Sudanese Dinka, Nuer refugee groups clash in camps

Tension between the South Sudanese refugee ethnic Dinkas and Nuer is brewing up in camps in Northern Uganda and has prompted authorities to split and relocate the two groups accordingly.

West Nile region Police spokesperson, Josephine Angucia, said that, ethnic clashes between the two groups have become rampant and worrying-since some refugees fleeing the ranging conflict in South Sudan carry firearms, caches of bullets and army uniforms which can easily turn into bloodletting.

“They have shifted their internal conflicts to the camps, but we are trying all our best to diffuse such incidences,” she said, but, “Aware of the situation, we are now cautioning them straightway at the point of receipt.”

Another official not authorised to comment about the matter because they are coordinating the refugees, said such tension was building and worse in camps like Eregu in Adjumani, the first gathering point and several assault cases have been reported.

Ms Angucia, however pegged the tribal build-ups to trauma and anxiety the refugees have been through both at home and in camps, but maintained Police and the humanitarian agencies are averting any possibility of “escalation” by splitting them.

Similarly, authorities in Adjumani Saturday said refugees totaling to 29,515 rioted over the delay by agencies to relocate them to more spacious settlements but the situation was contained.

Fighting in South Sudan which pitted President Salva Kiir’ ethnic Dinka against former Vice President’ Nuer group started on December 15 after a purported Coup’ and has according to UN. agencies claimed over 1,000 lives and displaced more than 200,000 people.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund [CERF] has released a $15 million (Shs37 billion) funding package to expedite relief efforts for the Sudanese refugee operations.

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, announced last week in New York that ‘aid agencies need to quickly provide assistance to the thousands of people caught up in violence, and funding is crucial.’

However, an official at the CERF secretariat at UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Mr Tomas de Mul, in a telephone interview from Washington, said the money released first was to purposely take care of operations for agencies on ground in South Sudan and not necessarily agencies in Uganda.

Side bar

The Uganda Red Cross head of communications, Catherine Makumbi, said current refugees numbers are believed to be 46,371.

UN cautions against external intervention in South Sudan

The UN Security Council Friday expressed strong support for dialogue on the South Sudan conflict and strongly discouraged any external military intervention as a solution.

The Council President Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, also the Jordanian, Permanent representative to the United Nations in a statement said, they strongly supported the mediation efforts led by the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD), seeking a peaceful settlement to the crisis.

However, “The members of the Security Council also strongly discouraged external intervention that could exacerbate the military and political tensions,” Mr Zeid noted.

He, added that, Council members had renewed their calls to all parties for:  cessation of violence and hostilities, provision of humanitarian access, and security of economic infrastructure, including oil installations and the safety of the employees.

The caution against military intervention in the [near] month’ conflict which, according to UN. agencies has claimed lives of estimated 10,000 people, however did not highlight the way forward for external armies already involved.

Uganda at the onset of the fighting on December 15 which pitted President Salva Kiir’ against former Vice President, Dr Riek Machar, deployed units of soldiers to evacuate stranded Ugandans-and maintains them around strategic installations in the Capital, Juba.

But the army-UPDF- has now widened the scope of operations to peacekeeping and enforcement, which involves offensive operations against the rebel forces loyal to Dr. Machar.

Army spokesman, Lt Col Paddy Ankunda, told Daily Monitor, Sunday that they have to work with “a legitimate government”, not the rebels.

He added that, Uganda is about to sign the Status of Force Agreement (SFA), which will see UPDF operations officially, defined.

“They have written to us officially and SFA will be signed soon with the government of South Sudan and if the Window is open, we might be involved in peace enforcement,” he said.

Several critics, including the Dr. Machar’ team negotiating a peace deal in the Ethiopian Capital, Addis Ababa, have all questioned Uganda’ unilateral position in the conflict, and urged President Museveni to withdraw his troops.

President Museveni has written to the Speaker of Parliament to retrospectively approve the deployment of Ugandan troops in S. Sudan saying, Uganda cannot and should not “stand aloof” and watch the situation deteriorate.

The Security Council also requested President Kiir’ government to release all political prisoners currently detained in order to create an environment conducive to a successful dialogue.

Side bar

They also welcomed the African Union Peace decision to establish a commission of investigation to ensure accountability, reconciliation and healing among all South Sudanese communities.

ERA reduces power tariffs by 0.8%

KAMPALA: Electricity consumers both domestic and commercial can exhale a sigh of relief for some time now on end-user tariffs but the status quo will remain as long as the shilling continues to appreciate and global fuel prices low.

