Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa has directed the Committee on Natural Resources to investigate matters regarding the Isimba power plant and report back in 3 weeks.
Tayebwa, who was presiding over the Parliament on Thursday noted that hardly had they commissioned the dam, not more than two years ago when it was being shut down over some technicalities caused by rain and yet the rain patterns are clearly known been however seem not to never been foreseen and a remedy created.
At about 11:00 am August 8, Isimba Powerhouse flooded and some equipment was affected owing to one of the human errors by one of the engineers Ruth Nankabirwa, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD) was thus presenting a statement to Parliament on the emergency total shutdown of the Isimba Hydropower Plant as demanded by the Deputy Speaker in the Wednesday sitting.
Nankabirwa says that the cause of the total shutdown at the Isimba power plant was a trigger of dam safety procedures to ensure dam safety, the safety of staff, and protection of equipment and that Uegcl will restore power production at Isimba Hydropower Plant within three weeks.
She then emphasized that processes to restore the functions of the dam had commenced including Testing of the plant that had begun on Thursday.
Hon Moses Aleper however demanded clarification on whether the Isimba power plant was still operating within the defects liability period. In reaction to the Minster, Hon Alioni Odria of Aringa South also noted that the issue of generating power and not utilizing it was such a joke, in a way that if power was generated and how come it was not utilized and yet the whole of West Nile region didn’t have
Hon Abed Bwanika MP Kimaanya-Kabonera also added that for a dam that generated 183MW and a Country having excess power, there is no way they were importing power from Kenya because of the current situation.
He then moved a motion that Parliament institutes an investigation in the energy sector in this especially since 81% of Ugandans were not on the power grid and yet power was a driver of the economy in her defense, however, Hon Nankabirwa noted that Uganda wasn’t producing excessive power per se but because that which was generated wasn’t fully utilized.
Hon Lillian Aber also noted that the biggest concern was that the suppliers that the Ministry of Energy normally gives work and that there is a need to take a keen interest in the contractors and ensure that they are no room for giving contracts to those that don’t have the capacity to deliver.
The Minister of Energy then reassured Parliament the situation was not out of hands and that allegations of sabotage in the Isimba power plant shutdown were equally not true.
