Prime Wednesday, March 19, 2025 Tanzania’s energy landscape is a labyrinth of contradictions. On one side, the government champions an “energy transition” fuelled by imported LPG gas—a costly scheme redirecting rural women’s meagre earnings to Middle Eastern gas giants. On the other, hydropower remains the darling of politicians despite decades of drought-induced blackouts. Only God knows why we keep overlooking coal, a homegrown resource as black as African soil. The LPG delusion The government’s fixation with imported LPG gas is a case study in political delusion. Consider a rural mother in Tabora: she gathers free firewood but is now told to buy LPG at Sh3,600 per kilogramme—a price more than double that of Tanzania’s own LNG. This doesn’t sit well with me: I think there is something very wrong with
