Forty Five years down the road since independence, Bwera town in Kasese district which boarders with DR Congo is yet to see electricity. Residents have now rely on generators run by businessmen by night. Bwera is a fast developing town found 37 Km away from Kasese Town and to south Katwe salt lake Town board . Unfortunately, unlike Kasese town and Katwe town board it does not have electricity.
Local leaders in Bwera attribute the problem to the monopoly of electricity distribution under the former Uganda Electricity Board which failed to extend the power lines to the area. However, even after the liberalization of power distribution in, Bwera and Mpondwe remain in the dark.
All is however not lost for the residents of these two towns. Some Business men living within these two towns have embarked on a project of generating and supplying electricity to the residents using generators.
They have installed treated eucalyptus trees as poles and use thin wires for connection to various houses. Mpondwe and Bwera Bwera are now lit during the night.
Power is switched off during the day to cut on the costs incurred on buying fuel for the generators.Every house connected to the system with one bulb, pays 500/= daily.
Kasese district received power as early as 1950s for production of copper in kilembe mines but now hardly a quarter of the district’s population has access to electricity.
