Tanzania: Electricity bodies clarify safety of connected grass-thatched houses
What you need to know:
Rural Electrification Agency (Rea) and Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco) said on Sunday that grass thatched houses could be connected to electricity and still pose no threat to the owners’ life and properties.
Dar es Salaam. Rural Electrification Agency (Rea) and Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco) said on Sunday that grass thatched houses could be connected to electricity and still pose no threat to the owners’ life and properties.
On Sunday, March 24, 2019, the Energy Minister, Dr Medard Kalemani, took part in an exercise to connect electricity to a grass-thatched house in Kibondo, Kigoma and the picture went viral on social media with some quarters criticizing the move.
During that event, where electricity was connected to a grass thatched house belonging to Ms Rose Kagoma of Ruganga Village, Dr Kalemani told Rural Energy Agency (Rea) contractors to refrain from the allure of segregating Tanzanians along their economic positions.
Tanzania has an ambitious target of providing electricity to villages across the country, a goal that is to be accomplished by 2021.
The government’s effort towards that goal was bolstered in 2016 by an MoU signed with the World bank that provided $209 million for the implementation of Tanzania’s Rural Electrification Expansion Program.
And on Sunday, March 31, 2019, the Rea acting director general Amos Maganga said grass-thatched houses are connected with electricity upon satisfactions that they are undoubtedly safe.
“The issue isn’t how the house has been roofed. What matters is which protection equipment is available. That is why there are circuit breakers. Haven’t you seen a good building, roofed with corrugated iron sheet, burning?” he questioned.
However, he said Rea executed its duties according to specifications given by Tanesco, insisting that they were the ones to provide detailed remarks.
Tanesco’s public relations manager Leila Muhaji said grass-thatched houses are fixed with special equipment -- known as ready boards -- during electrification process.
She said the equipment is fixed in houses lacking major electricity network, saying it (the equipment) contains built-in safety systems.
“This is a technical issue. We will give detailed information,” she said on telephone.
