Bushenyi, Uganda: Residents of Bitooma Parish Ward in Bitooma Town Council, Igara West, are living under imminent danger of electrocution and fire outbreaks due to illegal power connections allegedly backed and financed by Cohen Amanya Kyampene, the area MP aspirant and NRM flagbearer in the 2026 parliamentary race.
Locals say the clandestine connections to the transformer grids have been ongoing for at least six months, with no meters, no formal approval from Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL), and no adherence to national safety standards.
They claim a private company, whose name we preferred to withhold for sensitivity reasons, and local electricians, were hired to connect homes and businesses to the grid at no cost, in what residents describe as a “political mobilisation tool.”
According to residents, UEDCL has disconnected the area three times in six months, but somehow, somewhere, the illegal lines mysteriously reappear each time. “We are scared because any spark can burn 50 houses in minutes,” said one Arinaitwe, a local shopkeeper. “We want power, yes, but not a death trap in the name of politics.”
Another resident, Nelson Mandela, insists that Cohen personally assured them that formal electrification had finally come after years of waiting, luring them with the free connection policy, yet without UEDCl clearance and supervision.
“He told us to buy only a 2-phase cable and that he would provide poles using his money,” Mandela recounted. “People believed it was a breakthrough. But now we don’t know what is legal and what is dangerous.”
What has UEDCL done?
Despite UEDCL offices being located only a few kilometres away, residents continue to reconnect themselves, raising questions about how such an operation bypasses established procedures. “Someone must be helping him behind the scenes,” said one source who requested anonymity. “How does an individual buy electricity poles, cables, and hire electricians without UEDCL approval?”
Political analysts and insiders in Igara West believe the issue is tied to the fierce rivalry between Cohen Amanya and PLU-backed businessman Tugume Boniface, who narrowly lost the NRM primaries.
A source told DailyExpress that Tugume had promised during earlier rallies to use his financial capacity to connect locals to electricity, a strategy Cohen is now accused of adopting, but through shortcuts.
“People here are desperate for services, and candidates know it,” the anonymous source added. Electricity has become a campaign weapon.”
LC1 Chairman Christopher Arinaitwe said residents initially believed the project was government-funded. “When Cohen brought the electricity, we thought it was an official government programme,” he said. “But then UEDCL came, confiscated cables and warned us. That’s when we realised something was not adding up.”
Just in October this year, UEDCL announced a nationwide three-month amnesty for all illegal users to formalise their connections or face prosecution. The company’s Managing Director, Paul Mwesigwa, warned that vandalism and power theft were costing government billions and destabilising supply reliability.
For Bitooma, the cost is more than financial. The illegal connectivity puts homes and businesses at daily risk of electrical fires and fatalities, while the state continues to lose revenue.
Authorities contacted at both UEDCL and the Ministry of Energy declined to comment, instead asking for an in-person meeting. They neither confirmed nor denied knowledge of the ongoing illegal connections. Similarly, MP aspirant Cohen Amanya and his aides were unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
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