Jinja woman electrocuted after overhead Umeme wire falls on her

Police in Jinja are investigating a case in which a 27-year-old woman was electrocuted after an overhead high voltage cable snapped and fell on her.
Shamim Nakabugo, a resident of Kikaramojo in Walukuba-Masese division, Jinja municipality was, according to residents, electrocuted as she was doing outdoor house chores.

Residents who were seated outside their houses at the time of the incident said Nakabugo was washing clothes when electric wires overhead the Jinja-Iganga power line snapped and fell on her before she died instantly.
Ms Harriet Naigaga, a neighbor said that their village is surrounded with hanging live electric wires as it hosts a hydro power sub-station supplying electricity to the northern parts of Jinja District.
She said locals poured soil on the live electric wire to contain the situation.
The Kiira Region police Spokesperson, Ms Diana Nandaula, said police and Umeme visited the scene to rectify the problem and check whether there was an attempt to illegally connect power or an accident of a loose or cut wire.

She appealed to residents to notify police in case of suspected electricity problems to enable them liaise with the power distributor before such accidents occur.
Mr Fred Mugabi, the village vice chairperson says that Umeme engineers are reluctant to regularly inspect their electric wires and poles in slum areas which makes residents prone to accidents resulting from illegal power connections.
One of the Umeme electricians who asked not to be named in this report as he is not authorized to speak to the media said that some residents have embraced illegal power connections which has weakened the electric wires.

“Some of these residents keep on cutting these wires so as to freely tap electricity and this puts their lives at risk because the wires eventually break down,” he says.
However, when contacted, the Umeme Jinja branch manager, Mr Brian Kamese, told Daily Monitor in a telephone interview, that: "the woman was 30 metres away from the purported power line. Since police is investigating the matter, we have to wait for them to conclude their investigations."

The deceased’s body was later taken to Jinja regional referral hospital mortuary for autopsy.