Recent media reports indicate that Kenya has reduced its import of electricity from Uganda by 50 per cent. By any standards, this should be welcome news for Ugandans, many of who have suffered from persistent power outages, while our neighbours enjoyed the industrious proceeds of our energy sector.
Uganda has been exporting approximately 26.5 million kilowatts to Kenya, earning hundreds of millions from our neighbor to the East, which imported that electricity to boost local industries and supply to its rural areas.
Due to Uganda’s geographical set up, it has a comparative advantage over its neighbours to produce power but for a long time now the country has had to grapple with the issue of power deficits, in the process this has affected the industrialization viewpoint of government, to ensure we gain a middle income country status by 2030.
Now that Kenya has set the stage for us to utilize our power, stakeholders here should start looking at how to redistribute this new-found asset to better the lives of all Ugandans. As a starting point the power ‘saved’ from the Kenya deal cancellation can be used to electrify the bigger part of Eastern Uganda, where there is great potential for fruit juice industries.
Also, the power can help boost the country’s rural electrification project by making more homes access the electricity from the national grid.
This will in turn pave the way for a reduction of the electricity tariffs, which are still high, making the industrialisation drive an expensive affair for most manufacturers.
