By Watchdog reporter
Even when Rwanda was getting more electricity from Uganda in an exchange program to benefit their respective citizens, the south west neighbor was only Ugandans lip service.
Now Uganda has decided to stop getting electricity from Rwanda to supply to the border town of Kisoro, Watchdog understands, but if Rwanda wants, it can continue buying Ugandan power to power Katuna and beyond.
Uganda has been importing about 0.395Megawatts of hydro power from Rwanda to supply Kisoro town and in turn, it exported about 1.3Mega watts of hydro power to the same country through Katuna border town.
Residents say power from Rwanda which is supplied to Kisoro town was unreliable which affects especially locals using in their cottage industries.
While presenting a paper before the district council on Monday, Naboth Aine, Umeme’s Kisoro district engineer, said plans were underway to connect Kisoro to the national grid from Jinja, instead of relying on Rwanda which was pushing its own rural electrification program with less concern for who is affected in Uganda, who import their power.
Kisoro has been powered by Rwanda for many years, but the load shedding has affected many people in the past, leading leaders to complain.
Aine said Kisoro will be connected to the national grid through Kabale.
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