KAMPALA- The Chairman of the Board of Directors at Kilembe Mines Uganda, Sanjay Tanna, has confirmed that the government has officially privatized Kilembe Mines, handing it over to a private investor, Sarai Holdings.
Appearing before the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises chaired by Medard Ssegona, Tanna stated that as the outgoing board, they have formally handed over the entity to its majority shareholder the government that conducted a bidding process in which Sarai Holdings emerged as the successful bidder.
Tanna explained that the formal handover was made to a government entity, the Uganda National Mining Company, which subsequently transferred operations to Sarai Holdings under the privatization arrangement.
However, he expressed concerns about the mining sector’s underperformance, attributing it largely to inadequate funding.
In addition, Tanna raised alarms over the current state of the Kilembe power plant, which is no longer operational.
He noted that the plant originally produced up to 10 megawatts of power, but output had dropped to 4 megawatts before its complete breakdown.
According to him, the collapse was triggered by river flooding, which swept away key equipment at the dam leading to widespread vandalism of transmission lines and transformers by local residents.
