Kenya power equipment recovered in scrap metal yard

Kiambu, Monday June 19, 2023

KNA by Wangari Ndirangu / Steve Biko

The Kiambu County Security team has recovered an assortment of vandalized Kenya Power Company (KPC) equipment worth over Sh11 million in the Kianjogu area of Kiambaa Sub County.

The equipment, which was discovered in a scrap metal yard owned by a couple included transformers, burned transformer shells, TX laminations, pylon bracings, stripped copper, and cables among others.

Speaking to the press at the scene of the crime during the recovery process, the Secretary of Administration, State Department for Energy Wycliffe Ogallo said,” Losing this kind of assorted energy infrastructure instruments as you can see here, reflects economic sabotage and challenge especially in Kiambu, considering it has various towns which have critical factories and industries right from Thika, Juja and Ruiru.”

Ogallo added, “The owner of this premise is a criminal and as you did see, the items here purely belong to KPC and they are marked as such and you can also see the unorthodox ways, he has used to bring them down, we have pylons parts that are here and wires used to convey electricity to the masses.”

The administrator cited public utilities such as hospitals, hotels, and farming industries that have been grossly affected by such vandals saying this affects human existence by disrupting normal social activities of the citizens as well as hampering employment opportunities.

“We want therefore to give strict warning to those who are involved in such illegal activities that they will not be spared and particularly for this case, whose suspect is a habitual one and has other cases pending in other courts,” he said.

Ogallo thanked the Kiambu Security intelligence committee who through intelligence from members of the public responded very fast to impound the stolen infrastructure, more so those that convey electricity.

“Once again, I want to applaud and salute members of the public for being part and parcel of efforts towards fighting such vandalism. We can only compare such acts to those of terrorists because their acts affect the general spectrum of human beings and citizenry activities,” reiterated Ogallo.

The Secretary of Administration further noted that such criminal acts hamper government's efforts towards connecting households with electricity, particularly through the last mile connectivity project.

Ogallo confirmed that apart from Kiambu, the government has noted a recent trend in which the transformers are being targeted nationwide saying that as a ministry and through the energy police unit, they will work towards protecting the critical installations.

The administrator further said that they will not rule out the work of a syndicate because there may be cartels leaking investigation details, but warned that if any KPC staff is found culpable, they will face the full force of the law.

As for the scrap metal contractors, Ogallo said the government will constantly review their eligibility and that through their national council, they have agreed that any metal dealer found to handle any infrastructure that is related to the energy sector, will see their licenses revoked.

Kiambu County Police Commander Perminus Kioi said the vandalization menace has been going on for some time now, but for the last two months, it has been rampant, especially in areas of Ndeiya, which lost 14 transformers, Limuru (3), as well as Juja, Thika East, Munyu area and also other areas like Gatundu North.

“Apart from these notable areas, the criminals have gone and extended to Kenol area of Murang’a county. We have been following the matter for a while, but let me warn those doing this especially here in Kiambu, we have no space for them. We have been running various operations and we will not let them be, we are ready for them,” he said.

The police Commander further said that they are working with the Judiciary and that the suspect will soon be arraigned in court, charged with economic crimes.

 “We have arrested one person and we are also looking for others. We are asking them to surrender themselves as they will go nowhere. We have all the mechanisms of getting them,” he said.

On his part, Kiambu County Commissioner Joshua Nkanatha said the region has adversely been affected by the vice, with very many areas being affected by the vandalism.

Nkanatha warned members of the public not to handle any equipment from government institutions without prior authorization, saying even if one is a just worker at the business premises found with government property, they will face the law.

“As the County security committee, we will make sure this menace is minimized and I thank members of the public because, without their involvement, we would not have found this equipment,” the County Commissioner said.

Kenya Power has recently decried rampant vandalism on their equipment across the country, warning that this was tantamount to economic sabotage and punishable by law as provided for in section 169 of the Energy Act 2019.

Courtesy ; K. N. A