Search results

The Hichilema government says it wants to resolve the long-running dispute between Zesco and CEC, but the duelling companies continue to operate in parallel universes of competing claims around tariffs and arrears, while state miners’ financial shortfalls add to problems, write Dan Marks and Chiwoyu Sinyangwe.

State utility Zesco’s debts have reached $3.5bn – $1bn more than previously thought – due to a combination of rising liabilities to independent power producers (IPPs), long-running disputes with mining firms and the depreciation of the local currency, according to energy minister Peter Kapala.

Legal proceedings are due to be launched to challenge fundamental aspects of South Africa’s electricity policy, as the stakes in the battle between the government and environmentalists escalate, writes Dan Marks

President Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered that the recommendations made by the taskforce set up to review power purchase agreements (PPAs) be implemented by end-December. This includes the renegotiation of active PPAs and a raft of measures to tackle the performance of beleaguered utility Kenya Power, with the goal of reducing electricity costs by a third.

The World Bank Group (WBG) has said it will develop “a new approach” to assessing the business and investment climate of countries around the world, following the decision to cancel its annual Doing Business report after an investigation had shown that the rankings of China and other powerful players had been artificially boosted.

Alongside the change of energy minister in mid-September, President Samia Suhulu Hassan replaced the board and senior leadership of Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco). The national utility’s new managing director Maharage Chande previously worked at MultiChoice Africa, which owns cable TV channel DStv, where he was Tanzania managing director and then regional managing director for East and West Africa.

Texas-based Schlumberger Rod Lift (SRL) has agreed to pay a $160,000 fine to the US authorities to settle a 2015-16 violation of US sanctions against Sudan; the sanctions were lifted in October 2017.

Trials of leading figures linked to the now disgraced ‘Bouteflika clan’ continue, along with former senior military and civilian officials close to the ousted regime. Prominent among them are the Kouninef brothers, Réda and Tarek, who – like many others held since Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s 2019 removal from the presidency – are in prison but continue to be summoned over other cases proceeding through the justice system.

In an out-of-court settlement to avoid a further public biens mal acquis (ill-gotten goods) scandal, a dispute has been concluded over the penthouse apartment in Biscayne Bay, Miami purchased in the name of the wife of presidential son and international co-operation and public/private partnerships minister Denis-Christel Sassou Nguesso (widely known as Kiki).

There have been further twists in the long-running $10bn arbitration case between the federal government of Nigeria and the British Virgin Islands-registered Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) over a 2010 gas supply and processing agreement (GSPA). There are signs the government may appeal against a US court ruling on sovereign immunity and a trial has now been scheduled at the High Court in London for January 2023.

ZETDC has been taken to arbitration by developer NRE in a dispute over US dollar payments, in a case with significant implications for the country’s struggling power sector and which also highlights the macroeconomic problems weighing on the Mnangagwa administration, writes Marc Howard

The government was dealt a blow on 15 June when the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled in favour of Betamax, after the Mauritian-Singaporean petroleum products supply joint venture had appealed to the arbiter in London against a Supreme Court of Mauritius (SCM) decision against it.

Zambia’s incoming administration is well aware of the urgent need to address the dire financial position of the vertically integrated state utility Zesco. The restructuring of Zesco to improve the utility’s operations, and increase its autonomy and efficiency to ensure long-term financial sustainability was high on the United Party for National Development (UPND)’s campaign agenda.

The island’s ‘Saint Louis Gate’ power procurement scandal and other corruption enquiries, plus the government’s loss of a petroleum supply arbitration appeal, highlight the potential pitfalls of doing business in Africa’s most highly rated economy, writes Marc Howard.

Energy minister Newton Kambala was fired by President Lazarus Chakwera on 11 August, following his appearance at Lilongwe Magistrates Court on graft charges. Kambala had been arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) two days earlier.