The regulator, Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) yesterday announced a ‘slight” reduction in tariffs by Shs4 (o.8 per cent) from Shs524.5 to Shs520.4 for domestic consumers and Shs487.6 for commercial consumers to Shs474.4.

Announcing the uncharacteristic development, the ERA chairman Richard Santo Apire, said the approved tariffs which take effect on tomorrow (Thursday) shall be subject to a quarterly adjustment determined in accordance with an approved methodology.

“These new tariffs are subject to change owing to changes in global fuel prices which affect UETCL’ costs of purchasing power from IPPs with fossil-fired electricity generation, and foreign exchange regime which affects all companies involved in supplying power,” he added.

Mr Apire, remarked that the 2014 end-user tariffs are a culimination of a tariff review process that started with the submission of applications by Umeme, Eskom, UETCL, and UEDCL.

 Monopoly power distributor, Umeme, had proposed that the end-user tariffs for domestic consumers be increased by 9.95 per cent in 2014, citing the need to invest in expanding its network and also meet the power purchase costs.

The ERA officials maintained, the applications were advertised calling upon the public for comments and objects, but not representations were received.

In another related twist the price of the first 15 units increased from Shs100 to Shs150, which officials has not been revised for a number of years but with the absence of a subsidy an increase was inevitable.

Average electricity consumption in kilowatts per hour varies from consumer to another.

The government also expects to spend Shs59.5 billion on thermal plants throughout the year to supplement the 516MW hydro-electric generated capacity.

The junior minister for energy, Peter Lokeris, further noted that, tariffs will gradually drop when Karuma and Isimba hydro-projects come on board.

Is Uganda ready for the population challenge? 

In 1948, 25 Ugandans shared a square kilometre of land on average. That number has been rising steadily, to 48 in 1969, 85 in 1991 and 124 in 2002.

The upcoming census will provide a more accurate picture, but going by the current projections, which show that Uganda has 35.4m people, the average population per square kilometre of land stands at 150.

The rising population density – having increasingly more people per square kilometre of land – has serious implications for the ability of the population to sustain itself, especially since a big majority still relies on tilling the land using the hand hoe.

The State of Uganda’s Population Report 2013, released last week by the Population Secretariat, shows that an overwhelming majority of Ugandans – 88 percent – still live in rural areas, many of them facing abject poverty, poor service delivery, poor infrastructure, and famine in some areas.

The report adds that if the population continues to grow at the current rate – with the less educated or uneducated women having an average of seven children and elites having almost four – Uganda will have 65 mouths to feed by 2020, and the majority of these will still live in rural areas.

Demographic bonus or burden?

The key concern then is whether Uganda’s transformation efforts will be helped by the fast growing population.

There is a view that has been gaining currency that a large population can catalyse, rather than impede, economic growth and transformation.

Two examples usually cited in this regard are China and India, which some say have grown rapidly in recent years because of the pressure from their huge populations to improve the economies and provide what the people demand.

Conversely, some argue that Africa was slow to transform into a developed society because it was sparsely populated, meaning that its people were not always challenged to compete with one another since the resources at their disposal were relatively more abundantly available compared to other continents.

President Museveni is one of the proponents of this view, which he pushed in one of the speeches he made in the late 1980s, compiled in his book, What Is Africa’s Problem. He still maintains this view.

Another ardent supporter of this line is Hajj Abdul Nadduli, the ruling party vice chairman for Buganda region and Luweero District chairperson, who years back offered to donate a heifer to every family in Luweero into which twins were born.

Often, Mr Museveni and bureaucrats in his government have spoken at cross purposes as regards the matter of population growth, with the technical people saying that rapid population growth is likely to present serious challenges.

Prof. Kazenga Tibenderana, a retired Makerere University academic who now works at Kampala International University, moves to demonstrate the challenges of rapid population growth rates in poor countries like Uganda:

“With population growth rates in poor countries more than double what it is in developed countries, poor countries’ economies must grow more than twice as fast as those of the rich countries just to keep from falling farther behind.”

But, of course, Uganda does not just want to retain its current position vis-a-vis the developed countries; it wants to catch up, and if possible, surpass them. And population growth could either be a springboard or a deal breaker.

“Uganda will, sooner than later, enter a demographic window of opportunity often called the demographic gift or demographic bonus,” the Population Report says in part, “Such an era occurs when a population witnesses a combination of factors like a declining fertility and mortality.”

