FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

Introduction

This chapter presents, interpret and analyse the finding on the effects of solar energy on rural
livelihoods Mpanta, Samfya district. The chapter focusses on how the implementation of PV
solar electricity project in Mpanta has affected the people’s lives and the community as a whole
basing on the positive changes in the village that either have resulted from the solar energy
project or have been strengthened by the presentation of the project. The effects of the PV solar
electrification project in Mpanta village have been observed at household and the community
level.

Social and economic effects

The project have contributed in changing people’s lives in Mpanta through different social and
economic opportunities which have either been created or boosted by the project establishment
in the village. Some of the opportunities were already in the village, but the project has just been
a catalyst for their functioning. Some other opportunities have been created by the presence of
the electricity after the introduction of the PV solar electricity

Small and medium scale trade improvement

As many literatures provides the contribution of energy in the improvement of community

activities, solar energy project in Mpanta has proved to have a great impact on the improvement
of small and medium trade activities in the community. Different activities have been boosted
and others have been established. According to the local informants, the project has helped in
their everyday business due to the improvement of their activities. Most of them cited the
opening hours to have increased from 18 hours to 21 hours while some up to mid-might
especially those involved in liquor business. The opening time has been increased the
productivity in their business and services at large. One respondent when asked of whether the
project has had contribution to his business, he had the following remarks;
“This solar electricity has helped me grow my business. It has increased the time I
operate in my business. Instead of closing at 19 30 hours now I can work as much as I
can even up to the time the electricity will be switched off by REA and in most cases it is
after 23 00 hours”.

It is recognizable that business activities can only be undertaken in light and not in
darkness. Apparently, where there is darkness no business activity can thrive.
Most of the commercial operators in the group interviews from both communities
echoed the view that they have limited hours to operate their petty businesses
within the day. The findings indicated that most small-scale business on the island
communities are only operated between the hours of 08 00 hours in the morning
and 18 00 hours in the evening.. Excerpts of some of their expressions are
provided below:

“I operate corn mill and usually I work during daytime because operating a corn
mill machine with lantern is very risky. But when we get access to the solar
minigrid electricity, I can connect light to my shop and also operate at night to
serve those who may need services at night. Also, diesel is expensive and sometimes
difficult to come by because of our location, so getting electricity will reduce my
cost and help my business to grow ”

Retention in the migration government workers

The other benefit that has come along with the introduction of solar energy in Mpanta village is
the retention of government workers. Mpanta is in the remote part of Samfya district and such
places experience the migration of government workers from rural to urban areas. After
interviewing, the government workers at the clinic and school confirmed that they felt they were
in peri-urban area because solar energy had allowed them to access electricity.
Below is the statement from one health worker who had been transferred from Copperbelt to
Mpanta village.
“ I was transferred from Kabwe to here, my thinking when I was coming to the typical rural
area but alas I was greeted with electricity which I access at an affordable price, of course I
could have loved if I was to use the electricity for my heating elements but it is only used for
lighting and refrigeration”

Additionally, the Head Teacher for Mpanta village also observed that the time solar energy was
introduced the number of teachers requesting for transfer to urban area had decline.

“from the time I was transferred to as a head teacher I have seen reduction in the teachers
seek for transfer to go to the BOMA and one of the major reasons is because they have access
to clean energy at an affordable price, they are able to prepare lesson plans at night and they
can access information”.
Security improvement

Additionally, the other benefits, which at least all people such as those with electricity
connection and those whose houses are disconnected, is that the introduction of electricity had
led to improvement of security in the village. The introduction of solar electricity in the village
had improved security levels in the village to the extent that theft levels had declined. Mpanta
community members also had experienced theft in the village during the night. Houses breaking
and stealing things left or forgotten outside was common and in the village. This was confirmed
by the local security team known as the Neighbourhood who are tasked to ensure that security
was enhanced in the village. The Neigbourhood team is a recognized team that works in hand
with the Police service especially that the nearest Police post was 20 km from the village.

