By Elias Mhegera
August 2011
WITH the already ailing economy, the power crisis has just come to add more confusion and illusions both to the big industrialists and the small entrepreneurs alike.
On Friday last week it was the Chief Executive Officers Round Table of Tanzania coming with their version of what should be done in order to solve the unending blackouts.
On Sunday the media had it that the electrical engineering department of the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT), has come up with a tangible proposal on power rationing, two days later on Tuesday it was the assurance from the Government that the rationing will be over soon.
Mufuruki counseled the Government to find alternative energy as a permanent panacea to the power crisis which has seen politicians falling one after another due to their failure to handle it properly as it was for the former Premier Edward Lowassa, Ministers Dr Ibrahim Msabaha and Nazir Karamagi.
“With a power generation mix of 54 percent hydro, 34 percent natural gas and 11 percent fossil fuel, the nation finds itself in very precarious situations now that the hydro power generators have been hit hard by falling rains and our power plants are operating significantly below capacity,” he warns.
In 2005 immediately when he assumed duties as Premier Lowassa came up with a proposal of the artificial rain from Malaysia, soon there cries from the environmentalists on the effects of such rains to the environment soon the idea was quashed.
His turn to generators cost him his post after it was argued that he was an accomplice in the Richmond scandal which now is history to all Tanzanians. Currently it is the top officials in the ministry if energy who will have to be investigated for an attempt to bribe MPs whether it is on power or mineral issues no one understands.
Economists like Dr Bohela Lunogelo, scientists and other researchers have already warned of the dangers of famine and land grabbing of this nation was to turn to bio-fuels as an alternative source of energy.
So the energy crisis has turned out to be the core of politics of the day. No wonder recently a senior official with the Civic United Front (CUF) Julius Mtatiro was quoted as telling journalists during the press conference on Sunday last week that Minister Ngeleja must resign from his post for a failure to get rid of the unending power rationing.
But who exactly will solve the power crisis in Tanzania? speaking to journalists on Friday last week the CEOrt chairman Ali Mfuruki said that there are devastating effects caused by the on going power crisis on the social economic health in this country but the Government has not done enough to involve the private sector in finding a lasting solution.
“A national disaster calls for a declaration of a state of emergency complete with strategic intervention measures such as emergency tax and emergency spending laws designed to enable the Government and other stakeholders to effectively tackle this crisis,” he expounded.
He was saddened by the fact that the Government’s 2011/12 budget that was passed recently did not take seriously into consideration strategies that will help in dealing with the power crisis.
He was skeptical of a series of statements from the Government through the minister due to the fact that all the projects that are aspired by the Government are expensive.
“All the four new power plants announced by the honourable minister (240 MW at Kinyerezi, 230 MW at Somanga Fungu, 300 MW at Mnazi bay and 300MW at Kiwira coal) are expected to come onshore two to three years from now and that is assuming that the Government can marshal the USD 1.5-2 billions needed to finance these projects, “he warned.
Another high flying official from the CEOrt Yogesh Manek warned that the continuing power woes in this country are forcing industrialists to lay off workers a fact that is a hindrance to the poverty reduction efforts.
“It is our hope that the Governemnt will heed our call in the spirit of partnership and collaboration,” concludes the CEOrt plea. Indeed these calls in their totality reflect the fact that power politics might take a dominant role for quite sometime.
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