If less people are born and less die, the population growth will still remain high. In the case of a young population like Uganda’s, it would not make much of a difference in the short and medium term, because the young people will have to reproduce when they reach child-bearing years.

As a result, the report says: “The revised Population Policy indicates that even if fertility rates were to drop drastically to replacement levels of around 2 children per woman, the population of Uganda will still continue to grow by at least 2 per cent for the next 50 years or so.”

The report goes on about the “demographic window of opportunity”:  “An increased labour force leads to a reduced dependency ratio. If such a labour force is healthy, educated, skilled and with increased employment opportunities, it will save, invest and spur economic growth of a nation. This is the demographic gift.”

But then comes the caveat: “This window of opportunity, if not planned for, can end up resulting into a demographic burden.”

So what options are available?

The above caveat, particularly the need for planning for the growing population, seems even more pertinent given one important statistic in the population report.

Uganda has the youngest population in the world, with 78 percent of its people below the age of 30 and 52 percent below 15 years. The report further reaffirms a World Bank finding that “at least 83 percent of the youth have no formal employment.”

The lack of jobs is attributed to the slow rate of economic growth, the small labour market, high population growth rate, the rigid and largely theoretical education system, rural-urban migration and limited access to capital.

As a result, many of the younger people earn their livelihood from odd jobs like bodaboda riding, brick laying, petty trade, vending, and casual labour.

These activities, according to Mr Anold Musoke, a researcher into population issues, cannot usher Uganda into the “demographic bonus”. What is needed, he says, is for the country to develop “ground-breaking” technology to address the situation.

Mr Musoke says that Uganda, for example, is ill-prepared to produce the food needed to sustain the population.

 “What you find in many villages is that the youth have left agriculture to be employed in the informal sector, like riding bodaboda, leaving the women, the elderly and children to grow the food,” Mr Musoke says.

These people, Mr Musoke adds, cannot grow enough food to sustain themselves and spare some for the market, meaning that many households have no sustainable sources of income.

“An intervention in agricultural technology is long overdue,” Mr Musoke says, “to produce an affordable technology that will enable the people to till the land and stop using human power.”

Mr Musoke says that the rate of growth of food production can “at best only match” the rate of growth of population growth, “meaning that there is no net improvement over the years.”

Mr Musoke adds that lack of improvements in formal employment and industrial technology has meant that most people have been locked in agriculture and other extractive activities like fishing, partly explaining the rising tensions over land.

‘Government needs to come up with a programme for including the youth in mainstream development programmes to reduce the growing dependency syndrome,” the report notes in part.

Numbers:

34,000,000 – estimated number of Ugandans

84% - people living in rural areas

78% - Ugandans below age 30

50.1% - female Ugandans

Source: State of Uganda Population Report 2013

Countries agree on joint regional petroleum refining

Kampala. 14 East African nations have agreed to work out and support regional frameworks for refining petroleum.

The agreement was reached by representatives of Comoros, Burundi, Madagascar, Rwanda, Eritrea, Djibouti, Seychelles, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda.

The countries jointly agreed to commit themselves to an East African oil project, to substitute the individual oil refineries that each (oil) producing member in the region had outlined.

The motion fronted by Stephen Dhieu Dau, the minister of petroleum of mining, South Sudan was adopted as one of the recommendations of the 17^th meeting of Intergovernmental Committee of Experts that ended last week in Kampala.

“This project will largely depend on individual political heads (and their commitment) but it’s in our best interest, then possibly we can look at further integration,” he said.

Mr Dau noted that, once implemented, the joint refinery would strengthen cooperation and enhance simultaneous development of the oil sectors in the region; amongst oil rich states like Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, DRC, and others.

He maintained that, just as for the case of Uganda and Kenya, Oil in South Sudan was to start flowing once individual countries establish priorities as such infrastructures, markets, among others, which if there existed a mutual understanding on one refinery could be sped up.

Uganda with oil volumes of 3.5 billion barrels is finalizing plans for a refinery for 60,000 barrels per day by 2015. Sudan is in its advanced stages to construct an own refinery for 10,000 barrels per day, while Kenya, following its latest oil discoveries, is planning to upgrade the old ones.

In unison the countries adopted the refinery framework which includes plans to institute and stock strategic reserves of petroleum to lower the economic costs of energy disruptions while developing partnerships for a regional procurement framework.