Here is the statement by the Security team on how electicity had helped improve security in the
village,
“ Before the village was connect to solar energy, the cases of theft and violence were high in the
village as people used to take advantage of the dark to steal other people’s properties.
However, after REA came and connected our village such cases have gone on the decline”

Mpanta community members also had experienced theft in the village during the night. Houses
breaking and stealing things left or forgotten outside was common and in the village. It had
become the experience that was common and it could not sound as a new habit in the village.

When speaking to different people from the respondents; during the interviews, the FGD to the
other people in the village, at least they all pointed the benefit of street lights being their
properties security and the village security at large. One respondent; during the interview when
asked on the contribution of solar electricity to the village as a whole, he made it clear on the
security benefit the village has got from the project. Here is what he had to tell;
“I would point security as the first benefit we have got in the village a whole. You
possibly have seen that electricity is not only in our houses, but also in the streets. That
has helped and simplified the security activities of this village. No more thieves”

It was however discovered that security is the area of benefit, which has touched every person in
the village. Yes, not all people have connected electricity to their houses and those people whose
houses are located a bit far from the connection boxes, but all have benefited from the street
light at least. When speaking to one woman whose house was not connected, she said her
household was not connected but she had some benefit from the project as it had simplified her
night walk to and from the village centre as she could walk at night without fear. Here is what
she said;
“This electricity has made it easy for us to walk to and from the village centre during the
night. I could not do that before because of darkness. It was not safe back then. Now I
can walk because we see each other due to the presence of street lights. This has been the
case for almost all people in this village”
At the household level, security was said to be the benefit all people have enjoyed. It was said in
most of the households in which the interviews were conducted that security in the village has
changed from worse to better something that everyone has been pleased of. The reports of
waking up in the morning and find properties to have been stolen before the project was
installed in the village were the stories of almost every household in Mpanta village. Things
changed immediately after the installation of solar electricity project.

Environmental conservation

Most of the respondents in Mpanta views the contribution of PV solar energy by looking on the
impact of the project to their village hygiene improvement. However, very few of the members
pointed on the relationship available between energy and environmental conservation.
Moreover, a few number of the respondents tried to relate energy to environmental conservation
were basically referring to the in-house pollution which caused different health problems as it is
discussed under the health improvement section.

Most of the respondents recognized the contribution of PV solar electricity project and admitted
the project had helped in their village environmental conservation efforts by pointing on the
improvement of hygiene in the surroundings of their village.

Again, people in Mpanta raised the point that the project most importantly the street lights had
contributed to stop the habit of throwing garbage everywhere in the streets. It was found that
people were not taking garbage where they were supposed to be taken and it was common for a
person to open his door and find a lot of garbage in front of his or her door, or in the way. This
habit is said to have stopped since the installation and the functioning of the PV solar electricity
project.
“I think it has helped. Our environment now in the village are clean. I said we have no
more trash thrown everywhere as it was before. Now people cannot do that as they know
they will be seen” (Remarks from the 29 years aged respondent)

Kerosene has remained an essential widespread household fuel for cooking and
lighting purposes, particularly in rural Zambia. Though kerosene appears a
convenient source of energy for rural dwellers, its associated hazards pose
negative impact on individuals and community. The results signified that some
children between the ages of 1 and 4 have accidentally drank kerosene stored in
bottles that was not properly kept out of their reach, causing some kind of
poisoning. Participants from both communities mentioned experiences with child
accidental poisoning from kerosene and reiterated that such accidents could have
been avoided if there was electricity in the communities. Therefore, they held the
opinion that solar PV mini-grid electricity shall replace kerosene and
simultaneously prevent further child accidental poisoning with kerosene.

“My neighbour’s child who was about 3 years old drunk kerosene which was in
water bottle and suffered a lot of sickness afterwards. So this light can prevent this
kind of accidents in our community ”.

“Kerosene has caused many accidents for our children. For example, we can count
about 5 children that have suffered from kerosene poisoning. These children
accidentally drank kerosene in glass and water bottles that were not properly kept
out of their reach. But in cities where there is light, these situations rarely occur.
Therefore, when we also get light we will not use kerosene any more and our
children shall be protected from kerosene poisoning ”.

