Power to the people?

On Thursday, September 13, 2007, the dusty village of Gakuto in Kweneng East began its metamorphosis into the first fruit of a multi-million Pula rural electrification project. When scores of senior government and Botswana Power Corporation officials as well as representatives of Swedish financiers and contractors descended on the village, the inevitable excitement belied the enormous task ahead of all stakeholders: the electrification of 99 more villages, across varying, punishing terrain and weather, through adverse economic cycles and conditions, all within 36 months.

The task, however, paled into irrelevance when weighed against the importance of delivering electricity to villages that have been in the dark since their residents first settled in them.