Maria Kiwanuka, minister of finance, planning and economic development welcomed the strategy, which she said Uganda was interested and once established, would be a stepping stone to economic integration in the region.

“Uganda welcomes the idea and is ready for such integration. We are about to revise over 54 national laws that will work across the region once approved by the regional parliament and the secretariat,” Ms Kiwanuka informed.

Army rigged 2006 elections for Museveni-Gen Sejusa

Renegade spymaster, Gen David Sejusa, has confessed that he and other army officers engineered the 2006 presidential election results in favour of the incumbent President Museveni.

 The former army MP and coordinator of intelligence agencies who is believed to be living in UK revealed on Saturday said, Dr. Kizza Besigye won the February 23 vote with (maybe) 69 percent margin but army officers were involved in stealing the election so the incumbent could remain in power.

 “We organised another electoral commission of intelligence at Basiima House and it is our results that we pushed through to the [official] electoral commission. How can you win in that type of situation?”

Speaking at the launch of a new opposition political party “Freedom and Unity Front” at the London School of Economics, Gen Sejusa added, “We need to look afresh at this whole experience of elections.”

The four-star general who fled the country early this year after authoring a letter alleging plot to assassinate top political and military leaders opposed a plan by President Museveni to groom his son Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who commands the elite Special Forces, as his successor, noted: “I must say it all now because [I] am a new man. [Yes we did it].”

 Electoral Commission spokesperson, Jotham Taremwa when contacted called Sejusa’ claims “nonsense.”

“Voting is a public programme that goes through several processes managed by an independent body, so how then does he claim they were in charge,” Mr Talemwa noted, “Let him leave us outside his politics.”

President Museveni was declared winner with 59 percent, Besigye 37 percent, DP’ Ssebana Kizito with 1.58 percent and UPC’ Miria Obote and Independent Abed Bwanika each scored below 1 percent.

“Anytime an African incumbent president is declared the winner by a 50% margin then you know "he’s lost," Gen. Sejusa noted, in reference to President Museveni’ margin.

President Museveni in early October dared Gen Sejusa to go ahead and try using force to overthrow government and the army has also since maintained he will face prosecution for his misdeeds.

Sejusa a spoiler

The executive director of government’ communication clearing house Media Centre, Ofwono Opondo referred to Gen Sejusa as a “spoiler.”

 “I don’t want to comment on anything related to Sejusa. He is riffraff trying to seek relevance,” Mr. Opondo remarked by telephone.

Dr Besigye, a three times presidential election runner-up and former head of the largest opposition party, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), disputed the 2006 electoral results and went to the Supreme Court seeking the nullification of the polls.

He contended the electoral process was marred by irregularities, voter intimidation and rigging, and an unverifiable voter’s register. It was also the second time Besigye challenged results after 2001.

The bench comprising of judges; (late) Joseph Mulenga, Alfred Karokora, (late) Arthur Oder, George Kanyeihamba, Wilson Tsekooko, Bart Katureebe and ‘former’ Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki, after several days of submissions characterised by tension concluded there had been non-compliance with the provisions of the Constitution, Electoral Commission’s Act and Presidential Elections Act in the conduct of the election which disenfranchised the voters.

The judges in a majority decision of 4:3 also concurred that “In counting and tallying of results, the principle of free and fair elections was compromised by bribery and intimidation or violence,” but, “the failure to comply with the provisions and principles as found was not proved to have affected the results in a substantial manner.”

Side bar

In the April 6 2006 summary verdict Justice Odoki did not give detailed reasons for Court’ ruling but Justice Kanyeihamba, revealed later that at a pre-judgment conference of the justices on April 5, 2006 the verdict on consensus was different from what was later delivered the next that day, and his colleagues erred in upholding President’ Museveni’ election even when they conceded that there were massive electoral irregularities.

Umeme laughs last as Parliament tones down voice to cancel its contract

  KAMPALA: Whereas majority Ugandans have grown weary of Umeme’ performance ten years since it was “controversially” awarded contract, recent debate to cancel its contract yielded a sigh of relief until government made it clear last week the company is going nowhere.

 Debate on the UK Company’ fate on Parliament’ Order Paper for two weeks now has been recurrently deferred or skipped and it as now emerged that several MPs each allegedly pocketed a Shs5 million kickback to back off this discussion.

The bribery claims, the government chief whip Kasule Lumumba is investigating but Umeme in all circumstances with its contract expiring in 2025 will have the last smile.

