Accolade! You’re Such An Exceptional And Transformative Leader! ERA’s Eng. Ziria Tibalwa Waako Scoops Another Mega Ward In London For Exemplary Service!
By Henry MULINDWA
On April 10, 2025, at the Corinthia London, Uganda became a topic of sorts as one the country’s daughters Eng. Ziria Tibalwa Waako was officially presented with the prestigious Global Power Women Award.
Eng. Ziria, Uganda’s celebrated Chief Executive Officer of the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA), was presented with this great honor by H.E. the First Lady of the Bahamas.
The award ceremony was organized by the Centre for Economic and Leadership Development (CELD), a non-profit organization in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC).
This esteemed recognition her exceptional achievements and transformative leadership, which continue to drive meaningful impact across the African continent.
CELD is dedicated to empowering women from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and walks of life through sustained leadership development and advocacy.
This latest award to Ziria cements what President Museveni also did to her about a year ago. The Head of State on May 1 2023, while presiding over the International Labour Day celebrations in Namutumba District, presented to her with a prestigious award baptized as Crested Crane Medal in recognition of her transformative role in the Energy Supply Industry (ESI).
That aside, ever since she became the CEO of ERA, Uganda has been on top of all African countries after being voted as the Best regulator on the continent for now five years uninterrupted.
Since 2019 to date, Uganda has been voted No.1 by the African Development Bank through it’s Electricity Regulatory Index competitions, ranking Uganda as the best country with superb Electricity Regulatory framework on the African continent. The ERI studies (competition) have had over 40 African States participating but Uganda’s ERA under an industrious Eng. ZIRIA TIBALWA WAAKO has continued to thump them up on this award.
No wonder, Uganda was selected to host the East African Regulators secretariat and that many countries flock Uganda to share knowledge and best practices.
Eng. ZIRIA AT A GLANCE
Eng. Ziria Tibalwa Waako is the Chief Executive Officer of the Electricity Regulatory Authority since March 2017. Eng. Waako has vast knowledge and experience in the Service of Uganda’s Electricity Supply Industry, which she has served for nearly 30 years. She joined the sector working with the Uganda Electricity Board (UEB) in the Operations and Planning Department.
Eng. Waako is among the first group of Ugandans to operate the computerized Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system for the remote operation and monitoring of the Electrical Power System Network.
During the unbundling of UEB, Eng. Waako was transferred to the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited, where she served as the Operational Planning Engineer, Senior Planning Engineer and Principal Planning Engineer.
Before she was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Electricity Regulatory Authority, Eng. Waako served as the Director Technical Regulation at ERA for Four (4) years. In this role, Eng. Waako was responsible for providing leadership to the Technical Regulation Department, setting performance targets for Licensees, monitoring and enforcing Licensees’ Technical and Environmental compliance with the applicable Laws, Regulations, and License terms and conditions.
As a Government Team Leader, she has led various projects to successful completion, including the Global Energy Transfer for Feed-in Tariff (GET FiT) projects from 2012 to 2021, which added 150 MW to the grid, thereby mitigating load-shedding and enabling the Government of Uganda to provide power to places where the grid does not reach, as well as contributing to Accelerating National Access to Clean Energy.
While serving as the Principal Planning Engineer at the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited, Eng. Waako was the Government Team Leader in the design of the Mbarara – Nkenda – Hoima Transmission line and associated substations in 2010; and the design of the Uganda – Kenya and Uganda – Rwanda Transmission Regional Interconnections, paving way for their construction in 2010.
Eng. Waako holds a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science Degrees in Electrical Engineering from Makerere University and a Master of Business Administration in Leadership degree from Walden University, USA.
She is a Registered Engineer with the Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers (UIPE) and the National Engineers Registration Board and a Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of New York, United States of America.
She is the First Female to assume the role of Chief Executive Officer of the Electricity Regulatory Authority.
Eng. Waako is the Chairperson of the Independent Regulatory Board of the Eastern Africa Power Pool and has successfully branded Uganda to be entrusted to host the Secretariat of the Independent Regulatory Board effective 2023. The Independent Regulatory Board regulates the Regional Power trade across Eastern Africa countries, including Burundi, Djibouti, Southern Sudan, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Libya.
Eng. Waako was elected the Chairperson of the Energy Committee of the African Forum for Utility Regulators effective 2023, which demonstrates the trust the continent has in the Uganda Regulator. It also shows appreciation for the Regulator’s contribution to putting in place the Best Regulatory Climate to support Accelerating Access to Safe, Reliable, Affordable and Modern Energy for All, across the continent in line with the Sustainable Development Goal No. 7.
SOURCE: www.theinspector.co.ug
