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By Ben Musanje
Uganda’s ambitious plan to bring solar-powered water to rural communities is making waves across Yumbe, West Nile, and beyond.
The 450 solar water sites completed nationwide under President Yoweri Museveni’s vision promise clean water to over 2.5 million people and support 3,000 smallholder farmers with irrigation for the first time.
Funded with €111 million from Uganda and the UK implemented by the Ministry of Water and Environment through the contractors, Nexus Green, the project is meant to transform lives improving health, boosting incomes, and giving villages year-round access to water.
In many areas, the project is already a success. Families are growing crops throughout the year, children are healthier, and communities no longer struggle as they did in the past.
But in some parts of Yumbe, the dream is under threat. In Chakia Village, Awoba Parish, Kei Sub County, a 15-year-old pregnant girl who had gone to fetch water near the Kei Solar-powered Water discovered one of the two taps at her local water point vandalized.
The tap had been broken a week earlier, but the incident exposed a deeper problem: the community had not organized itself to manage the system after the project team handed it over.
Kassim Aroma Matata, the Akia parish councillor, explained that the caretaker running the water point was paid for the first three months by the project.
After that, the community was supposed to take over payments but no meeting was held and no plan was made. As a result, the caretaker stopped working, cutting off water for the villagers.
“This is our mistake,” Matata said. “Two sub-counties share this water. If they do not come together, problems like this will continue.”
Government officials are watching closely. John Allan Obukulem, an engineer in the department of Water for Production in the Ministry of Water and Environment, stressed that the project’s success depends on community management. “Government has done its part,” he said. “But you must maintain the system. If one tap breaks, everyone suffers.”
At Kei Seed Secondary School at Mule – Mule village, Awoba Parish in Kei Sub County, the challenges are already felt by students and staff. Christine Pangisa, the Senior Woman Teacher, welcomed the project but noted the need for better planning and maintenance.
The school has requested extensions to deliver water to the girls’ dormitory, laboratory, and mosque. Engineers have confirmed this is possible, as the system has enough pressure but the school must work with the community to fund the additions.
Elsewhere, the project is showing its full potential. In Bizee Sub County, Noah Achikule, a Village Health Team Officer, reported that waterborne diseases dropped from 75% to 23% after the solar water system was installed. Over 3,000 people in two parishes now have access to safe water.
The Chakia water supply system iat Kei Sub County in Yumbe, pumps 10 cubic meters of water per hour, uses 36 solar panels, and distributes water through 10 tap points. It is designed to serve 4,590 people over the next 20 years.
Across West Nile, solar water is bringing health, growth, and hope. But the broken tap in Mule-Mule is a reminder: even the most advanced government project can fail if communities do not take responsibility.
Uganda’s solar water dream is real—but to keep it alive, communities in Yumbe and across the country must protect, maintain, and manage the taps they have been given. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