When I probed how they handled the accidents, the participants said they usually
give the affected children enough palm oil to drink in order to vomit the kerosene.
The revelation indicates how frequent the accident may have occurred and the
familiarity of the communities with the phenomenon that guided them to develop
counter solution. Concerning the issue of decrease in indoor-air smoke, expert
interviewees and health professionals in the community focus group interviews
who are well informed about the effects of using kerosene lamps mentioned this.

“Combustion of kerosene releases some pollutants that can be dangerous for human
health. These people use kerosene lamps for lighting and even sleep with it. So you
can imagine the damage kerosene causes to their health. We hope that every
household will be connected to the solar electricity to make kerosene displacement
 achievable in the communities. One of the education we intend to carry out in all
the communities is to teach the people the cost and some dangers associated with
kerosene use and encourage them to use the electricity for all their lighting
purposes (Expert interviewees)”.

Education Improvement

The potential of solar electricity in the development and improvement of education services in
the village is obvious and evident. It was reported therefore that solar electricity had simplified
the life in the village as now students can read at night something that was almost impossible in
the previous days before electricity. During the FGD one participant acknowledged the
contribution of PV solar electricity project in the village and that it would help in the
development and improvement of education services in the village as he said;
“Now that we have electricity all things which were not possible has been made possible.
Children are playing and student reading at night. This will no doubt improve the
understanding of students in this village….”

In Mpanta this study found that there were improvement in education attainment basing on the
information which were provided by the parents, the teachers, the village leaders and members
at large. It is so unfortunate that up until the time of this study no school was connected to the
solar electricity project due to the distance between the schools and the location of the solar
electricity min grid itself. However, evidence from different households which had students, the
village leaders but also the teachers proves the project to have had the positive impact on the
improvement of students’ understanding. According to the respondents during the FGD, the
attraction to good teachers who will stay in the village has been added. According to the
people’s anticipation, the teachers located to Mpanta will stay because the village has electricity.
It is said it was not easy to get teachers and make them stay in the village as there was no
electricity. However, among the houses which were already connected to PV solar electricity,
there was no even a single house in which teachers were living that could be pointed as an
example. Even the teacher who participated in the FGD based much on students’ current
understanding compared to the time when all houses had no electricity, although it was still
something to be proven as they admitted to be a short time to draw conclusions as one teacher
said;
“Looking at the student understanding sharpness it seems to be promising. But we should
remember this project is new in the village. We all hope it will have the impact on the
education development. For now it is still a short time to draw conclusion”.

The only example that was given was that they are getting some services they possibly could not
get without electricity, but it was still anticipated that it could attract good teachers and make
them stay when they are supplied with electricity.
“We have just started using this electricity. We hope it will help us to get teachers who
will not leave our village because of lack electricity. Now they can charge their phones
which they couldn’t do in the past.”

According to the respondents in different households, solar electricity has made it possible for
their children to set time tables for studying during the night, something they couldn’t even think
of during the time before PV solar electricity project was established and implemented in the
village. For example in different households it was reported that children had no reading habit
during the night, but they would do it occasionally. The introduction of PV solar electricity
changed the habits of their children. It was reported in some of the households that “the love of
studying” was back to their children.
“Children here are reading at night. I feel happy to see their love of studying because they
had lost it I think. They had no night studying and reading habit, but now you don’t even
remind them. They do it by themselves. As I look at their understanding and results, I
think they have improved a lot”

Health services provision improvement

Remote communities in Zambia are confronted with numerous challenges among them
is poor healthcare services. It is true that healthcare requires quality energy to be
functional at its maximum best. Therefore, one cannot rule out the fact that every level
of energy has the potential to improve healthcare facilities and services to an extent that
may be better than a previous service. The findings demonstrate that at Mpanta where
the community already have existing community clinic, the electricity will augment the
services provided by the clinic. The head of the clinic mentioned that most of the
challenges facing the clinic and the community such as inadequate health professionals,
maternal and infant mortality, and poor performance in the discharge of duties are
directly linked to the lack of access to electricity. The application of the PV solar electricity
in Mpanta has helped the village and the health facilities in the improvement of health services.
In Mpanta the people are mainly depending on the health centre and a small dispensary located
in the main centre of the village. The health centre have been with electricity for a long time,
while the other small dispensary have not had a stable electrification. It is however the findings
of this study that most of the people of Mpanta prefer using the small dispensary. The reason for
this is believed to be faith and ideological differences. The findings under this section are mostly
based on the dispensary other than the health centre, but also the in house environment.

