buying of luku turns out to be a nightmare in dar es salaam.

Exhausted and profoundly let down by a long day, I rush back home anticipating to complete a couple of incomplete errands on my computer and to watch the attention drawing dose of the daily soap operas on Telemundo , I embark on my journey  and “Alas!!!!” For the second date in a row, total darkness? I go on to ask the help and much to my dismay come to find out that the ‘LUKU’ has run out. “Surely Mobile money will make this easy!”  I say to myself.  A fifteen minute trial to transaction goes on but all in vain. ‘Argh!!’ could this day get any worse. I again spend thirty minutes in a long queue in a vending station at Kijitonyama. As I wait profusely, I engaged myself in some chit chat with another customer, a resident in the city who assured me about her past experience on how she tried several times to buy electricity through SIM banking but they only deducted her money and did not send her the recharging token, she complained. I am then informed that the network is down and to come back later which I have repeatedly heard consecutively. What a nightmare! I think to myself. However, the problem of buying LUKU has intensified following the collapse of all LUKU systems as affirmed by the Transco’s Acting Director General, Decklan Mhaiki as he told journalists.

                However in Tanzania public anger is directed not at Mother Nature but at the government for series of failures at managing power crisis blaming only the drought is absurd over the past years. Over the past couple of years Tanzania has squirmed under the nightmare or the horror of repeated power blackouts.

                Tanesco had a long dis investment period from 1996 to 2006. Even since 2006 investment in the electricity has been small and capacity only grown marginally. Demand on the other hand has been continuously raising a major factor in the power outages. Power outages have been common in Tanzania since 2006 especially during dry season as most of its power  depends on the source of water as it generates its power from water boundaries as that of the Mtera dam and Nyumba ya Mungu therefore during the dry season power supplied is lower than during the wet season.   

According to the Director General, Tanesco technicians managed to restore about 70 percent of the luku system and promiced that they would be restored Mhaiki said in order to avoid similar technical problems in the future Tanesco is rehabilitating its systems including establishing its own data center which will provide them with backup data when the system collapses he said the backup data center will be ready by match this year for his part Tanesco’s senior manager ICT department, Kusenha Mazengo said problems started when the extended vending get failed.

                He went on to mention some of the selling points where customers can buy LUKU as Tanesco offices within the city and other agents authorized to sell LUKU. Others are petrol stations, ATM, and simbanking for both CRDB and NMB customers