure by Wenreco and Electromax to offer reliable, stable and affordable power, the people of West Nile have been deprived of their right to enjoy energy policies that will ensure that their basic needs and those of environmental preservation are met, more importantly, they have been denied enjoyment of their geographical location to become the number one industrial hub in East Africa. Prior efforts to industrialise the region has been ‘dead on arrival’ as most factories and industries established have collapsed or relocated to Kampala and other parts of the country due to lack of power as demonstrated below.

 

1. Collapse of Local Industries.

• West Nile Distilling Company conceived in 1972 finally took off in Arua city in 1989. The spirits and gins produced by this company was popular in Uganda. The factory was a poster child for early development in Uganda, it provided employment for hundreds of youths and women. Due to lack of power, the same has been relocated to Lungujja in Kampala.

• Arua Foam (a mattress and beddings company) established by the Nile Coach group of Companies, which employed several youths and women and whose products were exported to DRC and Southern Sudan thereby earning foreign exchange closed shop before its first anniversary due to lack of power.

• A fruit processing company in Manibe, Arua City in which billions were invested and a mineral water plant at Kuluva in Arua District had to close shop due to lack of power and several small businesses, running on electricity such as saloons, restaurants, bars, supermarkets, furniture, and welding workshops, which employ majority of the youth have closed shop owing to lack of electricity. All this has led to loss of direct employment opportunities, and employment opportunities in the various value chain and led to loss of taxes for the Government.

 

2. Health. Many patients, expectant mothers and those in intensive care have died due to power outages. Moreover, the health facilities do not have reliable alternative power sources to run the equipment. Out of the over 80 Sub counties in West Nile, less than 10 are connected to the small network of Wenreco/Electromax and yet these are the homes of health centres. Majority of health Centres in West Nile have no power.

3. Education

Unlike other parts of the country, the power outages have disrupted learning for many school going students and pupils who can no longer study over night due to constant outages. Moreover, the cost of internet which is 50 shillings in Other parts of the country per hour is 600 shillings hour in West Nile due to lack of power. As a amongst others lack of power, Educational standards in the past decade in West Nile have not only plummeted but drastically deteriorated coupled with the high rate of school drop out in the region. For example, in the 2019 Primary Leaving Examinations released by the Uganda National Examinations Board, the whole of West Nile as a region with nine districts had 1,227 candidates who got division one (first grade). A breakdown of the said performance was as follows, Zombo-35, Pakwach-46, Maracha-60, Moyo-63, Nebbi-67, Yumbe-82, Koboko-181, Adjumani-190 and Arua (then which had the Present Arua District of Vura County, Ayivu and the Present Terego District)-503. At the same examination sitting, other districts in Uganda performed as indicated, Lira- 1,030, Kasese -1,368, Bushenyi - 1,385, Kabale -1,532, Masaka-2,053, Mbarara-2,844, Wakiso 11, 614.

4. Environmental Degradation/Poverty; As a result of reliance on wood fuel, charcoal, grass lighting, the Environment of West Nile has been degraded and this and other factor has resulted into untold suffering of the people and abject poverty,

5. Security. Security in West Nile remains fragile with criminals taking advantage of the darkness to attack individuals and businesses. As a result, so many locals have lost their lives and property.

Are there other facts which are contrary to these as regards the impact of Lack of a stable, reliable and affordable power in West Nile? 

I strongly believe that Mr. Mbogo did not read our petition and we deserve an Apology for misleading the world about our Petition. 

 

I have enclosed a soft copy of our Petition which includes our prayers for instance, accelerating connectivity of the region to the National Grid, deepening the network and rehabilitation of the dilapidated network, cancellation of the contracts between Government of Uganda and Wenreco. 

Caleb Alaka 

PhD Candidate University of Cape Town/ Advocate of the High Court of Uganda.