During this study, respondents admitted the installation of PV solar electricity in the village had
helped a lot in the improvement of health sector and the people at large. Among the people who
were interviewed, all admitted by pointing that PV solar electricity had helped in the reduction
of oil (kerosene and diesel) lamp use that were smoky and were causing respiratory health
problems and other in-house environmental pollution. An interesting observation during this
study, was people’s ability in making the comparison of time (periods); that is the period before
the PV solar electricity in the village and the period after the project installation. During the
interview one lady reported that it was hard especially during the night before the project in that
she would mostly wake up in the morning feeling head-ache. When I asked as to why she
thought that was the case the responses were as follows;
“All the time from 18 00 hours up to around 22 00 hours we were using oil (kerosene)
lamp commonly known as koloboyi which is smoky. The smoke remained inside because
we were using the lamp while the doors were closed. By the time we were going to bed,
the whole house was full of smoke but we could not notice. When sleeping the air that
we were breathing was the same smoke and I believe that is what was giving me the
trouble because since the time I started using this electricity, I don’t remember the time I
have complained to have head ache.”
A lot of cases which came out during this study were cases related to breathing problems; like
developing flue. This was reported in all households every one reporting to have had developing
flue and other breathing problems because of the kerosene lamp use. It was however reported
that all these problems decreased if not totally disappeared after their houses were connected to
the PV solar electricity. One respondent a father of 4 children had the following to say;
“Flue was the illness of this family. Children were the mostly affected ones. Sometimes
if not me then their mother. Now we haven’t had such cases since we connected this
electricity as I was among the first people to get connected. This electricity has helped us
a lot in this village.”

is obviously a person who has a story to tell on how PV solar electricity project has impacted his
business but also the whole process of health provision to the Mpanta residents. This respondent
provide how hard it was to work without sufficient light;
“It was very hard to work in such condition especially when the patients were coming at
night. It was a problem and sometimes when people were coming here with injuries, it
was very hard to use the kerosene lamps for dressing of their wounds.”

He also provided that he had to stop some of the services like maternity services because there
was no way they could be provided without sufficient light. It was hard to go on with them but
now with the installation of the PV solar electricity, the whole process of providing health
services to the people and his working condition will basically be in a better condition. His plan
is to get back the services he had to stop so that people can stop going out of the village
unnecessarily for the services which could be provided in the village.
“I had to stop maternity services because of insufficient light. Now we are working in a
good condition and there is a possibility now to start helping in the maternity services.
This project has helped us a lot in this village”

Increase in access to information and entertainment

The world acknowledges being in information age. But electricity can either boost
or limit the amount or the level of information, which a community can access,
especially those living in rural areas without electricity. This is because
presumably, significant amount of modern information is circulated through
electronic medium that uses electricity power to operate. The participants stated
that they are extensively marginalized in terms of access to current information at
both local and global levels as a result of having no electricity in their communities
leaving them in primitive lifestyle. They disclosed their intentions to acquire
various electronic devices such as TV, Mobile phones, and computer to increase
their information sources when the solar PV electricity finally becomes operative.
Below are some of the excerpts from the interviewee participating community
members:

“When we get electricity, we can buy TV to watch, learn and know what is going
on in Zambia and around the world so that it will help us to somehow change the
way we think and do certain things. In fact if a natural disaster will hit the world
and kill people, we will probably be the first to die because we will certainly not
hear about it and know how to avoid it if it is broadcast on TV ”

“In this village, the only source of information is news on the radio, which is
marginally insufficient. But when there is light we can have access to a variety of
information because we can buy TV, computers, and advanced mobile phones that
can browse the Internet. I am a teacher and in the school it will be possible to teach
students how to use the computer to search for information on the Internet. This
will improve our knowledge base in terms of information ”.

