Umeme Yaka system fails, leaves consumers stranded

Kampala.

The Umeme Yaka system has for at least four days failed, leaving many customers stranded with no electricity.
Ms Maria Nantongo a baker in Kampala told Daily Monitor yesterday she had bought Yaka through her mobile money account on Sunday but was yet to receive her token by press time yesterday.
“On Sunday, I bought Yaka through my mobile money account but the token failed to come. I waited for hours in vain. I had cakes to deliver but I could not make any because I had no power,” she said, wondering why Umeme had not come out to explain the failure.
However, on Wednesday, Umeme had published a brief statement on its social media pages, informing customers of a technical glitch that would be resolved “as quickly as possible”.
“We are experiencing intermittent service interruptions when vending Yaka tokens. Our technical teams are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible,” the statement reads in part.
However, by yesterday, a number of customers were still facing similar problem.
Mr Ian Ruyonga, a resident of Konge in Makindye Division, told this newspaper he had given up to fate after buying Yaka on Monday but had not received the token by yesterday.
“For three days, I have not had power. It is absurd. I wish they [Umeme] had told us they had issues before hand,” he said.
Mr Sandor Walusimbi, the Umeme head of communication and marketing yesterday, told Daily Monitor they had experienced a system overload that had slowed down the process of buying tokens.
“There was a slowdown in token buying but it has started to ease and we expect that by the end of day [yesterday] all shall be good,” he said.
Commenting on the matter, Mr Shaban Sserunkuuma, the director of programmes at Consumer Protection Education Trust, said this was unfortunate nand absurd.
“A service provider must endevour to have interventions incase such a problem occurs. Right now it appears it is a try and error process. This does not augur well, especially to the customers who are making losses,” Mr Sserunkuuma said, urging Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) to institute standards and penalties.
When contacted, Ms Diana Naisuna, the ERA Principal Communication Officer asked us to send an email but she had not replied to the email by press time.