HILARY ONEK ON THE ALLEGATION THAT MUSEVENI WAS TOLD A LIE ABOUT BUJAGALI POWER GENERATION CAPACITY

It is sad how Uganda has degenerated, how do you tell the tax payer that Museveni was told a lie on Bujagali dam! Is Museveni a technical person regarding power generation? This is a clear death of Institutions in Uganda Governance. Technical people are supposed to do their work and under normal circumstances there is no way the president would be liable to the work supposed to have been done by technical people.
Cry the Beloved Uganda!

MUSEVENI DUPED ON BUJAGALI POWER PROJECT - MINISTER

By NELSON WESONGA

Posted Thursday, November 3 2011 at 00:00

President Museveni, who has made hydro power generation for industrialisation one of his pet subjects, was duped into believing Bujagali would generate 250MW of electricity, former Energy Minister Hilary Onek said yesterday.
The minister, now handling the internal affairs docket, said Ugandans connected to the national grid will also reach deeper into their pockets to pay for Bujagali power.
Mr Onek, a structural engineer, told the parliamentary ad hoc committee investigating misconduct in the energy sector, that Bujagali would produce averagely 170MW of electricity. “Bujagali dam will never produce 250MW, never. 250MW is the capacity of the turbines to produce, but there is no water for that. It is the same water that leaves Kiira and Nalubaale dams that will go to drive the turbines of Bujagali,” he said.
Mr Onek said the most Bujagali could generate would be 220MW and only for about three hours, after which the water levels would dictate that generation be scaled down. However, Mr Matovu Bukenya, the head of communications in the ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, said Bujagali when fully be completed next year, would generate 250MW. “For this month, it will start with 50MW,” Mr Bukenya said.
Mr Onek told MPs that Energy ministry Permanent Secretary Kabagambe Kaliisa lied that the tariff for Bujagali power will be $9 cents”. “He knows it will be 12 cents,” added Mr Onek.
Mr Kaliisa could not readily comment about the accusation, saying he was attending a meeting. Electricity Regulatory Authority’s Public Relations Officer John Julius Wandera said it is not possible to ascertain Bujagali tariff now. “Let nobody lie to you; you will only be able to know the power tariff when Bujagali starts generation later this month,” said Mr Wandera.
Mr Onek, whose tenure at the energy ministry was known to have been dogged with fights with technocrats, also told MPs yesterday that it was wrong to build another dam parallel to the Owen Falls Dam. “When you construct a dam, you create reservoir that supports you when there is a dry season to maintain a statistical flow of water.” “When I opposed it, the bureaucrats at the ministry labelled me an agent of LRA chief Joseph Kony,” said Mr Onek.
Mr Museveni has always said the Bujagali power project will go a long way in increasing power generation and industrialise Uganda, which would create more job opportunities and, therefore, put more Ugandans in the middle-level social bracket.

nwesonga@ug.nationmedia.com