Gulu district has been experiencing major power outages since 2012 with blackouts recorded daily, which has affected several businesses.
Presenting a matter of national importance on Tuesday, Lyandro Komaketch the Gulu Municipality MP, said that the government promised to address the power outage, but years down the road, nothing has been done.
Gulu Woman MP and Leader of Opposition Betty Aol Ochan told Parliament that people were angry and were mobilising for a protest because they are frustrated with the power outage.
Bernard Atiku, the MP Ayivu County said power issue isn’t limited to just Gulu but to the greater Northern region with West Nile terribly affected.
He said that despite Parliament passing loans to extend power to certain parts of the region, Northern Uganda faces a power problem.
The 1st Deputy Prime Minister Moses Ali told Parliament that when he inquired about power outage in West Nile from Irene Muloni, Minister of Energy, he was told there was a technical fault on the Lira-Gulu line that the Ministry was working on.
He asked the MPs to remain calm and wait for the matter to be resolved.
The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga tasked Government to explain the power outage, saying some places like West Nile have suffered a lot with power.
The Minister of State for Minerals, Hon. Peter Lokeris, regretted the prolonged power outage in the Acholi sub region over the weekend of Friday 1st to Sunday 4th of November 2019 caused by a broken wooden pole in the swamp along the Soroti and Lira substations.
He noted that the energy ministry has responded with installation of a second transformer at the Lira substation to double its capacity from 20Mw to 40MW.
“This intervention has increased power reliability in the region as implementation of short term and medium term interventions are at different levels,” said Lokeris.
Lokeris told Parliament that the Tororo – Opuyo – Lira transmission line that services Gulu and Kitgum districts experiences breakdown especially in swampy areas.
“It took long to restore power supply as the swamp was water logged due to the heavy rains hindering quick erection of new poles,” said Lokeris.
Minister Lokeris explained that government has resorted to use of pylons rather than the wooden poles to avert the risks associated with the latter and revealed that the pylons were already being used in the construction of the Tororo – Opuyo – Lira transmission line expected to be completed by 2020.
He assured Parliament that construction of the Aswa Dam expected to be complete by November 2019, will stabilise power supply in Gulu, Kitgum and the nearby areas.
Nwoya Woman MP, Hon. Lilly Adong asked the minister to fast track renovation of existing lines saying the situation is alarming.
“Each month we receive power for less than 15 days, milling machines cannot operate, saloons do not operate, we cannot manufacture, all investors who had factories in Gulu moved to Lira,” said Adong.
The Minister was directed by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to report back to Parliament with an exhaustive statement on mitigation steps being taken in specific districts as per the MPs’ submission.