Expert views admitted that increased access to information and entertainment is

positive but have its negative side too, which they explain below:
 “It is good for such isolated places to have access to information and other forms of
entertainment as it can reduce birth rate. However, the same can be a snare for
school children to devote time for studies during evening hours.

Apart from the potential of increased access to information, the study findings
disclosed that entertainment is one area, which the mini-grid electricity project can
potentially increase in the communities. This a resounding potential which both
communities are eager to experience as a result of the access to electricity. In
respondents echoed that:

“We don’t have any source of entertainment because there is no electricity in our
community but now that we are about to have access to light I think that we will
have many things to entertain ourselves, for example TV”.

Also, the participants from Mpanta reiterated that:

Sometimes the youth of this community travel to Big Ada to visit the cinema and
watch video/movies at night, which is not even safe. If we also get light we can buy
TV, video recorders and other facilities that will entertain us. We know that a lot of
entertainment programmes are shown on TV but we cannot enjoy it because we
don’t have electricity and TV”.

The participants also attributed lack of entertainment to teenage pregnancy and

high birth rate in the communities.

“Currently, we don’t have any source of entertainment in the community as a

result of lack of access to electricity, therefore, we are forced to sleep early. When we
go to bed too early, the only entertainment left to us is to have affair with our
partners and consequently results in having more children”
Safety and reduction of workload for women and children

The results show in one community that the safety of women and children,
especially at night is a major concern to the community. Community members in
the focus group interviews stated that movement at night is very unsafe for
women and children. Therefore, they pointed out that solar electricity would
provide the possibility for streetlights in the communities to protect movement of
women and children at night. In the interactive interviews, this is how they
conveyed this opinion:

“We are scattered among the three sub-settlements and as such we interact by
going to and from one sub-settlement to another. Mostly, women and children feel
very unsafe going from one place to another in darkness. We are expecting that
through the project, streetlights will be available in the community so that
movement will be safe for women and children at night.

Despite this concern, they were still reluctant to mention any incident to merit
their fear for women and children walking at night when I probed the response
further. In Mpanta, the respondents only linked the potential to street lighting and
students movement at night to study together in groups. An opinion leader in the
focus group interview said this:

“Access to electricity will provide us with streetlights to help students movement

at night to study together. For example, they can gather in a teacher’s house to
receive extra lessons at night”

In general, the expect interviewees mentioned street lighting as one of the

components in the project plan that will provide protection for the inhabitants in
terms of movement and activities.
 “There will be street lighting in all the communities so that night activities will be
safer and less dangerous for the inhabitants, especially women and children”.

Community involvement and reduction in youth migration to urban areas

The findings of this study identified that community involvement was an

important factor in the project. Therefore, community members are being involved
in each phase of the project. Where dialogue was required, opinion leaders in the
communities were fully consulted and where basic technical skills were needed,
the project endeavour to identify community members who have such skills or
train some young people to undertake such duties. Project experts explained in
this manner:

“We are engaging the community members at various phases of the project where
necessary. We dialogued with opinion leaders in the communities to receive
approval on allocation and land use. Moreover, we are providing technical skills
relating to electricity and operations to some selected youth, which include females
in the communities to handle basic operation of the systems after installation of
which they will receive some wages”.

Interviews with the community participants emerged that the islands are
experiencing increased migration of young population to nearby cities or capital
cities in Zambia. The participating groups explained and attributed the cause of
the youth migration to the absence of electricity and gainful employment in the
island communities. The people were of the view that the project will assist to
retain the youth in the communities through involvement and creation of gainful
jobs. This is how the communities explained the phenomena:
 “We have been experiencing frequent youth migration to cities mainly as a result of
the lack of electricity. When we have light I think they will stay and help build our
community. All the young people, especially the males are leaving because there is
no electricity and jobs for them in this community. If we have light, at least they
can do something little with it and earn a living. Then, they will not leave but stay
here .”
Improvement in Women welfare.
During this study all gender participated and it was found that the PV solar project to had
contributed in the gender relations improvement in the village. Not only women could recognize
that contribution but also men. It is said to have been out of men’s knowledge to realize what a
woman could do for the household development. The most frequent response from men was
their recognition that women in the families are more productive than ever before the PV solar
electricity was introduced and implemented in the village. One respondent reported to have got a
boost from his wife in the family income stability and here are is what he had to say;
“Because of this electricity my wife also helps in strengthening the income of our family.
She is also working in her own business; she wake up early prepare wheat for making
pancakes which she sells in the morning. I couldn’t realize it had a good profit because
she was doing it in the morning. After this project I realized that there were more
customers during the night than the morning and she was getting a good profit which in
turn it has helped the family. Also there are many women who are now doing different
business during the night and that helps their families too.” (Comments from a 34 years
old man)

