Museveni hits out at UMEME again.
“The cost of electricity is distorted by the mistakes committed by some of our actors without my knowledge. Especially the mistakes of Bujagali and UMEME,” Museveni said.
President Museveni has once again hit out at power distributor Umeme Uganda Limited, dismissing the company as a mistake that the country must get out of.
Museveni was speaking during the State of Nation Address at Kololo Independence Grounds yesterday.
The President blamed Umeme for the increased cost of electricity and the disruptions in the industry sector, urging that the country will get out of this mistake.
“The cost of electricity is distorted by the mistakes committed by some of our actors without my knowledge. Especially the mistakes of Bujagali and UMEME,” Museveni said.
“The high cost is caused by these. We shall see how to get out of this mistake. We shall see how to get out of this mistake,” he added.
Museveni vowed that the government will use other means to distribute electricity to some industrial parks and eliminate UMEME to avoid further mistakes.
“For some industrial parks, we shall supply power straight without going through UMEME,” he said.
It is not yet even a month ever since Museveni castigated Umeme.
“They went behind and then brought something called Umeme. What is this for? A private company, looking for profits, you make it a middleman between the generation of electricity and the final consumers, including the factories which you want to create jobs. What’s this, what are you looking for?” he said.
The president said power for industrial parks will now “go straight from generation,” and be “transmitted direct, not through Umeme” — a threat that denies the utility significant revenue from a segment of bulk consumers of electricity.
“Oh, Umeme will collapse…if it collapses, my mother died and I buried her. Also, Mr. Kaguta died. People die and society goes on. So if Umeme dies, that’s their mistake,” President Museveni added.
