GIVE ELECTRICITY ITS DUE ATTENTION

2009-02-08 11:13:21
By Editor - Sunday Observer, Tanzania

Electricity, in terms of reliable and consistent supply, is one of the indicators of a country that is serious about modernising and fitting effectively into the global family where science and technology are buzzwords.

Tanzania is aware of the cross-cutting importance and benefits of electricity – ranging from purely recreational pursuits like watching drama on television to critical ones like industrial production.

But the awareness is rendered hollow by our approach to issues related to power supply, on which the utility firm Tanesco (Tanzania Electric Supply Company) should be, but isn`t instrumental.

We are caught up in a web of wanting to modernise without being serious about it behaving like rural backyard operatives, but desperate to be rid of under-development!
After several years of smooth supply, we literally slumbered, as a consequence of which we are periodically subjected to power rationing schedules.

Poor rain seasons starve dams like Mtera, while problems of a technical nature, such as aged, and thus unreliable, ineffective equipment are blamed.

Fluctuating weather patterns must have long taught us to stop absolute reliance on rains to fill up dams, and it is absurd that it is now that we should be discovering the imperative of opting for alternative sources, as both a supplement and stand-by facility.

Last Thursday, the Energy and Minerals Deputy Minister, Adam Malima, told the National Assembly in Dodoma that to-date, about 300bn shillings have been invested in the electric power sector through banks` syndicated loans, for the twin mission of overcoming problems and improving services.

How come the massive cash injections notwithstanding, the situation is not changing for the better, and we are periodically fed with frightening reports of the probable scenario of Tanesco collapsing and the nation being plunged into darkness ?

If the sector leaders have explanations to account for the discrepancies between the scale of the problems and the cash injections, let them table the submissions for public awareness, and, more crucially, for critical assessment by experts.

Attention must also be cast on administrative problems like lazy and arrogant staff intimidating would-be customers wishing to be connected, and actual ones following up on issues like improper billing.

The menace of pirates called ``vishoka``, who operate in cahoots with corrupt staff for aspects like jumping connection queues, and facilitating illegal connections, persists.

In a computerised environment, customers are anguished by why Tanesco can`t tell who has updated bills and who is indebted; but worse, disconnecting power to innocent customers, simply because they can`t produce misplaced receipts to staff doing rounds in residential neighbourhoods.

The so-called emergency department should be rephrased to reflect the agony of people staying without power for prolonged periods, due to belated or non-response to even simple requests like re-setting fallen poles or replacing rotten ones!

Electricity is not an optional need, but a MUST. The verbal jazz about causes for interruptions, plus appeals for public patience when ``darkness`` sets in, should be buried once and for all.

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