25 October 2006, by PowerNell. Most of Dar es Salaam had power the last week, albeit regularly interrupted. Paradoxically, the citizens of Dar es Salaam are more worried now about the power situation than they were when they did not have daytime power. This is due to the absence of any power-related communication from the government and to pessimistic reports in the newspapers. Some headings of the last week: Blackouts fear as rationing worses (The Citizen, 19 October, 2006), Mwanza, Arusha, Singida face total darkness (The Guardian, 19 October, 2006), Power crisis comes to a head (Daily News, 18 October, 2006), and Power problem getting worse (Daily News, 10 October 2006). Many people believe that power rationing will get worse tomorrow, after the El Fidr holidays, also because power rationing has been Ramadan-related before. At the other side it could very well be that this power is here to stay.

Why do we have power?

Since February we have been told that the closure of Mtera Dam would be the biggest power-related disaster that can happen. Well, the dam has been closed now, but amazingly, Dar es Salaam has daytime power for the first time since somewhere in July. Most of the people seem to believe that we will have to pay the price for this, that we will have to suffer many powerless nights for this power-sold-on-tick, that the new minister of Energy just wants to show off that he is doing a good job, and that this week of power is an attempt to prevent discontent of the public. That could all be true, but it could also be that the new 20 MW Aggreko generators are powering Dar es Salaam, together with the Songas 180 or so MW, and the IPTL 100 MW. It could be that the power from the Mtera area is not affecting Dar es Salaam as much as expected. From the media I understand that the available power in Dar es Salaam cannot help the northern provinces. So apparently the northern provinces are not connected to the national grid. Maybe there is only a one way connection between Mtera and Dar es Salaam: the capital can get Mtera"s hydropower, but the Mtera region can"t get the capital"s emergency power.

Power rationing doesn"t save power

Another reason for the restored power could be that the rationing measures were not effective. This was confirmed by Tanesco"s managing director on 18 October. "Tanesco has been saving little power in the ongoing power rationing because small-scale businesspeople had resorted to working at night, which wiped out the whatever saving that would have been made" (The Guardian, 19 October 2006). This sounds very odd to me. I am not in the category of small-scale business people, but I definitely consume more power when it"s there, and I guess that goes for everybody. Think of all the domestic refrigerators, fans and electrical cookers that don"t run when there is no power. How can it be that it doesn"t make any difference in the demand of power wether or not there is power?

Questions... questions...

One thing that I would really like to know is the demand of power of Dar es Salaam. I read somewhere that Zanzibar"s demand is 35 MW a day. Dar es Salaam must be much higher than that. But how much? The thing is, we humble citizens would like to have some more information on the power supply in the country. Is Kidatu closed? According to The East African, Tanesco announced on Thursday that Kidatu Dam had ceased operations due to low water levels, "while the Mtera and Kihansi that make up the Mtera dam power system may close any time" (source: The East African, 23 October, 2006). So the Mtera Dam is not closed? Does the north have power or not? Where is that longtime announced total blackout? How are you there in Mwanza, Kagera, Bukoba and Shinyanga? And now that I am talking about it: can anyone PLEASE tell me how much power Songas can generate? In the newspapers I have read anything from 105 MW to 190 MW. Even the amount of turbines at Songas is unclear: six or seven? And concerning the spelling of the company that is saving Tanzania, I have read everything from Agreco to Aggrekko. A few seconds on the internet were enough to find the exact name. And in one newspaper the minister of Finance is called a she, and in another newspaper a he, despite the fact that they wrote MS Zakia Meghji. I mean, if you can"t trust newspapers on something simple like that, what worth is the rest of the information? Not that this is an important matter, it is just that we humble citizens of Tanzania would like to have at least the idea that we have some kind of control in this situation.

Complaints about power communication caused cabinet reshuffle

It is not only the citizens that are complaining about the lack of information. According to The East African it was the poor communication on the power situation that indirectly caused the cabinet reshuffle. The Tanzanian private sector complained that the minister of Energy and Minerals had "mishandled the crisis by failing to warn manufacturers early enough about the gravity of the situation." Manufacturers accuse the minister of "failing to give information they needed to make contingency plans and seek alternatives." Apparently there is a broad view that the manufacturers were starved of information by the ministry: "The minister gave conflicting statements on the true prevailing power situation in the country," said a leading industrialist (The East African, 23 October, 2006). Columnists are getting more critical, too. So the paradox is: power is resorted, but criticism on the government is growing. At the other side there are still people who believe that the president has finally found a lasting solution for the power crisis.
Related articles
 
For an analysis of the cabinet reshuffle and some effects of the power rationing on the Tanzanian economy, see The East African, J. Mwamunyange, October 23, 2006: Was Tanzania's Cabinet Reshuffle Sparked By Current Power Crisis?
For an example of a critical column, see The Guardian, Hilal Sued, October 23, 2006: Cabinet reshuffle: Tanzanians had expected better than this
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