Uganda's Electricity Sector Hampered by Over-Centralized Governance, Experts Say

Uganda’s electricity sector, despite significant investments in generation capacity and grid expansion, faces persistent challenges in service reliability and last-mile access. Frequent outages, transformer failures, and slow response times continue to affect households and small businesses, particularly in rural and peri-urban areas.

The core issue, according to experts, lies not in infrastructure deficits but in an over-centralized governance structure. Key decisions regarding network expansion, maintenance, and investment priorities are predominantly made at national institutions, leaving local governments and citizens largely detached from the process.

This disconnect results in a mismatch between national objectives and local energy needs. While Uganda employs a decentralized governance system, energy planning is often treated as an external sector rather than a core local service. The absence of dedicated energy officers in most local governments further exacerbates a coordination gap, as no single local structure is formally responsible for planning and managing energy infrastructure.

Comparisons with Kenya, where county governments actively participate in identifying demand, co-financing projects, and coordinating with national agencies, suggest a potential path forward for Uganda. This localized approach has led to more targeted investments and improved responsiveness to community needs.

The commentary also points to limited citizen participation, creating a weak accountability ecosystem where users are seen as passive consumers rather than active stakeholders. This lack of structured platforms hinders the ability of citizens to influence planning, budgeting, and performance monitoring, contributing to issues like electricity losses attributed to theft and vandalism.

To address these challenges, experts advocate for the decentralization of energy planning and budgeting. Establishing dedicated energy officers at district and city levels would enhance local technical capacity, improve coordination of electricity needs, identify infrastructure gaps, and foster more effective engagement with utility providers. The article concludes that Uganda’s electricity challenge is now more about effective governance than generation capacity alone, stressing that service delivery will continue to lag without decentralized planning and accountability.

Read more: https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/oped/commentary/over-centralisation-of-electricity-sub-sector-undermines-delivery-5454746