At exactly 4pm, power regulator-ERA and the Uganda Petroleum Institute Kigumba (UPIK) signed a Memorandum of Understanding whose strategic objective is to increase on the number of Certified Electricians in Uganda. The signing is a culmination of a year-long intense talks between both institutions since December 2022 and it took place at ERA new offices in Industrial Area.
Under this arrangement, ERA hopes to raise the number from the current 3411 wire persons to 5000 by the end of the coming year 2024.
According to ERA Chief Executive Officer, Eng. Ziria Tibalwa Waako, the MoU between the two great institutions will enhance cooperation and partnership in order to ensure inter-sectoral coherence and collaboration in their respective functions.
The MoU will among other things ensure that there is sensitization of all electricians trained by UPIK; ensure that all electricians fit to be awarded installation permits are given necessary information and support; conducting of interviews of all applicants and issuance of permits at all levels of eligibility; ERA participating in the review of policies; projects and programs of UPIK that fall under ERA’s mandate and sharing information with UPIK on ERA’s collaborative activities. Others include sharing with UPIK relevant correspondences between ERA and it’s licensed companies concerning issues of electrical installations and facilitating a collaborative environment between UPIK and other stakeholders in the ESI.
Eng. Ziria for example, said ERA would support the placement of UPIK students for industrial training and acquisition of decommissioned or new equipment like generators for training purposes.
“Graduates from UPIK will be certified by ERA so that they can qualify for the job market” she said adding that kamyuufus (uncertified electricians) are causing great damage to the economy.
“These are saboteurs. These people hate development. Their (illegal) work leads to fatalities and loss of property. They also participate in vandalism of the electricity infrastructure. The cost they cause to the economy and people is enormous” Eng. Ziria noted.
She urged wire persons to act with a high degree of professionalism so as to bring trust to the public about their work. She noted that often times when a fire breakouts, the first suspects are electricians who are blamed for messing up people’s buildings during wiring.
“We (now) don’t want them to see a fire and the first pointer is on electricity. We want to raise the number of electricians especially class C and D from the current 3411 to 5000 by the end of next year” she said.
Meanwhile, UPIK principal Bernard Ongodia, commended ERA for it’s commitment to ensuring that as a country, we get the right skills in the energy sector. He revealed that come April next year, UPIK is going to also train 200 production technicians for Total Energies and all these will have to be certified by ERA to be able to compete not only locally but also internationally.
He pledged that as the institute, they undertake to play it’s role in the MoU and ensure that people benefit from this collaboration.
UPIK was set up in 2009 to become a center of excellence in oil and gas not only in East Africa but also Africa in general. It runs various programs including electrical installations among others.
