LUWERO – Power distributor Umeme on Saturday raided the home and medical school belonging to Katikamu North Member of Parliament – MP, Denis Ssekabira for alleged power theft.
The weekend operation across Luwero Town Council – targeting a number of houses and buildings started from the legislator’s home in Kizito zone. After failing to gain entry through the main gate, Umeme officials climbed the electricity pole – disconnecting the service power cables.
Acting on intelligence information, the Umeme officials raided St. Denison Health Training School in Kavule zone, which belongs to the legislator – landing on illegal connections. They also disconnected the school from the power grid.
Peter Kaujju, the Head of Communications and Marketing at Umeme Limited confirmed the development – saying their teams on the ground found fishy stuff. According to Kaujju, the power distributors have launched investigations into the legislator’s alleged power theft.
Umeme loses Ugx100b annually in power theft and vandalism – of which, Kampala alone contributes Ugx40b. Power theft, which makes up commercial energy losses is one of the causes of death – through electrocution and inadequate power supply as transformers are overloaded by unaccounted for customers, according to Umeme.
Umeme re-launched countrywide operation against suspected power theft – following an upsurge in energy losses from 16.4% in 2021 to 17.5% 2022 – which had been attributed to the suspension of drives against illegal connections.
