{"id":23877,"date":"2021-12-30T15:09:39","date_gmt":"2021-12-30T15:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=23877"},"modified":"2021-12-30T14:37:50","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T14:37:50","slug":"locals-accuse-umeme-officials-of-vandalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/locals-accuse-umeme-officials-of-vandalism","title":{"rendered":"Locals accuse Umeme officials of vandalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>A section of residents in Masaka City have blamed the rampant vandalism of electricity installations on the national power distributor, Umeme, claiming it is either their own staff or former employees behind the racket.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo ordinary resident has knowledge of disconnecting a high power voltage line to steal copper cables or transformer oil. It is Umeme staff or their former employees who are involved,\u201d Mr Rodgers Buregeya, a youth councillor in Masaka City, said at the weekend.<\/p>\n

This came days after suspected vandals descended on Ddegeya Village, Kisekka Sub-county in Lwengo District last week and cut down five electric poles and later made off with wires measuring five kilometers. The incident left towns on Mbarara\u2013Masaka highway such as Kinoni, Kyazanga, Mbirizi, Lyatonde, and Kyawagonya in a power blackout for five days.<\/p>\n

Mr Paul Bukenya, the chairperson of Ddegeya Village, said businesses which depend on electricity have registered losses. \u201cAs leaders, we have tried to rally people to support Umeme in fighting vandalism,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, the residents said Umeme has lost community support following its recent harsh operations against power theft dubbed: \u2018Komboa\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the locals see vandals destroying power lines or stealing transformer oil, but they are not bothered,\u201d Mr Samson Ssemwanga, a resident of Degeya Village, said.<\/p>\n

He said the continued acts of terrorising residents suspected of stealing electricity by Umeme team and police have prompted them to view the power distributor as an \u2018enemy\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome suspects are brutally arrested and their household items are confiscated,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

Ms Anna Kiyemba, a resident of Nyendo \u2013Mukungwe in Masaka City, said during on of the operations, her household items, which included a fridge and a set of chairs were confiscated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people conducting those operations don\u2019t ask anything, they just confiscate our items and arrest you even when you know nothing about the illegal power connection,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mr Joseph Katende, the operations manager of Umeme in Masaka Sub-region, said two to five cases of vandalism are registered every week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis range from stealing transformer oil to electric wires and poles, which are expensive to replace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Katende, however, denied the accusations against his staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not true that our current employees are involved in illegal connections and vandalism, but we cannot rule out our former employees,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Katende said they work closely with the public who report incidents of vandalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose saying that the community is not supportive could be part of the racket,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Mr Katende said Umeme loses Shs24 billion nationwide in unserved energy, equipment replacement and vandalism and maintenance costs.<\/p>\n

In Masaka Sub-region, the loss is estimated at Shs600m per year. He said they are going to strengthen their surveillance team.<\/p>\n

The law<\/p>\n

Tampering with electrical installations is illegal and contravenes section 81(1) of the Electricity Act, 1999. The penalties for power theft and illegal connections in Uganda range from caution, community service, to a maximum of Shs2m fine and or a three-year jail sentence.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. A section of residents in Masaka City have blamed the rampant vandalism of electricity installations on the national power distributor, Umeme, claiming it is either their own staff or former employees behind the racket. \u201cNo ordinary resident has knowledge of disconnecting a high power voltage line to steal copper cables or transformer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":23876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-23877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nLocals accuse Umeme officials of vandalism - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A section of residents in Masaka City have blamed the rampant vandalism of electricity installations on the national pow ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/locals-accuse-umeme-officials-of-vandalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Locals accuse Umeme officials of vandalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A section of residents in Masaka City have blamed the rampant vandalism of electricity installations on the national pow ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/locals-accuse-umeme-officials-of-vandalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-30T15:09:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/12\/img-61cdc429e5e8a.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/locals-accuse-umeme-officials-of-vandalism#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/locals-accuse-umeme-officials-of-vandalism\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Locals accuse Umeme officials of vandalism\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-30T15:09:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/locals-accuse-umeme-officials-of-vandalism\"},\"wordCount\":517,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/locals-accuse-umeme-officials-of-vandalism#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/12\/img-61cdc429e5e8a.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/locals-accuse-umeme-officials-of-vandalism#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/locals-accuse-umeme-officials-of-vandalism\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/locals-accuse-umeme-officials-of-vandalism\",\"name\":\"Locals accuse Umeme officials of vandalism - 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