Power Crisis in Tanzania

News:

Tanzania is currently facing power crisis that resulted into power rationing.

According to government, the reason behind it is reduction of water levels in dams as well as repairs to the electricity infrastructures.

Comment:

Following this power crisis, President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Saturday, 23/09/2023, appointed new a Managing Director of Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) to replace Mr Maharage Chande who served the post for two years.

President Samia tasked the new Tanzania Electric Supply Company Ltd (Tanesco) boss Mr Gissima Nyamo-Hanga to end the crisis in six months.

According to Electricity Supply Industry Reform Strategy and Roadmap 2014 – 2025, if Tanzania aims to become a middle economy country by the year 2025, as according to 2025 Tanzania Development Vision, it would require to produce 10,000 MW in 2025, from currently 1,872.04MW, being a 10.5 percent improvement from the 1,694.55MW in 2022.

The current power crisis vividly proves that the government plans are unrealistic and hopeless.

It is shameful to see that whenever a new electricity project initiative emerges, politicians would deceive the public that particular project would abolish power crisis as well selling part of it to foreign countries. For instance, during the development of the electricity generation project at Kinyerezi in 2013, the then Minister of Energy Mr Sospeter Muhongo stated that: “Our plans are that by the year 2014 we would already have 500 megawatts of additional electricity which we will sell abroad.” (Mwananchi, July 17, 2013).

The similar promise was made by the Prime Minister Mr Kassim Majaliwa when he officially opened the fifth Energy Congress and Expo at the Julius Nyerere International Conference Center, Dar es Salaam on Wednesday, September 20, 2023.

Since the 1990’s when Tanzania allowed private investment in electricity production, there has been a chronic power crisis for many years affecting the electricity system. For example, some private investors such as: IPTL, Richmond and Dowans agreements were overshadowed by allegations of corruption that led to the resignation of the then Prime Minister, Edward Lowassa at the beginning of 2008 pushed the government to debt of Tsh 426 billion and the raise of electricity price by 18 percent of which the public have to pay. Later it came to be known that the said private investors in electricity production never existed.

This is how the reality of capitalistic system works targeting only personal benefit with unrealistic plans for the people, giving the hopes of mirages.

Tanzania is blessed with many sources of power including hydroelectricity, geothermal, and even wind. Many regions like Singida region (central of Tanzania) are suitable for wind power, the whole country is suitable for solar power production.

The country has the capacity to generate electricity with gas as it has more than 60 trillion cubic feet gas reserves. There is availability of uranium in regions of Ruvuma, Dodoma, Singida, Manyara and Arusha which gives the opportunity to generate nuclear electricity.

Shortly, Tanzania should not have electricity problems, but all these resources do not benefit the mass or effectively utilized in electricity production due to exploitative capitalistic system in which resources benefit few individuals especially foreigner colonial companies.

In Islam, unlike in capitalism, electricity and power plants, mines and the likes are not allowed to be privatized (private ownership), nationalized or made as government property, but they are public goods and fall under public ownership.

This Islamic perspective under its state (Khilafah) would administer and prevent the few to own issue of power production as making money business, making it available free or cheaply for all.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Said Bitomwa
Member of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Tanzania