Alebtong’s Tedwii Trading Centre is finally seeing electricity return after a frustrating three to four-week power cut. While residents and businesses are relieved, they are now painfully adding up the significant financial losses caused by the long period of darkness.
The lengthy outage, caused by a broken transformer, brought economic activity to a standstill. Small businesses couldn’t operate, and many young people lost their jobs because their livelihoods depended entirely on electricity. Dr. Steven Odongo, a local veterinarian and businessman, sadly had to lay off three workers from his milling facility as operations completely stopped.
The blackout also severely hurt the local farming community. Many farmers, including those benefiting from government agricultural programs, rely on local mills to process maize into feed for their livestock, especially pigs. Without power, these mills couldn’t run, making it impossible for farmers to get essential feeds for their animals, creating major challenges for those who had invested heavily in pig farming.
Efforts to get the power restored proved difficult. Complaints made to the electricity distribution company offices initially brought no results. Residents were informed that the area’s transformer was faulty and needed replacing, leading to much frustration over the slow response time. The return of power is a relief, but the community faces a tough recovery from the severe economic impact of weeks without electricity.