Team size: 15

Major legal advisors: JB Byamugisha Advocates, Signum Advocates K&K Advocates

Career Biography and Achivements

As one of East Africa’s experienced energy sector legal and regulatory leaders and as a practitioner, I have spent 20+ years not merely advising on reform, but enacting it, sustaining it, and establishing institutional integrity under political and financial pressure. As Director of Legal Services at Uganda’s Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) since 2013, I have shaped the architecture that now governs Uganda’s entire power sector. Under my stewardship, ERA was ranked the best-governed electricity regulator in Africa by the African Development Bank’s Electricity Regulatory Index for five consecutive years. In part, this has been on account of the legal and regulatory frameworks I have designed that have, in turn, attracted investments for Renewable Energy projects of over US$450mn for the private sector, public finance of over 1.2 billion and most recently the USD 50 Million Independent Amari Power Transmission project, a first in Sub—Saharan Africa.

In addition, I have led the energy and regulatory advisory for the Government of Uganda in the Umeme Limited Distribution concession handover, valued at over US$746.79mn. At the regional level, as the chair of the EAPP – Independent Regulatory Board (IRB) and Energy Regulators Association of Eastern Africa (EREA) Legal Working Groups, I continued to advance regional power trade across nine East African states to advance regional integration.

Q&A

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

As lead regulatory legal advisor to the Government of Uganda, I directed the legal implementation of Sub-Saharan Africa’s first Independent Power Transmission (IPT) project, the USD 50 million Amari Power transmission project. Also, I personally drafted the full suite of project agreements for the IPT, including the Transmission Services Agreement, Support Agreement and Direct Agreement. 

Additionally, I led regulatory advisory to the Government of Uganda on the transition at the end of Umeme Limited’s 20-year electricity distribution concession to the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL). Furthermore, I directed the legal function’s role in implementing the structural reform of Uganda’s electricity supply industry. 

As Chair of the EAPP IRB Legal Working Group, I led the development and drafting of the Market Rules, regulatory framework, model Power Purchase Agreement, Interconnection Agreements and Grid Code for the EAPP region. 

Lastly, I act as expert witness for the Government of Uganda on Ugandan electricity regulatory law in the ongoing Umeme Limited v Government of Uganda arbitration.

How is your legal function leveraging technology to enhance efficiency in areas such as contract management and compliance monitoring?

ERA’s proprietary Regulatory Information Management System (RIMS) enables online submission and end-to-end tracking of licensing applications, contracts and compliance requirements. I have overseen subscriptions to research platforms including Practical Law, Westlaw and LexisNexis, and led the introduction of AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot and Claude within the legal function. Also, we collaborate with the Uganda Development Bank’s RISE platform on technology-enabled project finance assessment.

In light of increasing regulatory scrutiny across sectors in East Africa, how are you adapting your compliance frameworks to stay ahead of change?

I have integrated ESG reporting into ERA’s corporate governance framework, in line with the ESG guidelines and rules we have adopted. Also, I am leading the review of our licensing and regulatory instruments to keep pace with technological and market change, including data centres, decentralised power generation, commercial and industrial (C&I) arrangements, and net metering. These reforms are designed to position the regulatory framework to respond proactively, rather than retrospectively, to sector innovation.