Uganda Outgrows Its Electricity Supply

KAMPALA, Uganda – Samuel Kizito gives his business a month before it goes belly-up.

Uganda, once one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa, is suffering through a power crisis that makes doing business here difficult, expensive, and , for Kizito, at least , not worth the trouble.


Kizito said his blanket manufacturing company, which employs 300 people in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, is losing $30,000 a month.

“We have less than 50 percent of the power that we had a couple of years ago and yet our bills are four times what they used to be.”

Uganda was once heralded as East Africa’s power house, exporting surplus electricity to neighboring countries. But Uganda has outgrown its supply, forcing a rationing schedule that leaves Kampala in the dark for up to 30 hours at a time.

AP