 The Parliamentary debate was prompted by findings of the Ad hoc Committee on Energy (ACE) which was sanctioned by the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga in 2011 to investigate the nationwide electricity crises, several a making of Umeme.

 The ACE 159 paged report in conclusion recommended cancellation of the contract citing among others, the questionable manner in which contract was awarded, Umeme’ monopoly and concerns over the high electricity tariffs amidst poor service delivery and a faulty billing system.

 On the proposed day MPs were supposed to pass a vote of no confidence in Umeme, Ms Kadaga deferred the motion to the next day citing the lack of quorum and that was the last of it. Days following, topic has been on the Order Paper but among the last issues to be discussed and hence the continued postponement.

 Yet sympathizers (including bueauracrats) have maintained that rather than terminating government should instead review the concession and embark on yearly evaluation of the company’ performance to stimulate its efficiency, last week 15 MPs implored government to terminate it as soon as possible.

 The unsavory details

The government team led by Mr David Ssebabu, now director of Privatisation Unit in the Finance ministry in a reportedly all-expense paid trip (by Umeme) to the US capital Washington sealed some irreconcilable clauses in the concession which makes it likely unbreakable at the moment.

 Against this Mr Peter Nyombi, the Attorney General opined that because of such clauses premature cancellation of the agreement implies paying Umeme Shs371 billion [buyout amount], payable within 91 days or else attract additional 20 percent per annum money which is unavailable.

 Mr Ssebalu in the ACE report admitted their technical incompetence and lack of experience during the three years’ negotiations but also feigned ignorance of the terms and conditions of the agreements they signed.”

 The Energy Minister, Irene Muloni in a November 25 brief prepared for the NRM caucus said: “The Executive does not concur with this recommendation [to terminate].”

 She noted, “Instead, the Attorney General should study the agreements signed to establish irregularities, possibilities of violations and provisions for termination and advice the government accordingly.

 Ceteris paribus, Umeme Limited will in 2025 hand over the national electricity distribution network to the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (UEDCL) but still Uganda would have to pay the company 106 per cent it spent on modifications to the network but would not have recovered through electricity tariffs.

 This is also provided for in the Support Agreement between Uganda and Umeme.

 Ibanda district Woman Representative, Margaret Kiboijana, referred to this situation as a ransom like

 “In case government initiates termination of the concession, the government will have to pay Umeme. Even when the concession comes to its natural end, the government will still have to pay Umeme. Either way, Uganda will lose. I support the termination.”

 The ACE also discovered that Umeme Limited was not in existence at the time of bidding and negotiation, and the company (Umeme) which finally signed the concession agreements is not the one that bidded.

 “The Umeme Limited that signed the concession agreements was formed eleven (11) days before the signing of agreements.  This means the negotiations for the power distribution concession agreements which normally take some months were prejudiced since ESKOM Enterprises was negotiating with itself through Paul Mare’ and that UMEME Limited was formed after negotiations were complete,” the report reads in part.

 Eskom (Pty) is a South African company which was already operating electricity generation at Nalubaale hydro power dam while Mr Paul Mare is also a South African national who had done assessments in unbundling of the Uganda Electricity Board (UEB), and worked for the former.

 A total of six companies took place in the bidding process but, “only a seemingly unregistered consortium of CDC Capital Partners and Eskom was accepted by government.

 This consortium never appeared anywhere thereafter but rather a new company in form of Umeme Ltd was incorporated on 6th May, 2004 with the principle objective of signing an agreement with government and subsequently took over management of the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL) in 2005.

 Ms Muloni, then managing director of UETCL and penned signatures on behalf of government however said: “this does not matter right now.”

 The then Attorney General did not draft or advise on the agreements rather transaction advisors were hired for the job to the distaste of Uganda.

 The Monopoly power

In a December 3 correspondence, Ms Muloni noted that termination of the concession would affect the distribution of electricity since Umeme controls 97 per cent of the market.

 One of the key objectives of unbundling the Uganda Electricity Board (UEB) was to remove monopolistic structures and thereby create market conditions that would open up for competition and provision of quality services for customers.

 The unbundling gave rise to the enactment of the new electricity Act of 1999, and the birth of Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL), Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) and Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL).

 However, to-date monopolistic structures largely exist in distribution as a result of agreement struck by Umeme and government and observers point to this the origin of increased power problems in the country.

