Report on micro-financing program for solar in Uganda »wrong«

A report that the Ugandan government is linking up with micro-finance institutions around the country to promote solar energy is completely wrong, says Wilson Wafula, principal energy officer at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD).   

Based on an interview with Wafula, a March 30 article in the Ugandan newspaper New Vision claimed that the government was »mobilizing« $12.5 million for financial institutions »to lend to people to access solar energy« at an annual interest rate of 18 percent as part of a plan for full electrification by 2010. But, says Wafula, he was completely misquoted.

The confusion relates to an earlier United Nations Development Program scheme called the Uganda Photovoltaic Pilot Project for Rural Electrification (UPPPRE), which promoted 50 W solar home systems (see PI 7/2002, p. 6). It ended in March 2003. At this point, MEMD only has made a proposal to scale up the financial mechanisms developed through the UPPPRE, a move that would require setting up several new institutions to coordinate and manage a new micro-financing fund. But according to MEMD senior energy analyst Bena Benon, it could take years to get any such program off the ground. 

William P. Hirshman 
© PHOTON International, June 2004