It is reported that like how electricity has been beneficial to all age groups like children, youths,
and older people it is the same way it has benefited women in the village. Like youth and all
other people are working and have been encouraged to work or at least find something to do
which can strengthen a person’s economic muscles, women have also been able to utilize the
opportunity for their families and individual economic benefit.

Most of women who participated in this study in one way or another, hailed the project in that it
made them be productive and reduce dependency to their husbands. Those who had business got
an advantage of more working time, and those who had no business decided to start because
they had more customers during the night, and they could only do it because of the PV solar
electricity. Women within their households and during the focus group discussion, reported to
have more freedom on their lives as they could live and have the most important things or
requirements without asking their husbands. In the focus group discussion; women when
responding the question how PV solar electricity had helped them as women, they responded as
follows;
“First of all I must admit this project has directly impacted my life as a woman. Before
this electricity I had this business but I was only selling in the morning. So the profit I
was getting was almost nothing. But when this electricity started, I realized there were
many people in the streets and I learnt they could be customers. Then I started working
during the night.)
Women also reported that there are other needs that they could not ask their
husbands to buy for them, but after having their small business, the life freedom was
strengthened and they could buy whatever they needed without asking their
husbands. Men domination in the families for so long is said to have been caused by
women economic dependency among others, which lead to women to be too
submissive to the husbands
“Not everything you have to ask from the husband. I used to do that but now I
have stopped. We are all working and am getting my money from this small
business am doing. This helps me to meet all my needs. We are also planning
how to go about our lives because now he know I have something to
contribute. It has been possible because this electricity which has extended
my time of working”

It was reported moreover that women in Mpanta now can have their own business in the
village. One respondent during the household interview said to have established the business
which she termed to be stable business.

Negative effects
Increase in alcohol abuse and moral decay
As stated earlier the connecting of Mpanta village to solar energy has resulted in the boom for
liquor business. Those running bars confirmed that solar energy has resulted in increase in the
sales as they have more customers compared to the way it used to be in the past, however, this
has a negative effect on the community has it has resulted in alcohol abuse. This was
confirmed by women during the focus group discussion who confirmed that since the
introduction of electricity in the community the male folk; men and boys have been abusing
alcohol.
Below is the statement by one of the women;
“Before the our village was connected to electricity people used to drink beer but they were
conscious of time and security. However, during this time they drink until the bar is closed up
to mid-night…they do this because they are not afraid of being attacked due to the
improvement in the security levels in the village”.
Loss of culture
Mpanta village is in the outskirts of Samfya district, hence it is a typical village. As a result the
community had remained attached to the traditions and culture of the Kabende people. Among
such traditions they had kept was the dancing of kalela, evening games for the young people
during the full moon period, sharing of riddles and stories and so forth. However, with the
connecting of the village to the mini- grid some of these traditions have been on a decline. The
respondents gave different answers why this was the case. Below is one of the responses;
“Since our village has been connected to electrity, we have managed to buy televisons as you
have observed as a result we don’t have time to sit with our children and start telling tem
riddles instead we spend the time together watching tv programs. For your own information
the last time I shared the riddle with my children was in 2015 before I bought a tv.”
While the other respondent shared that;
“In the past it was easier for the children to play games such as cidunu during the full moon
periods but such is long gone because during the same they now watch tv or play video games
at the market.”
Increase in financial burden
The provision of electricity in Mpanta is being offered at a minimal amount to help with
maintenance. Number of rooms in a house determines the amount an individual is required to
pay. However, it was observed that some houses had been disconnected. Though the majority
of the houses that had been disconnected are female headed households, this confirmed even
by the officers responsible as captured by their records.
After interviewing women, they responded that one of the major reasons was that they never
had enough financial resources. Whatever money they had, had to compete for other needs that
included electricity.
Below is the response by one of the interviews;
“I got disconnected in 2017 this was after I was divorced. I do not have a sustainable source
of income and in most cases I only little money which I use for other things such as buying
food. Otherwise, I would have loved to remain connected by I cannot afford.”
Energy consumption behaviours

