Namboole blackout: What happened?

Kampala- The thousands of spectators who thronged Namboole for a football match between Uganda Cranes and Guinea’s Syli nationale, are still seeking answers on how a power outage left the stadium enveloped in darkness.
The match, which was played under floodlights, started at 7.30pm.

After the incident, the police arrested, interrogated and charged the stadium manager with negligence while power distribution company, Umeme blamed the incident on fluctuation in electricity supply.

However, the stadium management pushed the buck back to Umeme, saying the power surge was beyond them. The stadium has a power sub-station and Umeme is notified whenever there is a match.

“We do have a standby generator of 230KVA but it can only power the rest of the stadium, not the floodlights,” Namboole Stadium managing director, Mr Jamil Ssewanyana told the Monitor.
“We have our own [electricity power] sub–station and a line dedicated to Namboole stadium. So whenever there is a match, we are sure Umeme power will be constant,” he explained.

Mr Ssewanyana denied any wrongdoing and said the stadium management was also seeking answers from Umeme on what happened.
“I’m writing to Umeme to seek clarification on what happened. You realise that after that power surge, lighting in the rest of the rooms was restored immediately but floodlights took long to come back on, thus the six or so minutes it took for them to light again,” he added.
Mr Ssewanyana said there is need to “invest in a much bigger generator” to prevent such incident, stating that “without that, we can only hope for better luck”.

“The absence of a generator that can power floodlights puts a spotlight on the stadium’s ability to host such international games at night. The stadium has a total of 218 pieces of floodlights, although a small number are now not functioning,” the manager explained.

Umeme’s media manager Stephen Ilungole told the Daily Monitor on telephone yesterday that the cause of the blackout was a fluctuation in the voltage.

“Floodlights use more power than ordinary bulbs. Floodlights require constant voltage supply...”
Mr Ilungole said when such a fluctuation occurs; it takes about five minutes to get the lights on again. Umeme declined to explain further.

The Wednesday night blackout lasted eight minutes. The Uganda and the Guinea coaches separately used the forced break to shout out some tips to players.

The match resumed six minutes later as the referee allowed time for players of both teams to warm up again. When the blackout occurred, 64 minutes into the game, Uganda was leading Guinea 2-0 in the crucial 2015 Nations Cup qualifying game, thanks to Geoffrey Massa’s first half brace.

Many of the estimated 25,000 spectators in the stadium reached into their pockets for their mobile handsets to take memorable shots and to light up their immediate surroundings lest suspected pickpockets took advantage.

Electricity blackouts or load-shedding, is a common occurrence in Uganda. But yesterday’s was unexpected because Umeme had not notified the consumers around Namboole in Kira Town Council about it and given the magnitude of the game where a national team was playing.

The distribution company has in the past attributed load-shedding to routine maintenance of the electricity distribution network, fixing broken cables and repairs at sub–stations.

Other power outages during matches

Uganda 2-1 Kenya: 012 Cecafa Final at Namboole December 8, 2012
Fulham 0-1 Manchester United: Craven Cottage February 2, 2013
Braga SC 1-3 Manchester United: Estadio Municipal De Braga November 7, 2012
Gramozi Ereske 1-2 Real Madrid: Albania January 21, 2010

Expert view
An electrical engineer who requested not to be named lest he is victimised, said power surge results from use of old electrical components, heating that affects coils in circuit breqakers and overload on a given line or voltage drop. To guard against such fluctuations, the expert said, a power company should go by the manufacturers’ instructions on the overhauling on old electrical components. “Even the switches and circuit breakers need to be changed at the intervals specified by the manufacturer(s).”

Manager charged

Mr Jamil Ssewanyana, the Namboole Stadium managing director, spent about three hours behind bars at Jinja Road Police Station on Wednesday night.

He was released on police bond after being interrogated and charged with sabotage and negligence.

Deputy police spokesperson Polly Namaye said although the power outage was as a result of power fault, Mr Ssewanyana neglected his duties by failing to ensure the stadium’s standby generator was turned on when supply from the national grid went off.
“We believe that it was negligence on his part for failing to have machinery that could help in an emergency,” Ms Namaye said.

Mr Ssewanyana is said to have been negligent contrary to Section 228 Penal Code Act under the rash and negligent acts – an offence which attracts six months imprisonment.