African Insights Blog Newsletter 

November 6, 2009

The Unofficial Electrical Power Company of Kansanga

Ugandan Entrepreneurs at Work  

Nighttime in my neighborhood of Kansanga in Kampala is like playing roulette, you never know if tonight you will have power or not.  There are the normal interruptions from the official power company called load shedding, part of life in Uganda, but in my neighborhood, one of Uganda’s most enterprising entrepreneurs has come up with a way of making money and money is something that is always lacking here.  Ugandans come up with the most ingenious ways of making a shilling, making it the second most entrepreneurial nation in the world…and when it comes to keeping the entrepreneurial spirit alive in my neighborhood, Mr. K
 is amongst the best of them.  He has cleverly set up a system whereby he sells power to people in the area for a fraction of the price of the power company. Electrical power is expensive here, it costs me twice the monthly cost as it cost me in the USA and I used more there. 

Mr. K, the head of unofficial power company here, takes his job seriously; he solicits customers actively and then proceeds to hook them up at night when the power company employees are not around.  He not only connects new customer but disconnects those who have not paid him just like the official power company does.  His power lines are aesthetically friendly in that they run below ground and are not visible to most anyone, especially to the official power company employees.  He has many satisfied customers who swear by his friendly and convenient customer service since he is just a phone call away and works seven days a week. 

It is estimated that 35% of the electricity is stolen from the official power company.  I am told that most people in my neighborhood take advantage of the lower rates offered by Mr. K.  It is a lovely setup for many, except for people such as myself who receive their electricity from the official power company, now we not only have power outages called load-shedding from Power Company but from the unofficial Power Company courtesy of Mr. K. 

Mr. K has a day job, which is running a Video Showroom where bootleg DVD’s with commentaries in Luganda are played all day long at a modest price of 10 cents USD a film.  The real action for Mr. K, his real money making venture begins past sunset when the official Electricity employees are enjoying the evening with family and friends. 

You know Mr. K is at work when the light in my house begin to flicker off and on.  You rush to turn off all appliances so that a power surge will not fry them. For the next two to five hours you live in hope that when the power comes back on, it will be for the last time that evening.  My neighbor just had a new computer fried by one of the power surges caused by the enterprising Mr. K. 

Most Ugandans live with it in a quiet manner, they simply light candles and paraffin lamp while they wait, and wait and wait while Mr. K
 and his band of merry assistants connect and disconnect their customers, lay new lines and keep the neighborhood hostage. 

People are used to live without, recently we were without power for a week, and there is the water, so once accepts the inconvenience as a normal part of life here in Uganda. 

Hmmm, I guess I have not lived here long enough and I wonder why my neighbors just accept this nightly, enterprising thievery.  After all Mr. K
 is an Omubi, a thief and if a thief is caught by a group will receive a merciless beating. After all  Mr. K is no different from any other thief or is he? 

In the eyes of many neighborhood residents, Mr. K is a type of Ugandan Robin Hood.  He takes from the rich and gives to the poor, gaining some personal income in the process.  He is taking from the Big Company and given to the little guy, to many he is a hero instead of a villain, an Omubi, a thief. 

Recently I mumbled something about enough being enough and went on line in one of those moments I had power and found the official website of the Official Power Company and wrote a letter of complaint. 

The next morning, men in Khaki uniforms with the official Electrical Company logo embroidered on their shirts scurried about in the neighborhood.  None of Mr. K’s customers were disconnected; none of the underground, aesthetically correct unlike the official power company’s overhead line were discovered. 

The power did not flicker off and on for a week, it was so pleasant, Mr. K remained low and did not make any new connections…but then the flickering of the lights, the interruption of power started up again, this time more frequent than ever before.  It seems that some of the apprentices of Mr. K
 branched out and started their own competing power companies.   

Ugandans are simply enterprising entrepreneurs; maybe I should join them and set up a computerized billing program for their customers…hmm….from Kampala…where the lights flicker off and on nightly…from Kampala…jon