On Monday last week, the 183 Megawatts Isimba Dam flooded and was shut down, leading to load-shedding in different parts of the country that will go on for 3 weeks.
UMEME had issued a load shedding schedule ending June 21, 2017. However, load shedding has continued beyond the stated date with no explanation from the service provide.
Members of parliament have rejected the proposals of the executive and maintained that the contract of power distributor umeme should be cancelled as the committee that was set up to investigate the electricity sector recommended.
Totsi, who is in Uganda, toured the dam. However on the tour, journalists were unable to see the said cracks in the dam as some areas remained restricted to journalists. He admitted that there is a limit on the refurbishment work that can be done on the dam, noting that at some point it would have to give way but only after “experts†have declared that it no-longer usable.
The Observer also noted that Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi was tasked to investigate the matter after an NRM female legislator told a caucus meeting last week that some MPs were paid UGX 5 million to stiffle the report that wants UMEME’s contract terminated.
Umeme communications head Henry Rugamba explained that there is ongoing maintenance work but said that consumers are notified in such cases. But Serere woman MP Alice Alaso wondered if maintenance work takes place even in the night citing areas of Kireka and Namugongo which experience frequent load shedding during evening hours.
The persistent load shedding in the country has paralyzed operations at the Uganda-Rwanda common border of Katuna. The border post is supposed to operate 24 hours daily.
