Opinion by Dr.George Didi Bhoka (Hon)
MP Obongi Constituency Obongi District West Nile
Every community, district, and region in Uganda has a right to equitable development.
Access to clean and affordable energy is a basic human right.
The state and Ministry of Energy has a Duty to ensure every community, district, and region has access to clean and affordable energy for domestic, business, and industrial use.
There are districts such as Obongi and Buvuma that have been denied their right to clean and affordable energy; hence subjecting them to energy poverty. This is an injustice. It is a development sabotage by the state.
This is happening at a time when all districts are expecting electricity to be extended from their sub-counties and parishes under the electricity scale-up project.
I call upon HE the president, the minister of energy and mineral development, and the management and staff of the rural electrification program to prioritize the connection of Obongi to the national grid as soon as possible.
Parliament appropriated resources in the last financial year ( FY 2023/24) to extend power to Obongi, among other districts, the ministry and finance and energy have to explain where the resources allocated to extend electricity to Obongi and other districts that have not benefitted from the Rural electrification where diverted.
We are not asking for a favour. It is our inalienable right to access clean and affordable energy for domestic, office, business, and industrial use.
Denying us electricity is a social and economic sabotage intended to keep the people of Obongi and West Nile backward, as the rest of the country develops.
This inequity and energy injustice must be addressed with urgency.
Sincerely and frankly.