The other aim of this study was to understand the solar electricity behaviour in the rural areas. It
was the interest of this study to understand how people in the rural areas consume electricity but
more importantly, to find out if there is electricity consumption consciousness among the users
in Mpanta village.

It was found out that the village members were informed even before the project was completed
that electricity that was to be produced under the project was to be enough for 68 households.
Therefore, it was that number of people that was going to benefit from the project direct to their
households while the others would benefit from the streetlights in their community as a whole.

According to the Mpanta village members, basing on the number of expected households that
was to benefit from the project, it was made clear to them that some devices would not be
allowed in any circumstance for the project to meet its expected goals. The list of the devices
which were not allowed according to the Mpanta village members included; Refrigerators, Deep
Freezers, Radios over 100watts, TV over 100watts, ironing machines, and machines over
100watts, fen, and any other devices exceeding 100watts to mention but a few. A good number
of respondents in Mpanta informed me over the information they were given before the start of
the project;
“First of all we were told this electricity had to reach at least 68 houses, but also they said
if there is a school close, hospital and worshiping places like Mosques and Churches they
 were to be given the priority. Then they told us we could use the lights with a limit of 2
bulbs in the house, one socket plug for radio or TV or charging, but those had limits of
not exceeding 100watts. They said we should not use fridges, freezers, radio or TV over
100watts, hair dryer, sub woofers and fan so that it would be able to reach all those 68
houses.” (Response from the 49 years old man)

This seemed to go contrary with most of people’s expectations who bought different electricity
devices after learning that their village was going to get electricity. It was interesting to find out
that they admitted to have doubted the project and if it could sufficiently work, but that did not
stop them from buying devices and get prepared to benefit from electricity. During the direct
observation in the village, one lady who had opened the hair dressing salon and was hoping to
use electricity something that prompted her to buy the hair dryers, which in the end she learnt
they were not allowed. To express her disappointments she had these explanations;
“I have this salon for some years now. After learning we were going to get electricity, I
bought these two dryers. It came as a surprise to me to be told that I could not use them. I
was disappointed to be honest. I cannot use them and so I decided to not have electricity
at all as it makes no difference” (A 37 years aged woman in the village, owning a hair
dressing salon)

Despite the information and directives which were provided before the start of the project that
the electricity was meant to reach to 68 houses, it found out that there were only 33 connections.
Among the said 33 connections, 9 connection belonged to businessmen/women who had at least
more than one connection. That is; the connection to their business and the other one to their
homes or even two business having different connections. This is to say; they had a connection
of their shops, and an extra connection to their homes. This means; only 24 households had
benefited from the project but it remained to be seen if it can be possible to reach the expected
number of people. However it doesn’t seem to be a problem to the village leaders and the project
committee as long as those people with more than one connection are paying the bills for each
connection. The project seem to have been made more a business than a service. If this is not
solved in time, then the original idea of meeting 68 households might end up to be a myth.
There seems to have been some kind of violations of the directives which were give before the
start of the project by some of the electricity beneficiaries. According to the VEO and the project
committee secretary; principally in the households, phone charging was principally opened for
the father and mother (wife and husband) and possibly some household members. Individual
households which were not registered under phone charging service agreement were not allowed
to charge the phones for outsiders. This was an open service for those registered under such
agreement. It was different in some of the households as some people from outside were
witnessed charging their phones to their friends’ homes whose houses were connected. The
principle of charging the (father and or mother) phone without doing the same to the outsiders as
it was stipulated under their agreement and as per information they were given was not
respected.