REFORM U-TURN

With Eskom leaving Uganda, will the World Bank save Umeme?

By Musinguzi Blanshe

Reserved for subscribers

Posted on December 6, 2022 14:13

© Electoral campaign posters of Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni hang on street light poles in Kampala, Uganda January 12, 2021. REUTERS — Electoral campaign posters of Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni hang on street light poles in Kampala, Uganda January 12, 2021. REUTERS

Eskom Uganda, a subsidiary of Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd (South Africa’s primary electricity supplier) will fold its operations at the end of March next year after 20 years of managing two power-generation dams in Uganda. This is part of the government’s move to take over the electricity sector it liberalised in early 2000s through World Bank-backed reforms.

The next contract to expire will be that of Umeme Limited, which distributes about 97% of electricity in the East African country. Its 20-year concession ends in 2025 and the government has said it will not renew it.

There's more to this story

Get unlimited access to our exclusive journalism and features today. Our award-winning team of correspondents and editors report from over 54 African countries, from Cape Town to Cairo, from Abidjan to Abuja to Addis Ababa. Africa. Unlocked.

Subscribe Now

cancel anytime

Already a a subscriber Sign In

More Business

© Ethiopian immigrants returning from Saudi Arabia arrive at Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport, 2013. (AFP/Jenny Vaughan)

human rights?

Ethiopia: New scheme to export maids to Saudi Arabia after ban due to rights abuses lifted Ethiopia has started a scheme to send 500,000 house maids to Saudi Arabia, swallowing its concerns over human rights abuses in a bid to tackle depress...

seeking shelter

By 2050, one in two climate migrants will be African, study shows In 2022, climate-related disasters caused an additional 7.4 million internally displaced people in sub-Saharan Africa; a record number that could cont...

© Higher coal prices create greater scope for renewable energy projects, Standard Bank says.
REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

Load Sharing

South Africa: Standard Bank, Liberty, Old Mutual’s AIIM to lift renewable investments South Africa’s financial sector is moving to accelerate investment in renewables as coal-reliant national utility Eskom remains unable to ensure a rel...

© Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaks during a handover ceremony where he received medical emergency and police helicopters from Sergey Chemezov the Director General of the Russian State Corporation “Rostec” at the Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare on May 18, 2023. (Photo by Jekesai NJIKIZANA / AFP)

sabotage claims

Zimbabwe: Mnangagwa blames business for currency chaos President Mnangagwa has blamed the recent local currency devaluation on businesses taking advantage of cheap foreign currency and sabotaging the gover...