{"id":8860,"date":"2021-04-22T18:14:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-22T18:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=8860"},"modified":"2021-04-22T16:35:18","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T16:35:18","slug":"government-to-crackdown-on-fake-solar-dealers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/government-to-crackdown-on-fake-solar-dealers","title":{"rendered":"Government to crackdown on fake solar dealers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Traders dealing in solar products have appealed to the government to compensate them for the substandard products it has banned from the market.<\/p>\n

This follows a two-month ultimatum from the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) to ensure the market is cleared of all substandard solar products ahead of a planned crackdown.<\/p>\n

Mr Andrew Otieno, the manager-in-charge of standards enforcement at UNBS, said most of the solar products on the market are substandard because there have been no regulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not been having any solar standards; even at border points we could not stop any solar products from entering the country. That is why we have so many solar substandard products on the market,\u201d Mr Otieno said on Tuesday while meeting dealers in solar products from western Uganda in Mbarara City.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we have since developed standards and we will start enforcing these beginning July 1, and any substandard solar product will be removed from the market by our surveillance teams,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

His remarks, however, drew anger from the dealers who accused the government and Unbs of making the country a dumping ground for substandard products.<\/p>\n

Mr Jones Asingwire of Asegujo Solar in Mbarara City said the solar dealers are not to blame because the government and its agencies have failed to ensure that quality products are imported into the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cURA is actively collecting taxes at the border but where is Unbs? Is government interested in taxes at the expense of the safety of Ugandans by allowing substandard products? Now you are telling us you are going to remove products you allowed us to buy, you should compensate us,\u201d Mr Asingwire said.<\/p>\n

Mr Rogers Asaba of Solar Now is afraid that the move would push them out of business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to lose a lot of money. How does the government expect us to sell the products we have in two months yet it is the same government that allowed us to stock these products?\u201d he wondered.<\/p>\n

Mr Livingstone Kajabangu of Kagadi Technical Services in Bunyangabu District said the government should own upto its mistakes and compensate solar dealers for any substandard products on market.<\/p>\n

In his response, however, Mr Otieno said it will not be possible to compensate solar dealers and insisted the standards will have to be maintained for the safety of Ugandans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you will be compensated but what I have to tell you is that beginning July 1, 2021, our surveillance teams will be on ground and all those solar products will be removed from the market. These standards have been made compulsory for the safety of Ugandans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Some of the requirements in the new standards include truth in advertising, health and safety, lumen maintenance (lamp brightness) quality and durability, and customer information must be provided.<\/p>\n

Mr Benon Benna, the grid manager of Rural Electrification Agency, said substandard solar products on the market are derailing the government\u2019s Vision 2040 target of achieving universal access to electricity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we plan grid extension and new connections to realise the country\u2019s vision of universal access to electricity, about 30 per cent of the population will rely on solar but the challenge we have is that the quality of solar systems on the market is very poor,\u201d Mr Benna said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Traders dealing in solar products have appealed to the government to compensate them for the substandard products it has banned from the market. This follows a two-month ultimatum from the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) to ensure the market is cleared of all substandard solar products ahead of a planned crackdown. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":8859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-8860","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":"\nGovernment to crackdown on fake solar dealers - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Traders dealing in solar products have appealed to the government to compensate them for the substandard products it has ...\" \/>\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\/government-to-crackdown-on-fake-solar-dealers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government to crackdown on fake solar dealers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Traders dealing in solar products have appealed to the government to compensate them for the substandard products it has ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/government-to-crackdown-on-fake-solar-dealers\" \/>\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=\"2021-04-22T18:14:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/04\/img-6081a5a11269e.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1279\" \/>\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\/government-to-crackdown-on-fake-solar-dealers#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/government-to-crackdown-on-fake-solar-dealers\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Government to crackdown on fake solar dealers\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-22T18:14:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/government-to-crackdown-on-fake-solar-dealers\"},\"wordCount\":556,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/government-to-crackdown-on-fake-solar-dealers#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/04\/img-6081a5a11269e.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\/government-to-crackdown-on-fake-solar-dealers#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/government-to-crackdown-on-fake-solar-dealers\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/government-to-crackdown-on-fake-solar-dealers\",\"name\":\"Government to crackdown on fake solar dealers - 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