After nearly a month of living in the shadows, the people of Tedwii Trading Centre in Alebtong District are finally seeing the lights come back on. While the return of electricity is a relief, it comes at a heavy price. For three to four weeks, a faulty transformer turned this bustling hub of activity into a ghost town, leaving local residents and business owners to tally the devastating costs of a preventable crisis.
This blackout was far more than a minor inconvenience; it was a direct assault on the local economy. In the Apala Sub-county, where many rely on daily earnings to survive, the silence of the power lines meant the end of work for many. Dr. Steven Odongo, a dedicated veterinary doctor and local entrepreneur, witnessed the fallout firsthand. He spoke passionately about how the darkness drained the life out of the community, forcing small businesses to shut their doors and leaving energetic young people without a way to earn a living.
The human cost was personal and painful. Dr. Odongo shared the difficult reality of being forced to lay off three workers at his milling facility. When the machines stopped humming, his ability to sustain his staff vanished. It was a heartbreaking decision driven by a lack of alternatives, highlighting how a single technical failure can ripple through a community and destroy individual livelihoods.
The damage extended deep into the agricultural sector as well. Many local farmers involved in the Parish Development Model rely heavily on these milling machines to produce maize bran for their livestock. Without power, the supply chain for animal feed collapsed. This left pig farmers in a desperate situation, struggling to maintain their investments and protect their future prosperity during a time when they should have been thriving.
What makes this situation particularly stinging is the perceived indifference of the utility providers. Initial attempts to seek help from the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL) in both Lira and Kampala were met with a wall of silence and inaction. Despite formal complaints and repeated follow-up calls, the community felt abandoned by the very service providers they depend on.
The tide only turned when the issue moved from official channels to a public platform. After Dr. Odongo shared the plight of his community on a WhatsApp group, the message caught the eye of Col. (Rtd) Dr. John Francis Ongia. Recognizing the injustice, Ongia escalated the matter to the highest levels of government, reaching the Office of the President. This high-level intervention finally forced the wheels of bureaucracy to turn.
Within a short time, officials from the President’s Office took charge, ensuring that the local energy branch prioritized the repairs. The result was immediate: power was restored within days of the intervention, proving that the solution was always within reach if only the will to act had been there sooner.
As the hum of machinery returns to Alebtong, a powerful message remains. Col. Ongia emphasized that communities should never be forced to endure such prolonged suffering over administrative or technical issues that can be solved with a bit of urgency. This incident serves as a wake-up call for service providers across the nation. Reliable electricity is the heartbeat of development, and the people of Alebtong deserve a system that works for them, not one that requires a presidential intervention just to fix a transformer. The lights are back on, but the community will not soon forget the cost of the darkness.