Umeme: "Illegal power connections leading to cases of electrocutions"

Peter Kaujju, the head of Communications and Marketing, Umeme Limited has said that rampant illegal power connections in many parts of Uganda, have led to loss of lives.

He explained that some individuals bypass meters and some openly hooking wires to the network adding that this doesn't only disrupts service but also claims the lives of many innocent individuals, especially women and children.

Kaujju said that they have been registering fatalities as a result of stealing power and tampering with the electricity lines by unauthorised individuals.

He narrated that in the month of April 2021, Godfrey Bwire, a resident of Budumba village in Butaleja district in eastern Uganda, died due to electrocution after he came into contact with an illegal live wire, according to Police.

A 2018 Umeme incident report found that illegal connections were responsible for 48 per cent of the electrocution cases inland. The balance was shared between accidental contact with electricity cables and household wiring.

"An uprooted illegal underground connection. These of this nature usually endanger children especially during rainy seasons,"he explained.

According to Senior Superintendent of Police, Ashraf Chemonges, the Commander of the Alert Squad, many electrocution cases have been reported in the Eastern districts of Kapchorwa, Bukwo, Sironko and Manafwa where power theft is a common happening.

While addressing residents of Pallisa district while launching an enforcement campaign dubbed "Komboa" in Eastern Uganda Chemonges said that many of the households that lose their loved ones as a result of electrocution opt to bury the deceased in the dead of night out of embarrassment and for fear of prosecution in courts of law.

He said it is a sad that people continue to steal power.