Kagame Regime Should Quickly Use The US$22.7 Million Electrification Loan Before It Is Withdrawn

By David Himbara

The SCALING-UP ENERGY ACCESS PROJECT (SEAP) is a project within a wider multi-donor funded “Electricity Access Rollout Program (EARP)”.

SEAP’s original goal was to support another Kagame fantasy of ending energy poverty by 100% electrification in Rwanda by 2017.

The financier of SEAP is the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The Auditor General says that SEAP is in trouble. The slow pace of implementation and low budget absorption are putting the project at risk. Here is the situation in summary.

  • SEAP implementation duration of 5 years from August 2013 to August 2018 with a total approved budget of US$45.3 Million.
  • At the time of project audit in December 2017, SEAP overall disbursement was 50.09 %.
  • Undrawn project funds from the AfDB amounts to US$22.7 Million.

As the Auditor General points out,

”Considering that the project’s closing date is 30th August 2018 (i.e. the remaining project’s lifetime is only nine months away), it is highly likely that SEAP may fail to draw down the remaining portion of the funds allocated to the Project. Therefore, there is a risk that the envisaged project activities would not be fully carried out within the remaining implementation period.”

Somebody remind Kagame that his fantasy of 100% electrification in Rwanda by 2017 is long past. However, the remaining US$22.7 Million can still supply electricity to a significant number of Rwandan households trapped in extreme energy poverty. Act now — better late than never.