Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Health Ministry has asked power distributor UMEME to consider connecting all Regional Referral hospitals on stable power lines to ensure they don’t experience outages. This follows two power outages at Naguru Hospital last week. The first outage occurred on December 31st, 2018 around 9:00 …
Read More »US$5.7bn power sector opportunity
There is an opportunity for private sector players to invest in Uganda’s power sector as government moves to connect more people to the national grid. Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Ziria Tibalwa Waako, the Chief Executive Officer at the Electricity Regulatory Authority has told The Independent on the sidelines of a …
Read More »GLOBAL COMMENT: Uniting Africa for power
Integration is essential to scale and connect markets where lack of electricity is holding back progress GLOBAL COMMENT | Tony Blair | African countries are increasingly coming together. A landmark free-trade agreement was concluded earlier this year. East Africa has made great progress on free movement of people. And a commitment to …
Read More »How to steal an election in broad daylight
Autocrats and counterfeit democrats have perfected the art of rigging polls to stay in power — without breaking any laws. Kampala, Uganda | NIC CHEESEMAN & BRIAN KLAAS | In Ukraine’s 2004 presidential election, droves of voters turned out in opposition strongholds, hoping to oust the incumbent, Viktor Yanukovych. Upon arrival …
Read More »COMMENT: Weaning African leaders off power
Democracy from below could be the antidote to addiction to power by leaders who refuse to leave office COMMENT | KEALEBOGA J MAPHUNYE | Some African countries have recorded democratic victories in the past 12 months. Ethiopia has a new leader whose ascent holds great promise for change, despite the country’s …
Read More »COMMENT: Xi Jinping’s ‘lifetime presidency’
How the move by the Chinese president to entrench himself in power could change China – for better or worse COMMENT | DYLAN LOH MING HUI | Thanks to surprising new constitutional amendments – curiously, first announced in English – the path is clear for Xi Jinping and his chosen …
Read More »Should government take over UMEME job?
Karuma, Isimba power raises new questions Kampala, Uganda | HAGGAI MATSIKO | On the face of it, Uganda’s sole national electricity distributor, Umeme Ltd, has a stronghold on the sector. It has seven more years on its concession, has recently posted stellar financial and operational performance, and – with workers’ …
Read More »The power dams puzzle
How do we ensure that new dams do not add risk to power supplies down the line? Kampala, Uganda | DECLAN CONWAY | In the 1980s and 1990s parts of Africa saw a surge in dam building for energy production. After a brief hiatus, there has been renewed interest. Many new …
Read More »Pain of power
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Queen Elizabeth II of England has been making amazing revelations about her royal gems including how the State Crown is so heavy she risks breaking her neck when she wears it. As a result, she has to look straight up, even when reading speeches. In …
Read More »THIS WEEK: Lose power, lose doctorate: Former first lady Mugabe’s fate
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Zimbabwe’s anti-corruption commission says it is probing the circumstances surrounding the controversial awarding of a doctorate to former first lady Grace Mugabe. Mugabe, whose husband resigned in November under pressure from the military and ruling party, received a doctorate from the University of Zimbabwe …
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