Umeme field technician at work Covid-19, the deadly disease caused by the coronavirus is now a local and global reality. I would like to applaud all our frontline healthcare workers and other individuals and institutions working day and night under the strategic guidance of our president, to keep this pandemic at bay in Uganda.
As guided by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, while the healthcare workers fight the disease, care must be taken to keep the economy running, without compromising public health.
Umeme accounts for over 97 per cent of all electricity supply in the country, and we, therefore, understand and appreciate that we must stay at work to keep the country switched on and running.
I appreciate the efforts of our 1,625 staff and contractors who have remained committed to keeping the lights on. We also appreciate the support received from the security joint task force, which has continued to support us during these tough times.
But Uganda can only keep the economy running, if we are all healthy and alive, which is why I urge all of us to join hands to fight the coronavirus by adhering to all government directives and guidelines especially staying home and practising the various safety measures that government has so articulately communicated.
Keeping Uganda switched on
At Umeme, the safety of our customers, our staff, and the public has always been a priority. In light of the directives issued by the government, Umeme has had to inevitably make adjustments in our standard operating procedures to protect our staff and subsequently the public, but also ensure we reliably keep on the lights.
First of all, to reduce the level of human interaction, we have had to scale down on the number of staff coming to work physically. This has seen us reduce the number of staff per shift.
To fit within the 12-hour night curfew, we have also had to create longer shifts of 12 hours in our contact centre and work management centre. We have further relocated staff required to be at work to service centres nearest to their places of residence.
The staff rationalisations, however, do not affect the technical teams. We have maintained the usual technical teams who attend to faults in Kampala, Entebbe & Mukono areas.
Our entire upcountry faults teams are also fully operational. The specialised teams that attend to big breakdowns and vital installations such as factories, healthcare facilities, security installations, and other vital facilities […]
