Renewable energy enthusiasts, service providers, traders, dealers and experts from across Uganda converged in Kaliro district at the Busoga Olwekobaano and Energy Expo held in Kaliro district to showcase the best that there is to offer to the people of Busoga.
The Senior Presidential Advisor in charge of Poverty Alleviation in Busoga, Florence Mutyabule, used the occasion to ask government to invest in the promotion of renewable energy use initiatives in Busoga sub region.
“People promoting the use of renewable energy are getting small money from NGOs and private lenders but this is not sustainable. I ask government to intervene and invest in these initiatives to promote the use of renewable energy in Busoga and Uganda at large,” Mutyabule said.
As a presidential advisor on poverty alleviation in Busoga, I will take this issue to the respective offices and partners, she added. She was responding to the issue raised about the cost of training and skilling people in the use of renewable energy.
She encouraged the people of Kaliro and Busoga at large to use renewable energy because it is clean energy. When we use this renewable energy, it will help us to live healthy lives, she noted, adding, we have seen smoke affecting the health of women who cook with firewood.
She also called on the people of Busoga to participate in the use of renewable energy to eliminate and end energy poverty. “We should educate our people that there is solar, hydro, wind and nuclear energy, and that this energy is cheaper,” she stated.
Global trend – a transition
The President of Busoga Yaiffe, the organizer of Busoga Olwekobaano and Energy Expo, Dr Charles Mbalyohere, Busoga and Uganda should start promoting the use of renewable energy because it is the global trend.
He explained that the expo and the conference aimed at achieving this feat because people need to turn away from using fossil fuels – things like petrol and diesel – to more sustainable sources of energy.
“We expect people to take up renewable energy. People are getting more interested. The prices of renewable energy products are coming down and becoming more affordable.
“We are going to see a trend where people are turning away from cooking with firewood and charcoal to using eco-stoves and pressure cookers. More people are beginning to afford solar systems.
“You just need to have the right size of solar panels to provide you with lighting and other things like refrigeration. We are going to a direction where we talk about value added use; for example solar pumps for irrigation. So we are seeing a change.
“The main challenge is the cost for many people who are in the lowest category of income. We need to still bring the price down for everyone to be able to afford,” Mbalyohere said in an interview on the second day of the expo.
Resource center
In the same spirit of promoting renewable energy in Busoga, Mbalyohere is advocating for the creation of a resource center to be set up and well located in Kaliro town.
“You can equip that place with whatever is needed to demonstrate how to use this renewable energy. You can use this resource center as a springboard to go for outreaches and teach more people about renewable energy.
“Various stakeholders and service providers can use the place as an organizing platform to reach out to the community. You can gather research data using that place as a starting base. Government and other stakeholders can participate with Busoga Yaiffe taking the lead,” he explained.
Local gov’t participation
The Kaliro district Principal Assistant Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Simon Peter Gabula, who represented his boss the CAO, expressed local government willingness to participate in promoting the use of renewable energy.
Gabula said local government can sensitize people through the relevant foras and at different administrative levels amongst the population. We can integrate this into our programs and bring people from different areas together with the aim of increasing the use of renewable energy, he said.
He added that local governments can demonstrate their commitment by investing in renewable energy directly. We can also reduce in the bureaucracy to promote the use of renewable energy, he remarked.
He noted that at a time when government is chasing people from swamps, solar powered irrigation systems can help farmers do agriculture out of the swamps; especially for those with capacity to get large scale irrigation.
Successful energy expo
To promote the use of renewable energy, various exhibitors were invited and were at hand to showcase their products during the three days. Revelers also strolled in big numbers to purchase, do window shopping and learning about renewable energy products or attend the conference.
“People have been coming to buy products because prices have been subsidized. We also had a conference were experts from different companies and organizations have talked about the use of renewable energy,”
“The message has been the same; let us change from using fossil energy. We have had the health camp. People have come to be treated for all sorts of illnesses. We have achieved what we set out to do. We have had a good turn up; better than what we had last year.”