 Umeme’ head of communications, Henry Rugamba however stressed that monopoly was mitigated by the company opting for listing on the stock exchange to allow Ugandans own shares in it, while raising substantial monies to settle debts, finance investments and also ensure accountability to its customers.

 “Umeme is now owned by Ugandans so whatever happens affects us as one.”

 Ms Muloni though acknowledged the need to break this monopoly insisted, “It does not mean the termination of the Umeme concession.”

 The report implored government to open up distribution segment to other players to “bring about competition and the resultant efficiency and lowering of end-user tariffs” which Ms Muloni said is also for consideration.

 The company floated 622, 378,000 shares which constitutes 38.6% of the company’s issued share capital upon listing with a view of raising at least ShsShs171billion to pay off debts and use the other part of harvests to invest in distribution, which is another stumbling block to cancelling the agreement.

 Mr Wafula Oguttu, the MP of Bukooli Central, says inasmuch as he supports the termination of the concession, the company would be constrained in compensating Ugandans who bought shares during its initial public offer in November 2012.

 “Umeme is now partly owned by Ugandans. When we terminate this concession, Umeme will have no money to pay our people because Umeme has no assets in the country.”

 Exaggerated ‘recoverable’ investment costs

Umeme’s says it has invested at least $180 million (Shs468.6 billion at today’s exchange rate) in the distribution network over the last eight years.

 But MPs scorned this figure saying it’s inflated with a view of leveraging high compensation incase their contract is terminated.

 Mr Jacob Oboth-Oboth, the chairperson of the ACE, says were Umeme to have invested more, it would show through efficiencies.

 “If Umeme had invested as much money as it claims to have the technical losses would be low. End-user tariffs would equally be low,” he says, “Power outages still continue eight years since Umeme took over the network.”

 But Mr Rugamba maintained: “In March 2012 we had our first performance review with the Electricity Regulatory Authority and they confirmed all targets set in 2005 were met and exceeded.”

 He added, among others the company as of 2012 has connected at “least 55,690” to the national grid also cut energy losses from “38 percent to 28 percent”.

 According to the agreement, in case Uganda initiates the termination before the 13th year, it would have to pay Umeme 120 per cent of the total investment amount which wouldn’t have recovered yet through end-user tariffs.

 After the 13th year, the buyout reduces by two percentage points annually.

 Between 2005 and 2011, Umeme had remitted Shs129.7 billion to the government as corporation, pay as you earn, value added and withholding taxes.

 Jitters over Umeme’ performance 

Notwithstanding why it government is unlikely to terminate contract, the company has come under fire for failing to live up to its contractual obligations and focused on only making money through every means.

 Mr Dickens Kamugisa, of Africa Institute for Energy Governance [Afiego] said, “the issue of terminating Umeme’ contract has become a song of sorts which has been sang over the years but will never be launched.”

 He said the company has failed to increase electricity access, reaps heavily from inflating customer electricity bills, among others, this all as government looks on

  “We seem stuck between their contract and poor services but the powerful people who signed those useless clauses are still cashing-in, that is why cancellation is unlikely.”

 Similarly, the report faults the company for failing to continuously inflating power losses which are recoverable in the contract.

 “Uganda continues to post the highest distribution power loss levels in the region and one of the highest in the world standing at 28 percent by 2011, it notes.

 But as of 2013 Umeme put these losses at 27 percent but for each percentage point of power loss, Shs10 billion ($4 million) is lost annually which the company attributes to illegal connections, meter bypasses and collusions between customers and its staff, the weak laws and insufficient investments in the network.

  Sidebar

According to the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL) Asset Verification report (September 2013), since 2005, Umeme has added Shs401.4 billion to the network.

 And of the 93.9 billion Umeme said it had invested in the network in 2012 alone, Shs45.7 billion “was disallowed” [by UEDCL].

 “The fact that they [UEDCL] reject something does not presuppose these guys [Umeme] are trying to do this [exaggerate their investment].”

 Mr Rugamba blamed electricity woes on the 1960’ power infrastructures and problems won’t go away its phased out.

 On the spot: Documents seen by this newspaper indicate that when UEDCL concessioned the distribution network to Umeme, the power losses were at 28 per cent not 38 per cent.

 So since 2005 to date, Umeme has reduced them from 28 per cent to 23.7 per cent. However the target set by as 21 per cent by 2013.

  But over the same period it invoiced the government Shs878.7 billion in rebates.

  Mr Rugamba also denied ever bribing any MP.