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The Conversation
The Conversation
John Mukum Mbaku, Professor, Weber State University

Uganda's Owen Falls dam: a colonial legacy that still stings, 67 years later

The sluice gates open at the Owen Falls dam across the White Nile in Uganda on 14 October 1962. McCabe/Express/Hulton Archive via Getty Images

Uganda’s Owen Falls hydropower plant has a rich history that predates the country’s independence in 1962. The plant is located across the White Nile and sits between the towns of Jinja and Njeru on the shores of Lake Victoria. It is about 85 kilometres east of Kampala.

Uganda was a protectorate of the British empire from 1894 to 1962. In 1947, English engineer Charles Redvers Westlake recommended the construction of a hydroelectric dam at Owen Falls that was supposed to be East Africa’s largest power project.

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