New UETCL board of directors swears in today
UETCL Lugogo sub-station on Fourth Street, Industrial Area, Kampala. PHOTO / ISAAC KASAMANI
What you need to know:
- Mr Lawrence Kimbowa, UETCL deputy spokesman confirmed the development saying that the six-member board will be sworn in at the Ministry of Energy headquarters.
The new members of the Board of Directors of the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) are set to be sworn on Wednesday, this publication has learnt.
Mr Lawrence Kimbowa, UETCL deputy spokesman confirmed the development saying that the six-member board will be sworn in at the Ministry of Energy headquarters.
“The inauguration of the new board will be held Wednesday. This will be done at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development headquarters,” he said on Tuesday.
The new board members include; Mr Kwame Ejalu Ejuku (board chairman), Ms Achiro Sharon Loka (an independent director), Eng. Innocent Oboko Yotkum (Independent Director), and Ms Sylvia Muwebwa Nabatanzi (independent director).
Others include; Mr Julius Mukholi Wamukota (non-independent director and also representative from the Ministry of Finance) and Eng. Cecilia Nakiranda Menya, a non-independent director and also a representative of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.
This reporter established that an appointment meeting by the company’s shareholders was held on March 15 while the appointment of the new board was effective April 7, 2021.
Board sacking
In March, the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development fired the then board members over the alleged rot at the energy transmitter.
The board members sent packing included; Mr Peter Ucanda (chairman), Mr Chris Mugisha, Ms Sarah Irumba, Mr Richard Santo Apire, Ms Grace Achieng Obura, and Mr Abdon Atwine.
Mr Ucanda, the immediate past board chairman, called it quits in early March after bad press made his position at the energy transmitter untenable.
In a March 21 letter to the Finance, Energy, and Privatisation and Investment ministries, Mr Ucanda indicated that he was stepping down to “save his image from being tainted by such media reports.”
He added: “I am constrained to do this because of the manner in which the investigations into the causes of disagreements into the affairs of the board were conducted, which has resulted in several and diverse false reports appearing in the press. This does not give me confidence.”
The government took the decision to fire the board members following a string of media reports and investigations by this publication that exposed fraud and abuse of office at the company.
